By Lorenzo Mills
It is no big secret that Medicare and Social Security may not be longstanding benefits in the United States for retirees’ and college students who qualify. At this point in time freshmen college students across the nation are just beginning their secondary education, upperclassmen are nearing graduation, and some are even pursuing new careers. It becomes uneasy for these students to determine who or what they will rely on to meet their healthcare needs in the near future.
Many students may not know it yet, but if their reading news headlines they will come to find that the United States is fighting what seems to be a rising federal deficit. Healthcare costs have been on a constant incline for the past several years. As consumers, we increasingly struggle to keep up with the costs as a result of an overall economic slowdown. In 2008 the United States annual healthcare costs were three times more than the annual costs reported in 1990 and eight times more than the annual costs reported in 1980.
Since this appears to be a continuous trend, do not let your bad eating habits and lack of exercise get the best of you. Now is the time to start searching for other ways to stay healthy. The simplest and most inexpensive thing that we can do is supply ourselves with the proper amount of daily vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. Vitamins and minerals are found in the solids and liquids that we eat and drink throughout the day. However for most college students there is not enough time in a day.
We begin to rely on fast-food, which some students may find to be somewhat less expensive as well. This could become a pattern of uneducated nutritional awareness, which makes it forevermore difficult for us to eat the various items from each major food group. We can easily solve this problem by taking dietary multivitamin and multi-mineral supplements daily along with our meals. Multivitamins are categorized as food. They often come in pill or liquid forms for those with a gagging reflex. These supplements are designed to contain a dosage of vitamins and minerals that will balance a person’s diet giving them an adequate amount of nutrients on a daily basis. Having these nutrients supplied to our bodies gives us the energy to stay active, and is proven to work if we ingest them along with our daily meals.
Staying active is also very important from a nutritional standpoint, and could be inexpensive as well. As college students we sometimes fail in that aspect of maintaining a healthy diet. This is due to the fact that we often spend extensive hours in front of the computer whether were studying for an exam or Facebooking. Why not take a break from it all? Going out for a daily jog, or playing a game of ultimate Frisbee couldn’t hurt, and it doesn’t cost you anything. Keep in mind that these methods could also be used as stress relievers come finals week. I personally would love to see all of my classmates go on to lead successful careers in the near future.
All college students should know that good health habits will help us succeed in school at the collegiate level. We all should agree that having a college education has one of the greatest impacts on our health and financial merit. Instead of letting government health care take control of us, let’s take control of it by staying active and keeping our diet balanced. Remember that the more we practice good health habits, the less worried we become about what government health care plans are going to be available for us after retirement. Let’s take action now.
Lorenzo R. Mills Jr. is a Dietics at Michigan State University and Lansing Community College. He is a member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. He can be reached at louivemills@gmail.com.
This was printed in the August 14, 2011 – August 27, 2011 Editon
