Student Wellbeing Series: Topic Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Student Wellbeing Series
Part 4:
Strategies for Preventing Mental Health Crises and Building Healthy Habits
Overview
For many students, college represents an important period of growth and key moments in which lifelong habits regarding health and wellbeing are formed. Developing healthy habits in college is not only beneficial for students’ future selves but can help reduce students’ stress and anxiety during school (Bamber & Schneider, 2016; Greeson et al., 2014) and may therefore help prevent stress-related mental health crises. There are several simple, everyday activities and strategies that instructors can employ to help students learn and develop healthy habits and to encourage their wellbeing.
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Physical Activity and Mental Health
Literature suggests that regular physical activity can help with depression and anxiety (Carek, Laibstain, & Carek, 2011; Crews, 2004), both common challenges faced by college students (Bayram & Bilgel, 2008; Blanco & Okuda, 2008), and known to have detrimental effects on performance (Bruffaerts et al., 2018).
Though studies in higher education are emerging, there is considerable literature at the primary and secondary level to suggest that moderate amounts of physical activity can promote academic and cognitive performance (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011; Maher et al., 2016; Von Thiele Schwarz & Hasson, 2011; Watson et al., 2017; Wittberg & Cottrel, 2009). Instructors can encourage students to explore possible avenues for physical activity by reminding them that their student fees grant them access to the UC Davis ARC. Consider providing a link to the ARC’s website on your syllabus and encouraging them to visit the Center during stressful times in the quarter (i.e., midterms, before exams, and during finals). Additionally, if you regularly exercise or routinely incorporate physical activity into your life, consider mentioning this to students as a model for healthy behavior.
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Mindfulness and Meditation
Other useful strategies for stress-management are mindfulness exercises and meditation. Mindfulness is generally defined as “the skill of learning to pay attention, without judgment, to one’s present-moment experience” (Greeson et al., 2014). Research has shown that students who participate in mindfulness exercises are less stressed, have fewer problems sleeping, and have more self-compassion (Greeson et al., 2014). Additionally, in their extensive review of the literature, Bamber and Schneider (2016) found that overall research suggests that mindfulness meditation exercises show promise in reducing students’ stress and anxiety in college. Meditation and other mindfulness exercises can not only easily be integrated into students’ everyday routines but can also be incorporated into the classroom through quick, guided activities.
Healthy UC Davis provides a few examples of meditation and mindfulness exercises. Before tests or exams, have students close their eyes and take deep, measured breaths, thinking only of the present moment. You can guide students through the meditation by having them inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and then exhale for 4 seconds. You can also have students visualize being successful on exams or important class assignments and/or begin class by having students free write about something they’re either grateful for or feel positively about. As mindfulness exercises promote paying attention to the present moment, it can also be useful to encourage students to complete one task at a time, rather than attempting to multitask.
- Additional Resources
Healthy UC Davis has created several open-access resources about health and wellbeing for students to access online. Resources include podcasts and video guides, articles and fact sheets, helpful mobile applications, and more. Topics of these resources include (but are not limited to):
- General Stress Management
- Mindfulness
- Meditation
- Resilience
The whole catalog of open-access resources can be found here: Healthy UC Davis: Open Access Resources. Consider linking to this website on your syllabus, Canvas site, and taking time throughout the quarter to encourage your students to check out these resources.- Citation
- Center for Educational Effectiveness [CEE]. (2025). Student wellbeing series. Just-in-Time Teaching Resources. https://cee.ucdavis.edu/jitt/student-wellbeing
- References
- Bamber, M. D., & Schneider, J. K. (2016). Mindfulness-based meditation to decrease stress and anxiety in college students: A narrative synthesis of the research. Educational Research Review, 18, 1–32.
Bayram, N., & Bilgel, N. (2008). The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43(8), 667–672. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0345-x
Blanco, C., & Okuda, M. (2008). Mental health of college students and their non–college-attending peers. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65(12), 1429–1437. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.65.12.1429
Bruffaerts, R., Mortier, P., Kiekens, G., Auerbach, R. P., Cuijpers, P., Demyttenaere, K., … Kessler, R. C. (2018). Mental health problems in college freshmen: Prevalence and academic functioning. Journal of Affective Disorders, 225, 97–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.07.044
Carek, P. J., Laibstain, S. E., & Carek, S. M. (2011). Exercise for the treatment of depression and anxiety. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 41(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.2190/PM.41.1.c
Crews, D. J. (2004). Aerobic physical activity effects on psychological well-being in low-income Hispanic children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 98, 319–324.
Donnelly, J. E., & Lambourne, K. (2011). Classroom-based physical activity, cognition, and academic achievement. Preventive Medicine, 52(Suppl.), S36–S42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.01.021
Greeson, J. M., Juberg, M. K., Maytan, M., James, K., & Rogers, H. (2014). A randomized controlled trial of Koru: A mindfulness program for college students and other emerging adults. Journal of American College Health, 62(4), 222–233.
Maher, C., Lewis, L., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Dumuid, D., Cassidy, L., & Olds, T. (2016). The associations between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and academic performance. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 19(12), 1004–1009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2016.02.010
Pronk, S. J., Pronk, N. P., Sisco, A., Ingalls, D. S., & Ochoa, C. (1995). Impact of a daily 10-minute strength and flexibility program in a manufacturing plant. American Journal of Health Promotion, 9(3), 175–178.
Tsai, H. H., Yeh, C. Y., Su, C. T., Chen, C. J., Peng, S. M., & Chen, R. Y. (2013). The effects of exercise program on burnout and metabolic syndrome components in banking and insurance workers. Industrial Health, 51(3), 336–346. https://doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.2012-0188
Von Thiele Schwarz, U., & Hasson, H. (2011). Employee self-rated productivity and objective organizational production levels: Effects of worksite health interventions involving reduced work hours and physical exercise. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 53(8), 838–844. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e31822589c2
Warburton, D. E. R., Nicol, C. W., & Bredin, S. S. D. (2006). Health benefits of physical activity: The evidence. CMAJ, 174(6), 801–809. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.051351
Watson, A., Timperio, A., Brown, H., Best, K., & Hesketh, K. D. (2017). Effect of classroom-based physical activity interventions on academic and physical activity outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-017-0569-9
Wittberg, R. A., Northrup, K. L., & Cottrel, L. (2009). Children’s physical fitness and academic performance. American Journal of Health Education, 40(1), 30–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2009.10599076