There are a lot of student success resources on campus but…you’re not entirely convinced. Do you have concerns about your kid’s ability to navigate campus life and the demands of a university education? If so, the support of a health coach might be the missing puzzle piece that makes all the difference for your son or daughter. There is a lot to say about student success, but for the purposes of containment in this blog post, I will share some thoughts on three key topics:
- that oh-so-formative first semester;
- body image, blood sugar, and gut health (for all students not just first-years); and
- getting through mid-terms and finals (same as above).
For those not familiar with my blog, I am an acupuncturist now but I was a Spanish professor in my first career. Starting from my beginning semester as a graduate student, I clocked eighteen years of teaching over the course of my time as an academic. I’ve taught at a range of schools, from large research institutions on the one hand (Indiana University Bloomington and the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque) to smaller private colleges (Bucknell University, Colorado College) on the other. This is not my first blog post on the subject of student wellbeing and it won’t be the last.
If you haven’t read it already, take a look at: “Sending Your Daughter or Son Off to College: Some Healthy Advice For You And For Them.” If your son or daughter lives with Ehlers Danlos syndrome or otherwise needs significant accommodation, please refer to the companion piece to this essay, “Health Coach For College Students? Yes! (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Edition).”
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What about their first semester of college?
Orientation and move-in day are over…so now what? How important are those first days and that first semester to a student?
Short answer: hugely important.
Longer answer: Becoming oriented takes a lot longer than that one day just before the student begins their initial foray into university. Over the course of those sixteen or so weeks of their new project, the student will make friends (or not), find their way around campus (or not), and develop their study skills (or not). This initial period is like when a duckling hatches and imprints on whatever it sees first. Seriously! To this day, I remember how it was to teach fall semester classes at 8:00 or 9:00 on Monday mornings. That first day was magical. All those brand-new freshbabies* staring at me wide-eyed as I called roll and discussed the syllabus with them…so sweet! I was their first-ever professor and this was their first college class. It is a special moment. I took it to heart and engaged with them accordingly.
*As any of my students will tell you, I had a nickname for everything. Instead of “freshmen” I called them “freshpersons” and–during the first weeks of their first term–they were “freshbabies” or “freshpuppies.”
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A good question for your new student is to ask them for an account of their very first class…how did it go, what did they think of the subject and why, what did the professor say, and so forth. How a student experiences and recounts their first class is telling. Everything from whether the student woke up on time, if they got to class with enough padding to be able to find a seat and get settled–or not–(and was the professor already there, with smile on her face and a syllabus at the ready?), and how they interacted with classmates, professor, and material will give you a synopsis of how the rest of the term might go. Listen carefully and support your child accordingly.
If your son or daughter stumbled coming out of the gate? A short series of health coaching appointments can help get them back on track. If they’re genuinely vulnerable, the time frame shifts. Hyper-perfectionists, for instance, may produce good grades but at an incredible toll on their mental and physical health. On the other hand, and for whatever reason (hyper-perfectionism or its opposite), some kids start digging a hole that they can’t get out of easily. Then they get derailed and give up in despair. With vulnerable students, a health coach over the course of the entire term might be warranted.
Body image, blood sugar, and gut health:
Being a student–graduate or undergraduate–can be a turning point for eating habits and outcomes. A student’s schedule can be erratic and it can be challenging to plan mealtimes. Students tend to snack a lot, either from boredom and/or anxiety, or from simply not being able to set a schedule and follow it. Meal plans often allow for eating either at student cafeterias or at shops and cafés on campus, but whether or not the student chooses healthier options is largely a matter of what’s available and whether it’s appealing to the individual.
Most worrisome? In my estimation as a former professor and a current healthcare practitioner, the three most important issues are body image, blood sugar, and gut health.
Body image is a beast. Far too many students end up with eating disorders (or arrive on campus already in a vulnerable state). Sometimes, students will gain weight during the first year of school (yes, the freshman 15) and then become obsessive. In other cases, the student isn’t handling stress very well and they filter all their anxiety into something they’ve decided that they can control, and that would be their weight and food intake. Maybe the student compares his or her body to unobtainable ideals and decides that trying to emulate the contours of their favorite influencer is an effective coping mechanism. The end result? An eating disorder.1
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Eating at erratic intervals, loading up on sugary carbs, and/or being over-stressed by college demands leaves a student at risk of dysregulated blood sugar. When a person’s blood sugar is all over the place, they become grouchy and can develop prediabetes or even diabetes. (Graduate students, especially…the amount of time one spends sitting while studying for exams and/or writing one’s dissertation creates a prime opportunity to eat one’s way into diabetes, and that is no joke).
Gut health and the microbiome (or gut bacteria) play a huge role in mood. If a student is struggling to keep on an even keel, their gut bacteria might be a factor that contributes to their mood swings and inability to focus. And gut health is whole-body health, make no mistake about it. Protecting one’s microbiome has a ripple effect throughout the entire body and can make a tremendous difference to how the student feels and behaves.
A health coach, especially one who is mature and knowledgeable about campus life can be invaluable for your student’s metabolic and digestive wellness. Most health coaches, myself included, hold certifications that focus on weight loss and motivational interviewing; indeed, these are bread-and-butter skills in health coaching. What matters in this context is whether or not the coach understands the particular needs and emotional stages of a college student.2
Mid-terms and finals and drama, oh my!
Staying on track and finishing strong is a project, and some students can do it on their own and others need support.
