10 Activities That Improve Mental Health For College Students

The transition to college life is exciting, but it can also be a vulnerable time for students. Not only are you dealing with new challenges like managing your time, juggling conflicting priorities, and meeting and living with strangers, you’re also away from the structure, comforts, and constraints of living with family.

“Not only is it a time of gaining fragile independence, but it's also a time of great inner change,” explains Donna C. Moss, MA, LCSW-R, a therapist in private practice who specializes in teens and young adults.

“The neurochemical world is also shifting inside — from experiencing consequences, grey areas of life, emotional regulation, and pruning back all the millions of connections in that brain to experimentation, novelty, free expression, and creativity.”

Some students thrive, she says, but some struggle. “For those who find change exciting, it will be a great lift-off. For those who are more fearful, it can be a big avoidance-fest. Some have been coddled, maybe even a whole generation. Some have zero life experience, having lived on their phones for the last eight years.

And still others are barely making it — food insecurity is real, even at fancy colleges. Yet others will have the ‘roommate from hell’ experience. Imagine arriving at a college where you're not making friends and suffering in silence.”

As stress begins to build because, say, deadlines or instructor expectations are missed, rather than confront the causes, some students double-down on avoidance and sink into an abyss of cutting class, bed rotting, and doom scrolling. These conditions are more likely to feed anxiety than to allay it.

In the NCHA study, contributing factors included worries about finances (14.4%), intimate relationships (10%), or the health of a loved one (9.6%). But one really stood out: a whopping 43% cited procrastination.

Procrastination and Anxiety

Anxiety and procrastination go hand in hand. Anxiety fuels procrastination, because it often triggers avoidance.

Pain avoidance feels natural, however in college avoidance has consequences that students may not have experienced in high school, where they could fall back on things like make-up exams and extra-credit work.

By the same token, procrastination feeds anxiety, because everything that does get accomplished is done at the last minute, with too-little preparation, and at the expense of sleep and other healthy habits. It becomes a vicious circle.

“College students show up to therapy with a vast array of avoidance, procrastination, and anxiety behaviors,” says Moss. “The majority of procrastinators say they do it because of perfectionism.

Perfectionism is indeed part of high-functioning anxiety. The link among perfectionism, anxiety, and procrastination should be clear to anyone who ever pulled an all-nighter on a paper or test (and let's face it, who hasn't). In the end, the stress is not worth it.”

So how can students break through?

“It removes so much pressure to ‘just do it!,’” Moss says. “Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT is great for this. You have to challenge the obstacles and do it anyway. Or as one of my college clients said, ‘Do it scared.’ It helps to visualize the celebration you’ll have once it's done and dusted!”

10 Activities That Improve Mental Health

There are many activities that can help college students improve their mental health and wellbeing. Here are ten that experts say have the greatest impact:

1. Keep a Regular Schedule

Despite the popularity of the bed rotting TikTok trend — where you hunker down in bed all day not because you’re tired or ill but to relax, destress, and fill the time with comforting, passive activities like TV watching or scrolling social media content — making a habit of it negatively affects both mood and health.

Over time staying in bed all day disrupts your circadian rhythm, setting off a cascade of responses in the body that are almost designed to increase feelings of anxiety and overwhelm.

Our bodies have internal clocks that regulate important functions through the production of hormones, such as melatonin (sleep), serotonin and dopamine (anxiety and depression), insulin (hunger), ghrelin (hunger), leptin (satiety and energy balance), adrenaline (stress), and cortisol (anxiety and hunger).

Our internal clock is best regulated by keeping a consistent sleep-wake cycle, among other things. So students struggling with anxiety or procrastination need to do the opposite of bed rotting — bring order and sameness to your days, and establish more healthful habits.

“Create a structured plan for every day — a giant white board calendar if necessary,” advises Moss. “Schedule time-management, breaks, relaxation, and bedtime. Schedule alarms, due dates, important deadlines, etc. Use this routine as your guardrail. And be sure to get enough sleep!”

