Deteriorating mental health is a rising issue among the youth all over the world, especially the students in various college and universities. Many surveys have been conducted in the top universities of the world to find the mental health conditions of the students, and the results are quite concerning.

According to the surveys, over 95% of college students suffer some form of mental condition, many whom are freshman who have just started their professional academic courses. More than 30% percent of the students suffer from clinical depression, 6% of which have suicidal tendencies and many students even attempting to take their own lives. Out of all the students who drop out of college or university, 62% said that they withdrew due to issues related to their mental health.

Prolonged issues related to mental health, if left treated, can have serious implications on the persons, overall functioning. 75% of the students having mental health issues aren’t even properly diagnosed. This is because of inadequate facilities at the University and the huge amount of stress which they undergo.

Studies have shown that one in four students suffer from a clinically diagnosed mental health disorders. The most concerning mental health issues faced by the students in colleges and universities are as follows:

• Anxiety- Anxiety is the most common mental health issue faced by youth. Though most people face some sort of anxiety and find ways by themselves to cope with it, if it get out of control for a prolonged duration, can lead to various other serious psychological problems.
• Depression- Depression is also among the top mental issues among the students face. Depression can be of various degrees and can effect the grades and the health of an individual including, reduced levels of energy, and focus.
• Panic Disorders- Many students find it hard to cope with the stress of their curriculum and experience panic attacks, which is also an implication of anxiety.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)- PTSD is also one of the issues which is faced by students during their studies, because of unfortunate traumatic experiences which they may have faced.
• Suicidal Tendencies and Ideation- Suicides cases among the college and university students have been rising, with many students having suicidal tendencies and suicide ideation issues, which can prove to be dangerous.
• Eating disorders- These type of disorders are the most hidden and neglected, as they are not acknowledged by most as clinical disorders and are identified as mere traits of one’s personality.
• Insomnia- This is among the most common issues among students, which disturbs their sleeping schedules and stops individuals from sleeping at night and leaving them tired and weak.

In order to improve mental health, there are various steps one can take which can significantly help them with their psychological conditions.

Here is a list of mental health tips which can be adopted by students undergoing problems related to their mental health:

1. Having a support network: Having people who you trust can help you to improve your mental health, as a college student goes through a lot of stuff, good and bad, and having people who you can share your thoughts freely can definitely help relieving the stress which a student faces from different sources during their academic courses.
2. Eating Right: Taking care of your body is advised for everybody, but people experiencing psychological discomforts are especially suggested to adopt a healthy lifestyle, which includes the right nutrition, as it has been noted by many scientists that a healthy diet, constitutes to better functioning of the brain, and allows people to be more energetic and have a positive outlook towards life. It also gives them the strength to tackle the various obstacles people come across in their day to day life 
3. Being more Active: Including some form of physical activity in your daily routine can increase your physical health as well as improve your mental health. Going for jogging, or working out regularly can serve as a form of therapy to improve your mental health by increasing blood circulation can provide more oxygen to the brain which can help in its recovery from continuous fatigue. Physical activities such as swimming, cycling, walking, dancing, and aerobics allow a person to reduce their stress levels can help with many mental health related issues such as anxiety, and depression. 
4. Getting proper Sleep: Sleep and mental health are very closely related to each as any change in one of them is reflected through the other. If one’s sleeping scheduled is changed, this can be because of an imbalance in their mental health, and vice versa. Poor sleep schedule has been linked to weakened immune system and causing mental health issues. Thus, getting proper REM sleep is imperative for maintaining and improving mental health of an individual. 
5. Getting rid of Toxic Habits: We know that getting rid of one’s toxic habits is a lot easier said than done, but there’s one thing which we can say without a doubt, that leaving a toxic habit can improve one’s physical and mental health tremendously. There are some habits which cause less damage than others, but having a healthy lifestyle means having productive traits. Toxic habits such as smoking cigarettes, substance abuse including binge drinking and alcohol might give you a momentary high, but all highs come with their lows, which can have serious implication on your health both physically and mentally. People suffering from mental issues are more likely to take drugs as a means of temporary relief but this drives them further in a state of depression and increases their mental health problems. Thus, giving up drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, is the first step towards improving mental health.
6. Avoid the influence of social media: Social media was created for us to stay connected with our loved ones. But in recent years, it has been used for everything but that. People share images and videos of events going on in their lives, which people can look at. But these images always show off their vacation pictures, graduation photos and other achievements, rarely do people show their failures and shortcoming, in many cases people even share fabricated images. Constantly having to look at such images might provoke a sense of underachievement or decrease confidence in a person which can prove to be a cause of many mental health issues, such as  anxiety, low esteem, and even depression.

