KOCHI: Noisy midnight parties, never-ending-gossiping-sessions, cuddling, teasing, sharing...hostel life can be a lot of fun. Personally, it equips you to live independently and the experience can be hugely beneficial when you chart out your life later on. However, there is a grim downside to hostel life as well, and much of this is related to unhealthy living. It’s a given that food habits and routines take a major beating when you’re deprived of home-made food. Among others, this is one of the single-most important reason why hostelites tend suffer from various short-term health ailments, sometimes leading to long-term effects.Doctor Atira Ravindranath, general physician says that hostelites in general tend to have weaker immunity systems. She gives a list of ailments which hostelites have a high risk of contracting.Contagious diseases quite naturally spread very easily here. She says that if somebody has chicken pox, conjunctivitis, viral fever, cold, the whole group living with them are susceptible. Mal nutrition is quite common among hostelites. They are prone to lifestyle diseases like ulcers and gastritis. Vitamin deficiency, irregular menstrual cycles and constipation are other common issues they suffer from.Most hostels in the city have chlorinated water. It is very easy to get infected with contaminated water and doctors says that such infections can have a debilitating effect on one’s health, resulting in severe dehydration. Liza, an inmate of a private hostel in Kaloor for the last three years, has been suffering hair loss and skin itches due to the water. The hostelites have constantly been asking authorities to provide municipality water, but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. Though her hostel provides boiled water, she’s not sure if it’s really safe, she says.It’s a given that no hostel might be able to provide food like home, but even with reduced expectations, the hygiene standards don’t seem to be up to the mark. Riya, who stays at a hostel in Kadavanthra says food cooked in unclean places creates health issues. She once had food poisoning, and doctors in general are of the view that such issues can have a lasting effect on the digestive tract and stomach, leading to lifestyle diseases like ulcers.Often, hostelites tend to resort to junk food, because they are unsatisfied with what is served to them at the mess. This obviously has repercussions. The lack of nutrition ultimately takes its toll, and most hostelites tend to suffer from low energy levels.But all this does not have to turn you off from a hostel life. It has enough advantages, if only you can consciously take some steps.
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