2. Get Good Sleep

Lack of sleep is a common problem (20%) for university students, but it’s not an inevitability of college life, so don’t shrug it off. Sleep is highly related to circadian rhythm and lack of sleep disrupts the natural 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, interfering with the production of hormones and metabolic processes.

The results of prolonged sleep disruption can include metabolic disturbances like weight gain, cognitive impairment, and mood disorders like panic and anxiety, and can also weaken the immune system.

Students can give their circadian rhythm a reset and get better sleep by:

• Keeping regular hours — go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, as regular sleep-wake cycles regulate the body’s internal clock.
• Getting early morning sun — photo receptors in the eye induce the production of melatonin, which is a serotonin-derived hormone that’s essential to circadian rhythm.
• Using your bed solely as the place to sleep — do your studying, TV watching, and other passive activities someplace else.
• Sleeping in a quiet, cool, darkened room — darkness stimulates the pineal gland, which produces melatonin and promotes sleepiness.
• Establishing a nightly ritual before bed — this reduces stress and signals the body that it's time to wind down.
• Doing calming exercises before sleep like stretching or yoga moves — it promotes relaxation, reduces stress, and prepares the body for rest and recovery.
• Taking a hot bath or shower before bedtime — lowering core body temperature when you cool off from a hot bath or shower is a circadian rhythm signal.
• Writing down intrusive thoughts on paper — this can reduce cognitive arousal, rumination, and worry.
• Reading or listening to a soothing book — this can promote relaxation, distract you from intrusive thoughts, and the regularity of the habit will prepare your body for sleep.
• Listening to binaural beats — hearing different frequencies in either ear increases DHEA levels, which control other circadian rhythm hormones.

3. Eat Healthy Food

There’s an established connection between diet and mental health. Not only is what you eat important, when you eat affects circadian rhythm that in turn affects the production of hormones that contribute to anxiety, such as adrenaline and cortisol. So eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at regular intervals, and avoid night eating or snacking.

Avoid eating a lot of sugar, too. Cortisol is affected by blood sugar levels. Eating and drinking foods high in sugar and simple carbohydrates can cause dramatic spikes and dips that bring on feelings of irritability, frustration, and anxiety.

Rather than eating for comfort, eat to fuel your brain and body with a focus on nutrient-dense foods. Certain vitamins and minerals play a crucial role in brain function and mood, and you won’t get them on a diet of junk food.

Deficiencies in B vitamins, magnesium and omega-3 fatty acids, especially, can exacerbate feelings of anxiety. In addition, poor diet impairs the production of mood regulating hormones like serotonin.

Finally, there’s the gut-brain connection. A poor diet, high in processed foods and low in plant fiber, disrupts the balance of bacteria in the gut. This gut dysbiosis sends signals to the brain that affect mood and anxiety levels.

4. Exercise

We all know by now that exercise is important for physical fitness, but understand that it also helps regulate your mood by reducing levels of stress hormones and releasing endorphins, which are natural mood boosters that can counteract feelings of anxiety.

Exercise can also distract you from worrying. Plus, meeting fitness goals boosts self-confidence and those feelings of accomplishment can extend to other areas of your life, including confidence in your coursework and in your ability to meet expectations and deadlines.

Physical activity also helps to regulate sleep, and good sleep has positive effects on your mood and also makes you more resilient to stress.

Any type of exercise is helpful and even a small amount can make a difference if it's daily. The main thing is to establish a consistent routine.

If you enjoy walking or running, try to do it early and outdoors, as morning sunlight is an important cue to circadian rhythm. And studies have shown that being out in nature helps reduce stress.

5. Spend Time in Nature

Spending time in nature is incredibly beneficial to peace of mind. Exposure to sunlight regulates circadian rhythm, enhancing sleep.

Nature also provides a calming environment that is essential to mindfulness. It connects you to the largeness of the universe, and that reduces feelings of isolation.

