A couple of months into his first semester at Kansas University, and freshman Barak Krengel is worn out.

There’s the change in climate from his hometown of Dallas, life with hundreds of new acquaintances in the residence halls, all the homework and late nights spent out with friends.

“You end up falling asleep at 3 or 4 in the morning,” Krengel said last week.

So it’s probably not a surprise that Krengel has spent much of the fall a touch under the weather.

“I’ve been pretty sick,” he said.

That’s hardly surprising to Patricia Denning, chief of staff at KU’s Watkins Health Center. She routinely warns students to avoid tobacco and get plenty of rest and exercise.

Almost as routinely, she sees the advice ignored.

Kansas University senior Matt Marietta, Oskaloosa, lifts freeweights Tuesday at the Student Recreation Fitness Center. The facility, which opened in 2003, features a bevy of exercise equipment for KU students.

“Many times it’s difficult for them to be motivated to follow through on those things – they know they should be getting eight hours of sleep regularly, but there’s temptation there to be out partying with their friends, and up late at night, so it’s hard sometimes to discipline yourself to follow through on those things,” Denning said.

It is during this time of year – after midterms, as the semester heads into the stretch run – that business picks up at Watkins, Denning said, with as many as 350 students a day seeking medical help.

The problem, she said, is that so many students arrive at KU unready to fix their health once they’ve let it slip.

Ill-prepared

The American College Health Assn. said that a spring 2004 survey of 47,000 students on 74 university campuses showed that 8.8 percent of students don’t have health insurance. Another 5.3 percent didn’t know whether or not they were insured.

“And that might be a slight underestimate,” said Victor Leino, research director for the organization.

KU is no exception.

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“I think a lot of college students come to KU ill-prepared for their health care delivery,” Denning said.

“They often do not know some very basic things, sometimes – their health history,” she said. “Certainly they oftentimes do not know the names of their medications that they’re taking. And oftentimes they don’t know if they have insurance. And if they do, what are the rules of their insurance?”

That lack of knowledge can complicate the road to recovery, Denning said. Doctors can be slowed in ordering an X-ray, she said, if a student doesn’t know his or her insurance situation.

“Many times (students) do not know,” she said. “That often makes the student take the time out to find mom or dad at their job, call them up. Hopefully they get ahold of them, and (the parents) tell them whether or not they have insurance.”

And dangers loom when students don’t know the names of the medications they’re already taking.

“That happens fairly frequently, and it is frustrating, in that it makes it difficult to know how to proceed as far as – if you want to treat a patient with a medication, you need to know what they’re on so you can avoid drug interaction problems,” Denning said.

Difficult

Charles Caron, a 36-year-old junior from Garnett, is old enough to know to avoid those kinds of problems, at least. But college, combined with a full-time job, is taking its toll.

“It’s taxing my sleep. I don’t sleep as well,” Caron said, adding: “I’m always listless; I don’t have any energy to do anything. It’s really slowing me down, I’m not eating right, all my healthy habits are going away.”

Denning is sympathetic. She said it’s not always easy for students to take time to care for themselves.

“I think it varies,” she said. “There are some students who have a good understanding of what they need to do. Many times it’s difficult for them to be motivated to follow through on those things.”