Understanding the reality of social media, and not letting the events of other individuals upset you or get to your head, is very important to improve mental health of a person. 

7. Make some time for yourself: Life for a college student can get quite demanding and restless. Therefore, it is important that you make some time for yourself. Take a break from anything, that has been giving you a lot of trouble and stress, pause it for a while and take some “me time”. Use this time to do anything that you like, a hobby, watch movies, go somewhere, eat your favourite meal, visit your family, anything, that allows you to let go of the stress and rejuvenate.

Taking breaks from demanding tasks regularly, has been considered to be a great way to improve mental health of an individual and increase their functionality by allowing them to get rid of some stress of work from time to time. 

8. Set realistic Goals: In order to improve mental health of an individual it is important to set small or realistic goals, which can be achieve in the near future with reasonable efforts. This gives a person a sense of achievement and helps them in gaining their confidence and self-esteem. Thus it is important that the goals are not too competitive, so as to overwhelm the person undergoing mental distress.

Take little steps in improving the ability to work, and increase the self-confidence and skills, thus making you better equipped in dealing with bigger tasks and issues.

9. Seek peace of mind: Calming your mind and gathering your thoughts is important for any individual for them to improve mental health. Seek measures which you can do to get some peace of mind. Exercises, such as meditation, reading, writing, music, yoga have been proven to help in improving the mental state of a person.

Self-awareness is also an important which helps in the path to recovery. It makes an individual aware of their current state, helps in improving their decision making process. This allows them to make better choices which will prove to be beneficial for them and hence improve mental health.   

10. Get rid of monotonous routine: The human brain thrives on different and new stimuli. In a monotonous routine, the cognitive functioning of the brain gets restricted because of doing the same activities and seeing the same things over and over again. It reduces the attention and concentration capabilities of an individual. This increases boredom, which can also be an underlying cause of stress.

Look for ways, which keep you entertained, and find creative ways to break your monotonous cycle. Do new and fun activities, which allow you to learn something new, and helps in getting rid of boredom. This gives you a chance to let of avoidable stresses which could have led to various issues. Thus improve mental health.

11. Travel: Travelling to new places can have multiple health benefits which can improve mental health of an individual. The various health benefits of travelling are that  it helps you in staying fit and active, it allows you to break the monotonous routine which can help in improving mental health as mentioned above, it increases cognitive skills and creativity of an individual, it teaches self-reliance and makes you more self-dependant, it increases self-confidence and self-esteem, and above all, it reduces stress by inducing a sense of happiness, and increasing cortisol level in an person, which help improve the mental health of a person and get them out of depression.
12. Effective Stress Management: Stress in itself is not regarded as an illness, but has been characterised as a major contributor to many other psychological disorders, such as depression, anxiety, psychosis and PTSD among many others. At the same time, no matter how much we try, stress is an integrated feature of the functioning of the human brain. This is why effect stress management is very important to improve the mental health of an individual.

There are plenty of things which a person can do in order to effectively manage their stress levels such as, improving eat habits, identifying the sources of stress, managing time, meditation, enough sleep, any physical activity such as dancing, jogging, sports or gym etc.

13. Value yourself: Valuing one’s self is directly linked to increased self-esteem, which plays a crucial role in a person’s mental health. As low self-esteem is a direct consequence of various mental health problems, it is imperative that you give importance to your self-worth, which is a crucial mental health tip for college students.
14. Talk to your Campus Counsellor: Every college and university has a campus counsellor who is in charge of handling various issues related to student welfare, including their mental health. This is why; they encourage interaction between suffering students who may be deal with a lot of stress and mental health problem. Campus counsellor can help you in identifying the causes behind your problems and help you in taking required steps in dealing with it.
15. Seek professional Assistance: Although all of the above measures are effective and have been proven to improve mental health, they still do not over rule the importance of consulting a mental health professional. There is a stigma around going to a medical professional for your mental health, which seems to stop many individuals from seeking professional assistance with their mental health problems. You must always put your mental health above all else, and get the medication and treatment that you need after a proper diagnosis from a psychiatric or a doctor specialising in mental health. 

Hope this article helped you in identifying the importance of dealing with the mental health issues which many of the college students are facing today, and provided you some tips which can help to improve sleep and mental health of yourself or a peer.