Communing with nature reduces stress hormones like cortisol that lead to anxiety. And exposure to sunlight and fresh air are known to boost the mood regulating hormone serotonin.

Even students who live on urban campuses can find ways to get out in nature. Many campuses have parks or greens designed for the purpose. Take a break from library study to roll out a blanket on the grass and do your reading there, or on a park bench.

Another way to spend time in nature is to  join a hiking club or volunteer for a community gardening project. As you begin to make new friends, explore local hiking or biking trails together.

When all else fails, bring nature indoors by decorating your dorm room with plants.

6. Practice Mindfulness

Some forms of exercise, such as yoga and tai chi, combine fitness with mindfulness — and they are very effective at reducing stress.

Postures, balance, and flow movements help center the mind on what the body is feeling in the moment, breaking cycles of rumination that are characteristic of anxiety. Even running and swimming can be meditative in their repetition.

You can also try seated mindfulness exercises in between classes or even at your desk while taking a break from studying. Here’s one called a “body scan” that can be done anywhere and requires no equipment:

Sit comfortably in your chair with your feet resting on the floor and your hands resting on your thighs, palms facing up. Begin by breathing regularly through your nose, in and out, just noting the rhythm of the breath. Now move that attention to your body, noting any places of stiffness or soreness or tingling.

One by one, beginning with the toes, move your attention up your body, noting how each body part is feeling: feet, ankles, calves, knees, etc. When you reach the top of your head, imagine that you are expelling your breath out of your body through an imaginary “blow hole,” like a whale, and it is taking your stress with it.

This is just one type of mindfulness exercise. You can find many more online, along with videos to show you how it's done and music to set the mood. There are seated exercises, lying down exercises, visual exercises, and even mindful listening exercises.

The key is to make them, and the stillness they bring you, a daily habit. Like any exercise, mindfulness takes practice — which is one reason that yogis refer to their daily flow as a practice. Keep at it every day and you’ll soon begin to feel the effects.

7. See Family and Friends (In Person, If Possible)

College can be isolating, especially in the early days before you begin making friends. Having a network of supportive people in your life reduces risk of anxiety and depression, boosts resilience, and increases your chances of making a successful transition to adulthood and college life.

So it’s important to remain in contact with family members and old friends — ideally meeting face to face as often as you can. Seeing familiar faces, hearing familiar voices, and having physical contact like hugs, handshakes, and even fist bumps renews your sense of belonging and provides real comfort. All of these reduce stress and anxiety.

Facetime talks and Zoom chats can be a good fallback when family and friends are far away. But when it comes to reducing stress nothing is as good as in-person social interactions. Physical expressions, like a hug, stimulate the release of oxytocin, a hormone that promotes bonding and reduces anxiety.

During in-person interactions, the real-time expressions of empathy, love, and acceptance can be immediately felt. You get the reaction you need, exactly when you need it — and that’s important.

Social media, on the other hand, can seem as if it provides the same benefits, but it doesn’t. It can actually work against you. Social feeds show an idealized version of people's lives. Comparing your life to these idealized snapshots can worsen feelings of inadequacy.

That and FOMO (fear of missing out) can increase anxiety and depression. While social media can give a “sense” of connection, the interactions lack depth and authenticity and don’t promote feelings of well-being.

Finally, social media disrupts your brain’s ability to meet tough challenges. Long hours of rigorous coursework and long-form reading will never give you the constant hits of dopamine that scrolling social media provide your brain.

If you don’t limit social media screen time, you’ll be conditioning your brain to not be able to withstand long periods of the reading, comprehension, and analysis that college coursework requires. You’ll be, in essence, disabling your brain.

There’s a growing body of research that shows creativity can relieve stress, so if you have a creative hobby, lean into it. Creativity is undeniably linked to self-expression, vitality, and sense of purpose in the world. It can also be a powerful tool for self expression, communication, and connection with others — and that’s important to mental wellbeing.

