An unhealthy body is a liability and a great limitation to success. An individual’s food choices each day affect his/her health, how he feels today, tomorrow and in the future. It is therefore important for an individual to maintain good nutrition in order to maintain a good health and to enable such a person perform his/her daily activities which includes: work, school work etc.
This article is aimed at looking at the nexus between good nutrition and academic activities.
WHAT IS NUTRITION?
Nutrition is defined as the taking in of food and using it for growth, metabolism and repair. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines nutrition as the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs.
Nutrition is about eating a healthy and balanced diet. Food and drink provide the energy and nutrients you need to be healthy. Good nutrition provides our body with fuel and energy for carrying out our daily activities and that is why it is essential that we need to replace nutrients in our body with a new supply every day. According to Nutrition experts, good nutrition involves not just eating, but eating balanced diet to include all the classes of food, i.e. vitamins, minerals, fats and oil, etc. Even if one is getting enough to eat and not eating a balanced diet, you may still be at risk of certain nutritional deficiencies.
Good nutrition doesn’t only involve eating food; it also involves avoiding certain foods that may be dangerous to the body if it is taking in little or large quantities. The importance of good nutrition in the human body cannot be overemphasized; hence, it is necessary to examine the importance of good nutrition. Healthy nutrition prevents one from having malnutrition which is the lack of adequate nourishment. It also protects one from various diseases and illnesses including cancer, stroke, diabetes, etc.
Also, lack of good nutrition reduces mental and physical health since good nutrition enables people to be more energetic and active. The Mental Health Foundation has shown that people who eat well barely have mental health issues and a comparison with people who have mental health problems will show that they have poor nutrition habits.
Furthermore, good nutrition helps one to maintain a good immune system which helps to fight against diseases, but poor nutrition is the most common cause of immune deficiencies worldwide. Maintaining your immune system requires an intake of proper vitamins and minerals. Eating a well balanced diet which includes, vegetables, food low in fat, etc., will support a good immune system.
Good nutrition also delays the effects of aging. Foods like tomato contain vitamin which help build collagen, which helps make the skin look firmer and slow premature ageing. It also helps in increasing focus and ones’ pattern of thinking. When the body is not receiving the energy it needs due to lack of glucose, the brain would lack the ability to keep us focused.
Finally, a mountain of research suggests that healthy nutrition radically improves children’s cognitive function and measurable academic achievement.
Academic success means different things to different people. For me it might mean good grades, but to another, it might mean finishing school with the tools needed to be a productive member of the society. Some people look at it as being able to earn a specific grade point, others see it as landing a successful career while others see it as being able to gain admission to a particular graduate program.
Academic success is the extent to which a student has attained their short or long- term educational goals. It can be measured through testing scores, GPA, individual course grades, assignment grades, etc.
WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN NUTRITION AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS?
The link between good nutrition and academic success is too important to ignore. By taking steps to eat healthy, you will be on your way to getting the nutrient your body needs to stay healthy, active and strong. A healthy feeding habit is as important as having good grades, hence, an unhealthy body and poor feeding habit is a limitation to success.
The lack of good nutrition can affect and stunt mental and physical development in young children. It is not possible for a person who has such stunted mental or physical development to achieve academic success, hence the need for good nutrition.
Also, lack of certain diets in nutrition can affect performance in test scores and examinations. Students who have diets lacking in fruits, vegetables, and healthy proteins tend to be affected in their academic performance.
Presence of good nutrition also increases the zeal for learning, when one doesn’t eat well, he tends not to be zealous about learning or academic activities. This is because there is certainly no balance between poor nutrition and proper learning. And when there is no zeal for learning, there is little to no possibility for academic success to be achieved.
Researchers also agree that quality diet is associated with better performance in tests. Also, they agree that improving the quality of student’s diet will lead to better performance in test scores, maths scores, etc. This means that every student has the potential to perform better can do so if there is an improvement in the nutrition of such a student.
CONCLUSION
From the above, it can be seen that nutrition is crucial to one's academic performance. In order to ensure good academic success, there has to be an adequate intake of a balanced diet which will make for adequate nutrition to provide the body with the necessary nutrients to carry out academic work with ease and also to attain academic success.
This article was written by Chidinma Onuoha