For this assignment, I decided to interview seven different students on my dorm floor with the same question: What comes to mind when you hear the word health? The answers from all of the students were very similar. One thing that every student said was along the lines of, “The question is so simple but it was hard to put health into words.” My roommate, Griffin said, “The first thing to come to mind when I hear the word health is eating a nutritious diet and exercising.” This response was the same for six of my participants, of which five were guys and one was a girl. One answer that I found very interesting was that two guys, Joe and Jack, both said, “I think of the color green when I hear health.” This did no occur to me, but after thinking about it, green reflects health everywhere. Green is reflected in healthy foods such as broccoli, salads, and peppers, and it is also seen nature such as trees and grass.

I was extremely surprise to observe that the though of mental health was not as prevalent as physical health. Of the seven students interview, only two said anything about mental health. Lia said “To me, health is happiness.” I thought this was a very strong statement because it shows that although you could be extremely fit and eat a healthy diet, if you do not take care of your mental health, you won’t be happy. It helped me to realize that mental health is as important, if not more important, that physical health. Joe referenced taking care of mental wellness by getting enough sleep and relieving stress. As college students, we are prone to going to bed late and waking up early. Most of us do not get nearly enough rest. We are also put in stressful situations day in and day out with classes and exams. My take-away is that we need to take time in each day to just relax and improve our mental wellness.