Physical and nutrition
A busy student life can make it difficult to take good care of your physical health. Irregular eating, little exercise and short nights can affect your energy and well-being. Sometimes support from a coach can help, but often you can already do a lot yourself. Like learning more about nutrition, finding a suitable form of exercise or taking a training course on sleep. Below you will find tools to start working on your physical well-being.
E-modules and websites
iSleep & BioClock helps you improve your quality of sleep and deal with different kinds of sleep problems. You’ll learn:
- Which habits promote good sleep (and which don’t!)
- How to change and improve your sleeping pattern
- How to overcome worrying thoughts that keep you up at night
iSleep & BioClock takes around 30 minutes per week for 4 to 6 weeks. With the support of a personal e-coach (for free!) and tips based on scientific research.
This workshop is free and available via Moodlift.
With Students For Dinner, Eet Mee's online matching platform offers a free online environment where you, as a student, can offer a dinner, or where you can sign up to join a dinner somewhere. You have to eat and cook anyway, how much nicer is it if you can do that together? It does not have to be every week or even every month, and you are not tied to anything. Eet Mee's experience shows that getting to know each other while cooking and eating together contributes to connection.
‘It was a very spontaneous and fun dinner with another student. We exchanged cultures and experiences and, above all, laughed a lot. Because of all the chatting, we hardly got around to eating.’
You can organise a dinner all year round or join as a guest, or participate during UU Wellbeing Week in November and May.
Apps
Maxx is for people who want to drink less or no alcohol. This free app helps you prepare for situations when you find it difficult to not drink (too much) and stick to your 'max'. The app helps you keep track of your alcohol use through a log, set goals, get through difficult situations and much more.
Books
Exercise and a healthy diet have great influence on the heart, brain and immune system. Exercise and certain nutrients stimulate the inner wall of blood vessels, producing nitric oxide (NO), which causes dilation of blood vessels. Stronger blood circulation has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system, the brain and our immune system! How often we should exercise, and which nutrients are involved, is explained in an accessible way by Erik Scherder.
Only available in Dutch.
Sexuality is an important part of physical (and emotional) health. Emily Nagoski shows through this science-based book how stress, mood, confidence and body image are central to a woman's sexual well-being.
Documentaries
This documentary explores the connection between nutrition and disease and the billions of dollars at stake in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and food industries.
Available on Netflix
Playlists
Sometimes you need just a little extra to fall asleep peacefully. Listen here to Sleep.
The sound of the sea and waves can be incredibly relaxing. Listen here to Sounds of the Ocean.
Videos
Sometimes you don't want to leave the house to attend a yoga class. Adriene has been making yoga videos on YouTube for years, so plenty of classes to choose from!
Available on YouTube
In this short YouTube video professor Erik Scherder explains what stress is and what we can do about it.
The video is in Dutch.
Available on Youtube.