Franciscan students strive for healthy lifestyles

By Anabel Stickney
Staff Writer

Healthy living is a priority recognized by many students at Franciscan University. Though unique to each person, positive living habits are key to thriving in college and good health is necessary in order to succeed in academics, sports, faith and other areas.

With a busy schedule, it can be hard to prioritize your wellbeing, but Franciscan students expressed the importance of maintaining good health.

Hannah Franzone, a sophomore psychology major, shared how she keeps up a healthy lifestyle as a student. Franzone is an athlete on the women’s tennis team, and she advocated that all aspects of health are important when playing a collegiate sport and being a full-time student.

Franzone began, “Keeping a healthy lifestyle is really important because it impacts the way you perform as a student. Ultimately, we’re here for two things: an education and to grow into … independent and responsible adults.”

“It’s important to keep in mind that you are here for school, but that doesn’t mean that you should sacrifice your mental health and physical wellbeing for a grade. Instead, you should list your priorities, set a schedule and work to accomplish these things to the best of your ability, and like, stop procrastinating.”

Franzone explained that she tries to build healthy habits by following a routine.

“In order to maintain good health, I do my best to eat balanced meals, workout, sleep, tidy, and find time to relax. While it isn’t always the easy or fun option, eating healthy, balanced meals is ultimately better than skipping meals,” she said.

“When it comes to working out, I go to the gym three times a week with friends, … because with the right people anything can be fun.” She explained.

She continued, “This semester especially, I’ve learned that sleep is a game changer when it comes to mental health, focus, and physical wellbeing. If I don’t get enough sleep at night, then I won’t have the mental or physical energy to do any of the things that I need the following day.”

“Lastly, finding time to relax is also something I’ve recently discovered to be really important for my mental health. Keeping a busy schedule can be fun, … but don’t let that make you miss out on being there for yourself.”

Franzone offered a piece of advice to all students: “Overall, the most important thing to remember is that in order to maintain good health you have to do what works for you. Methods for staying healthy are different for everyone, but the outcome should be the same: a calm mind and a happy heart.”

Peter Cavalieri, freshman business and economics major, shared his perspective on healthy living at Franciscan as a baseball athlete and busy student.

Cavalieri said, “Maintaining good health at Franciscan for me consists of fulfilling 3 goals before the end of the day. Those being socializing, physical activity, and prayer.”

“All of these aspects contribute to keeping myself in a healthy lifestyle through examples of going to class and eating with classmates, hitting the gym and walking all around campus, and setting aside time to pray in the chapel and before every meal.”

He continued, “It is important to have a healthy lifestyle as it can be really easy to experience stress and anxiety with constant homework from classes and potentially also working a job. If you just blindly wander through the day without any purpose or motivation, you will find yourself only focusing on what needs to get done and not enjoying life to its fullest potential.”

“Maintaining a healthy lifestyle keeps the mind, body, and soul fresh for each new day and challenges that accompany it,” he added.

While everyone has their own methods for health, it seems that there are common threads. Embracing community and building relationships, spending time in prayer, being physically active, eating well and setting aside time to rest seem to be successful ways to achieve a healthier life.