Creative art therapies that are readily available on campuses usually include music, dance, and fine arts. Resources, such as art studios and workshops, music rooms and practice spaces, theatre and dance classes or productions are all great outlets for creative expression. You could also join a writing club or contribute to the campus newspaper, magazine, or radio station.

There may be no other time in a person’s life when creative outlets are so available and well resourced as in your college years, so take advantage.

8. Try Journaling

Writing down your thoughts can also be a form of mindfulness and an effective way to deal with anxiety. Seeing your thoughts in writing reveals patterns that can help you understand what triggers your anxious states.

Not only is writing down your worries a safe outlet for anxious thoughts, it can be cathartic to write your way through them. And writing is an accessible tool that can be done anytime, anywhere, and costs nothing.

There are different types of journaling:

• Free writing just means you write down whatever is in your head without judging.
• Gratitude journaling, where you jot down what you’re thankful for each day, is easy and can be especially helpful, as it gets you to focus on all the good things in your life, which greatly reduces anxiety.
• Thought journaling is where you analyze your thought processes and correct instances of wrongful thinking. Sometimes anxious thoughts just aren’t logical. Recognizing illogical thoughts gives you a chance to correct your thinking. This can be especially powerful in counteracting thoughts of fear and inadequacy that underlie anxiety and depression.

9. Give Back

Nothing is more impactful on feelings of isolation, anxiety, and stress than shifting the focus outward and contributing to something larger than yourself. By volunteering, you gain valuable perspective on how others deal with the hardships of life. And that can help you put your own challenges in their place.

Helping others by volunteering also connects you with your local community, increasing your sense of belonging and shared purpose. It can be a powerful antidote to break a loop of anxious thinking. And helping others will boost feelings of self-esteem and self-worth because it triggers the release of endorphins, which have stress-reducing qualities.

10. Find Your Joy

What does it mean to find your joy? It means observing which activities in life bring you pleasure and prioritizing them. Joy is the antidote to anxiety, which can trap you in cycles of negative thinking.

Joyful activities, like singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, and board games and other hobbies short-circuits these patterns, breaking cycles of rumination and worry.

That’s because when you’re doing what you love, your focus shifts. You’re in the moment. You’re giving your brain a chance to rest.

And joyful experiences trigger the release of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin — hormones that counteract the effects of other hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These “feel-good” hormones promote relaxation and improve your mood.

Take Advantage of Campus Support

In the final analysis, the transition to college and adulthood is stressful for most students at least in the beginning, but there are many activities that will help you take control of your feelings and your health and set yourself up for success.

If you’re feeling despondent and having trouble breaking through, don’t overlook additional campus resources. “If all else fails, ask for help,” says Moss. “There is no shame in reaching out.” As alone as you may be feeling, you are certainly not the only student who is struggling. Email your professor or advisor, or, even better, meet face to face in office hours. You just need to start the conversation with a simple description of how you’re feeling, like: “I’m feeling overwhelmed.” Instructors have heard it many times from many students and will know how to help. Get on a schedule of regular check-ins.

Your instructors or advisors are not the only school resources available to you. Depending on what’s at the root of your anxiety, you may also look to financial aid advisors or diversity offices for help. “Many colleges have mental health providers,” Moss adds. And don’t forget writing centers, she says. In her work with students, she notes that a major stress factor can be the formal essays and theses that they’re not used to writing. At a writing center you can submit a first draft and get back critiques and pointers that will help you polish that final draft. The process of working with others on your papers will make you more confident and keep you on track to meet deadlines. “Take advantage!” says Moss.

Mainly, understand that you are not alone. You’re not the first or the only student to be experiencing anxiety in college. But recognizing the signs — and doing something about it — is up to you. Take the first step: establish a regular schedule, prioritize sleep, healthy eating, and exercise, and add a mindfulness practice or a creative outlet and you’ll be on the right track.