Talk to most students about their early university experiences and at some point they'll mention succumbing to a ferocious bout of "freshers' flu". Late nights, excessive alcohol, poor diet, new pressures and exposure to an unprecedented assortment of other people makes the average first-year undergraduate a perfect target for opportunistic bugs.

"I went down with a cold in my second week," says Rebecca Woodhouse, a graduate of Liverpool Hope. "I couldn't seem to shake it off. It lasted a month - a month of feeling sluggish."

With any luck this will be the worst health hiccup you'll be confronted with at university. But to judge by the mass of alarming advice at freshers' fairs and in the student welfare handbooks you'll find in your pigeon hole, the next three to four years could involve tussles with all manner of illnesses and hazards.

Juggling studies, friends and finances may be a pleasure for most, but for some it can be daunting. Add to this the temptations of a life freed from the constraints of home and school. Increasing emphasis on widening access to higher education means there is a growing constituency of students without the back-up of financially secure or stable homes upon which to depend.

Nowadays, muddling through is no longer an option. A minimum of a 2.1 is increasingly required for postgraduate study and employers frequently want to see that students have acquired relevant work experience, too. "Times have changed," says John Cowley, a senior student counsellor at Cardiff University. "Students today have to be highly focused. And those that aren't can quickly feel very lost."

The pressures are not all external. The late teens and early 20s are a time when underlying psychological troubles can rear their heads and away from home, the possibility of no one noticing is greater. But remember: should difficulties occur, you are not alone. Universities and student unions are practised at offering effective welfare advice and support. And it's free - making university, in many ways, the best possible place to "unpack" any emotional baggage you may be dragging along with you from home or school, or to confront the anxieties of facing up to the responsibilities of adult life.

Step one is to get yourself on the books of a GP near to your accommodation. Often there will be a dedicated university health centre where you can register. You'll be asked for your NHS card and the details of your previous doctor, but you'll still be taken on if you don't have them.

Accidents
According to RoSPA, more than 4,000 people die due to domestic accidents each year and many of these are down to the following: "impatience, carelessness, stress, fatigue, absentmindedness, irresponsible behaviour and taking risks". If this reads like a fairly comprehensive assessment of your likely state of mind when tackling potentially hazardous tasks such as cooking, take care. It's a good idea not to use your thumb to prise open tins, or try to part frozen hamburgers with sharp knives.

Beware of leaving chips deep-frying on your return from the pub while you sit down to rest. More than 11,000 fires occur each year thanks to this scenario. Wires and clothing strewn across on the floor can be a threat to health and safety, too, and if chilling out is your thing, be warned - there are more than 2,000 fires a year caused by candles.

Sexual health
"Cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are going through the roof," states Sarah Boyce, women's officer for NUS Wales. While the hazards of HIV/Aids are likely to be clear in the minds of most first years, other disorders, such as chlamydia, are far less well understood - particularly given the frequent lack of symptoms associated with the illness when first contracted. But if left untreated it poses a considerable threat to women's fertility.

Thanks to these blind spots in students' knowledge, and the frequent maelstrom of sexual activity that characterises the early stages of some people's university life, most unions will be eager to supply you with condoms. Also be prepared for a good supply of consciousness-raising, ranging from beer-mat slogans to sexual health quiz nights in bars (Queens, Belfast) to the giant, talking papier-mâché penis that was recently used to deliver safe sex messages at Brunel.

Among the core messages you'll encounter will be the importance of being responsible and assertive when it come to condom use. Remember that in sleeping with one person you are, in effect, sleeping with all their previous partners.

Date-rape drugs
It is a sad reflection of the times that it is now instinctive among young people to keep their hands over their drinks and to ask friends to keep an eye on their glass if they take a trip to the loo. The incidence of attacks using date-rape drugs is on the increase and accepting drinks from strangers is strictly taboo.