Learning how to be proactive rather than reactive is a learned skill. Ideally, your student’s health coach is not going to focus on getting the student ready for midterms or finals. That would be the job of the tutor or perhaps the academic advisor.3 What your health coach can do, instead, is teach your student how to identify contextual emotions and address them. Is your student in a panic? The health coach can teach the student self-soothing breath work and other healthy techniques. We can also support them with lifestyle guidance. Does your son or daughter know ways to schedule eating, sleeping, and moderate physical exercise that are realistic for a student yet helpful and effective? A health coach can help with that.
Sometimes, students just get overwhelmed and guy students, especially, seem to wait until it’s crisis level before they confide in anyone. If your child is great at pretending everything is ok, either out of shame or just because they don’t want to worry you, a health coach can be a great resource, especially if that coach knows very, very well just how colleges work. Speaking for myself in my role as a healthcare provider–although I don’t know if this would be common for a health coach not familiar with academia–I have even called the relevant campus’s student clinic from my office here in Austin and helped student health coaching clients to get the mental health support that they needed.
It can be tough to plan out one’s semester, especially if a student is either a hyper-perfectionist, self-critical overachiever who doesn’t want to disappoint mom and dad or, conversely, they are someone who gets overwhelmed and just gives up in frustration and distress. Having an adult sounding board who supports the student in self-regulation and self-care can make a big difference in how the student performs and how they feel about both themselves and their college studies.
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In conclusion:
Most students have an adjustment period when it comes to going off to college. Some distress, angst, and/or failure does not mean that your kid needs therapy, a diagnosis of anything, or even a health coach. A certain level of distress, angst, and/or failure is part of the learning process. ESPECIALLY if young sir or miss is given the opportunity to resolve their issue on their own and then take pride in their success, that “failure” may well be the best thing that ever happened to them. So it doesn’t help the student to swoop in at the first sign of struggle.
And yet…colleges and universities now provide a lifestyle experience for students in addition to their academic program. There is an expectation that your son or daughter can get mental healthcare at school, that the institution supports them as they form their adult identities, and that someone or some office will have the resources to resolve problems before or as soon as they occur. This is not realistic for everyone, though (please don’t skip the footnote to this comment).4
Health coaches are a valuable resource if you know what you’re looking for and how to find the right one for your student. Make sure they are clear on who they’ll be working with–will it be you and the student, or with the student and only the student? Determine before you begin what their role is within the larger picture of the student and his or her goals and needs. Have a time frame. And don’t forget to be excited, and get ready for a great semester, whether it’s their first as an undergraduate or their home stretch final year of graduate school. The college years should be a wonderful time of learning, growing, and acquiring tools for the rest of a person’s life.
Does your student have the right support so that they can succeed and flourish?
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Dr. Paula Bruno, Ph.D., L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, an AOBTA-CP traditional Chinese bodywork therapist, a health coach, and an author. She maintains an active and growing practice at her Austin, TX office. Dr. Bruno is also available for distance appointments for wellness consultation or coaching.
In her first career, she was a Spanish professor.
Dr. Bruno’s specialties as a Chinese medicine practitioner include: • Musculoskeletal health (acute or chronic pain relief; Ehlers Danlos syndrome & hypermobility support) • Digestive support, gut health, and weight loss • Aesthetic treatment, including scar revision • Men’s health • General preventative care and wellness support for all persons.
She is the author of Chinese Medicine and the Management of Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide. Dr. Bruno also maintains a second website, holistichealthandheds.com, with resources and information curated specifically for people with hEDS and HSD.
When you are ready to discover what traditional medicine plus a vibrant and engaged approach to holistic health can do for you, either contact Dr. Bruno or book an appointment online.
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Two Hearts Wellness does not accept paid advertising on this website
Note: Material on this web site site is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease, illness, or ailment. A Chinese medicine practitioner in Texas identifies syndrome patterns but does not diagnose illness. Material on this web site does not purport to identify syndrome patterns.
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- For more information on the subject of eating disorders in college, refer to “Trends in eating disorder risk among U.S. college students, 2013–2021” and “College Students and Eating Disorders.” ↩︎
- A health coach can be great for things like the freshman 15, for getting the student’s habits and microbiome in order, and for establishing a good relationship with food. Eating disorders require a higher level of professionalism and experience. However, as long as the coach knows when to refer out or to defer to a therapist or other medical care provider, the health coach can support healthy habits even if the student is challenged by disordered eating. ↩︎
- Given my background as a professor, I can and sometimes do ask student health coaching clients about what they’re actually doing to prepare for exams or term papers. In such cases, I will give feedback regarding how they might plan their strategy. But when it comes to the daily project of studying and planning, generally that would be a tutor or peer advisor’s role. ↩︎
- This is an entirely separate blog post, but it is important to decide just how much to rely on the institution if there are serious issues. See, for instance, “Sent Away: When students in crisis ask for help, will they be kicked off campus? Depends on the college.” Schools are not necessarily equipped to support students with ongoing or crisis-level needs. Refer to “‘You’re a Case Number’: The Bureaucratic Gaps Behind Harvard’s Mental Health Leaves of Absence” (be aware that there is a content warning for this article, and I quote: “Mentions of suicide and self-harm; descriptions of depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric conditions.“). Another article that discusses suicide is “When Colleges Fail at Mental Health.” Your average health coach is not in any way capable of meaningfully supporting such vulnerable students. However, as a parent of a student in this context, you might want to consult with a coach who knows academia very well. The coach can help you to discern how much to rely on the institution and when to consider an outside therapist or mental health support team, for instance. And if your son or daughter has a mental health support system in place, they can work with a mature, experienced health coach along with their therapist. There is a place for health coaching when the student is vulnerable but, as with endnote #2, above, it’s a matter of student safety and an issue of “as long as the coach knows when to refer out or to defer to a therapist or other medical care provider.” ↩︎
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