Kiryn’s Wellness Corner: Getting routine

Columns January 24, 2024

As you get settled into your new schedule and begin to carve out a routine for academic success, your health will also benefit from a routine. It’s much easier to keep your new year’s resolutions or general eating habits on track if you have a scheduled routine.

Kiryn’s Wellness Corner is a wellness column that appears in every issue of Nexus (photo by Kiryn Quinn/Nexus).

A great habit to help save time and keep you from choosing french fries on the go is to meal prep on a day when you have fewer deliverables. Some love to dedicate Sunday to cooking larger batches for the week and dividing out meals into smaller containers. Find a day that’s less charged for you and have some fun making a big batch of something you love as a base around which to build some meals for the next few days. If you have a friend who also likes to meal prep, agree to double your batches and share.

With a central meal, be it a soup or stew or a marinated and baked protein, add fresh fruits and vegetables that are pre-chopped and packaged to easily grab from the fridge and throw into your school bag. Don’t forget to add some variety of savoury and sweet along with crunchy textures to keep your palate satisfied.

Your yoga routine can also be “prepared” in advance by having a set series of postures you like to practice at certain times of the day based on your school and work schedule. Not everyone can commit to a daily morning or evening routine when your class schedule may have morning and evening classes. You can, however, mark out time on your calendar, just like for your classes, to show up for yourself and keep the blood flowing. Try to not over-schedule every free minute: you’ll begin to resent not having any free, unscheduled time to yourself and you’ll begin skipping out on healthy habits.

Just like your food, your exercise routine needs some variety to keep it interesting. Add in different styles of yoga to your practice or simply participate in something totally different. Try a martial art, join a dance class, play some badminton, or go on a hike in any one of the beautiful parks surrounding Victoria.

Keeping variety in your diet and exercise routine helps keep it interesting, and don’t forget to schedule in that downtime to just do nothing. 

Until next time, keep it real.