Drugs
The NUS encourages its member unions to adopt an entirely practical approach when it comes to the drugs messages they disseminate. This is sensible given the scale of drug experimentation taking place among students - one estimate published in 1997 suggested it was something as many as 63% of undergraduates engage in.

There is not the space here to repeat specific information about individual drugs and their effects (you will be supplied with this in the health literature distributed by your university or union). Better to repeat some of the more generic tips that should govern all drug-taking:

· Avoid using drugs alone
· do not buy drugs from people unknown to you - although ultimately you are always taking a chance with possible adulteration
· tell people what you are taking
· avoid drug cocktails or using drugs in combination with alcohol
· don't attempt to drive following drug use.

Meningitis
According to the National Meningitis Trust, widespread immunisation against the "C" form of meningitis has encouraged worrying complacency among students towards this potentially lethal disease. The vaccine is only 80% effective and there's no inoculation for the common "B" strain.

The meningococcal bacteria are present at the back of the throat in one in 10 people, but students in their first weeks of university have proved twice as vulnerable to it, compared with the general 18 to 25 population.

Its association with kissing is misleading. It can be passed by coughing and sneezing and can take two paths through the body, sometimes both. If it attacks the lining of the brain or the spinal cord, the symptoms include severe headaches, neck stiffness and sensitivity to light. If the route is through the blood, it causes septicaemia. This is the more deadly form of the disease and is characterised by a red rash that does not lose its colour when compressed by a glass. Someone contracting meningitis can deteriorate quickly, although the symptoms resemble flu in the early stages.

Being educated about the disease can be essential, even when you take yourself off to casualty. For Helen Liley, a fresher at Bristol University, having a meningitis symptoms card with her when she went to hospital with an alarming rash and extremely stiff joints helped her to persuade staff that she was dangerously ill. She ended up being in hospital for only a week. "The doctors were pleased with my recovery but it was because they said I spotted it fast," she says. "Reading the meningitis card I really do believe actually saved my life."

Mental health
"If people feel anxious or depressed they should not grin and bear it, but seek help as soon as possible," says Annie Grant, director of student services at Leicester University. Sadly, it is likely that at some time during your first year you may feel down. One piece of research estimates that as many as six in 10 freshers experience some depression and that between 10 and 20% of students will seek psychiatric help during the course of their studies.

The worst time is the period immediately after students return from their Christmas holidays. By then the honeymoon with student life is over. You may have woken up to the fact that, while you were hot stuff at school, there are many seemingly more intelligent and confident people around you at college.

In addition, work pressures will have started to mount ahead of summer examinations. Add to this the "empty nest syndrome" affecting parents: significant numbers of students discover over winter break that their parents, having made a go of staying together while their offspring are young, have decided to part now their children are at university.

Universities are well equipped to help students experiencing all sorts of worries.

At Cardiff University there is an impressive array of taught sessions offering specific advice about topics such as self-esteem or homesickness, and a rolling programme of stress management courses throughout term-time. At Greenwich, students are able to access free aromatherapy and hypnotherapy.

For those with more severe worries there will be access to free confidential counselling, although you may have to wait a while at the peak time of need in periods near to examinations. "It usually takes only five or so meetings with a counsellor to help things improve," explains John Cowley, at Cardiff University. "Sessions will last 50 minutes or so and will sometimes focus on altering the kinds of negative or illogical thinking that can make life miserable."

Contacts General health information
Channel4 health magazine
Meningitis Trust
NHS England
Health Promotion Agency, Northern Ireland
NHS Scotland
Health department, Wales

Helplines
NHS Direct
0845 4647
Drinkline helpline
0800 917 7377
Brook Advisory Centre
020 7617 8000
Sexwise
0800 282930 (under 19s)
British Pregnancy Advisory Service
08457 304030
National Aids Helpline
0800 567 123
Release (drugs and legal advice)
020 7729 9904
National Drugs Helpline
0800 776600
The Samaritans
08457 909090
National Schizophrenia Fellowship
020 8547 6814
Depression Alliance
020 7633 0557