If you are serious about reducing your stress levels and being able to manage your time effectively, you have to start by looking after your body. This means eating healthy food and getting regular exercise.

Eating healthy food

A well-balanced diet will improve more than your health; it will provide you with the necessary nutrients for a healthier mind and spirit to enable you to undertake more effective study. Healthier food will also mean that you are not damaging your body with foods high in fats, sugars, stimulants or preservatives; all of which can place more stress on your body and increase the likelihood of problems such as headaches, heart disease, etc.

Guidelines to Eating Well

The busy and stressful lives many students lead make it easy to fall into a habit of eating poorly. Here are some general guidelines for maintaining and improving your health through your diet:

• Eat three or four times per day and start your day with a healthy breakfast.
• If you're going to be on campus all day, plan ahead. Pack a lunch so that you won't be tempted by the many fast food outlets on or around the campus - pack healthy snacks for between classes. If you have to buy your lunch, seek out the foods discussed below.
• Eat a variety of foods each day, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are key sources of vitamins, minerals and fibre and are low in fat.
• Choose low-fat dairy products such as skim milk, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat cheese.
• Tofu, beans and nuts give you starch, lots of fibre and are naturally low in fat. Use them as an alternative to meat, poultry and fish more often.
• Eat whole grain foods such as brown rice, rather than grain products made with white, refined flours; whole grain foods contain more nutrients and dietary fibre. The next-best choice is a grain product that is enriched such as enriched pasta.
• Reduce table fats like butter, margarine, salad dressing and mayonnaise. They are among the biggest sources of dietary fat. Low-fat or light salad dressings, mayonnaise, butter and margarine are good choices.
• Most of us get more than enough salt than we need; avoid adding it to foods when cooking or at the table.

Stimulants and Drugs (Caffeine, Alcohol, Nicotine, Recreational Drugs)

• A moderate amount of caffeine (2-3 cups of coffee or tea) is not harmful but avoid drinking any more than that per day.
• You may like a glass of wine or beer with your main meal, but alcohol will not help you study, nor will it have a lasting effect on reducing your stress levels, so always drink in moderation.
• Cigarettes have been proven to have long-term adverse effects on your health and those around you, so try to avoid smoking or at least reduce the number of cigarettes if you do smoke.
• Remember that no drug, either medicinal (aspirin) or recreational (marijuana) will have a lasting improvement on your body’s efficiency to work and to play, and may have long term harmful effects on your health, so reduce the amount of stimulants and drugs that you take.

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Getting Regular Exercise \ Playing Sport

Taking frequent effective exercise is probably one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by unfitness; it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.

Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:

• It improves blood flow to your brain, bringing additional sugars and oxygen, which may be needed when you are thinking intensely.
• As your blood flow to all parts of your body improves, your blood pressure is lowered, so that even when you are not exercising, waste is eliminated more  efficiently.
• It can cause release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These give you a feeling of happiness and well-being.

Ways to get regular exercise on campus

You can incorporate physical activity into your life by making choices daily that keep your body working, for example by walking or riding a bike to and around the campus, instead of driving or taking a bus. On, or close to campus, there are facilities and programs to meet virtually any student's recreational and athletic interests:

• Classes: Instruction in a variety of sports and martial arts as well as fitness classes for all levels are offered at the Recreation Centre.
• Swimming: Among its wealth of sporting facilities, the Australian Institute of Sport, within cycling or walking distance from the university, has two indoor swimming pools and student concessions.
• The university has a wide range of sporting facilities that you can use, as well as teams and clubs that you can join. Tennis, squash, martial arts, aerobics and many other activities can help you become a healthier, happier, and more efficient 'study machine'.
• You do not even have to join a club to participate in these activities, as you can usually find other students who would like a game of table tennis, badminton, etc.

Remember that there are right and wrong approaches to exercise. If you intend to get serious about exercising, it is worth finding reputable and up-to-date sources of advice on exercise, possibly from your gym/fitness instructor at the university Recreation Centre or a doctor at the Health and Counselling Centre, and then have a customised exercise plan drawn up for you.

An important thing to remember is that exercise should be fun - if you do not enjoy it, then you will probably not keep doing it.

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