Reading Time: 2 minutes Finding a romantic relationship is no easy taskâespecially if you’re shy. Our counselor offers some tips on how to get out of your comfort zone in the dating world.
Reading Time: 3 minutes A good recommendation letter can be huge for landing a job or internship. Make sure you’re getting the best recommendation using these tips from a college professor.
Reading Time: 3 minutes In relationships, you give and you receive. But what happens when you start giving more than you are receiving? Learn how to spot the signs of an unhealthy dependency.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Fueling up before exercising is important for giving your body the energy it needs. So what’s the best pre-workout snack? Our trainer shares some ideas.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Avoid feeling stiff from sitting too long in class with these dynamic stretches.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sugars, complex, refined… Which carbs are “good” and which are “bad?” And, which foods and drinks contain them? Here’s how to become carb-savvy.
Reading Time: 2 minutes A health educator offers advice on what to do if you’re feeling pressure to be sexually active.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Here’s exactly what to do if your friend just got dumped.
Reading Time: 2 minutes How can you transform from anxious orator to confident communicator? It takes some work, but here are a few tips to help you overcome your fear of public speaking.
(*Name changed)
I spent a winter break working at Okemo Mountain as a lift operator. I was staying on a hill across the valley from the mountain and had a steep downhill drive to get to work. One morning after a fresh snowfall, I lost traction and slid into a ditch. After a kind man used his truck to pull my car back out to the road, I asked him: âWhatâs the best way to slow down my car in such a situation?â His answer? âDonât drive so fast.â The moral of the story is that safe driving and good health are about preparation and prevention. Think about staying healthy during the semester and, chances are, youâll succeed. Wait until itâs too late andâĶit will be too late.
No secrets here: Get enough sleep, be regularly physically active, eat well, wash your hands, limit your saliva sharing, get a flu shot, and avoid overindulging in intoxicants and smoke.
Thereâs compelling evidence that people who donât get enough sleep are about 30 percent more likely to catch a cold than those who do. Sleep eight-plus hours a night, ideally going to sleep and waking up at about the same time most nights. Iâm a firm believer, and the evidence supports me, that itâs better to get a full nightâs sleep even if you havenât finished your work. Go to bed, get a good nightâs sleep, and find time the next day to get caught up. Cut back on whatever youâre doing instead of studying, and get your work wrapped up by an hour or so before a reasonable bedtime. Sleep helps you concentrate better and learn more efficiently. More attention to sleep means less time needed to accomplish the same amount of studying, reading, writing, etc.
Like sleep, regular physical activity has a positive effect on your mood. It can serve as a mental break from other pursuits and lead to more efficient study time.
Eat some fresh fruits and vegetables. If you have the facilities, why not prepare a nice meal for you and a friend?
Youâd be amazed at the benefits of adding a little soap and water to your hands before touching your nose or face and before eating. This can prevent many illnesses. Also remember to dry your hands thoroughly.
Most illnesses are spread from person to person, especially common ones like colds, flu, and mono. Sharing things like food and drinks is nice. Try to do it in a way that limits the number of people that have contact with your food before you eat it.
Nothing to explain. Get a flu shot. You heard it here first. Actually, you probably didnât. I sure hope not, at least.
Iâm not trying to take all the fun out of your life. Iâm just saying that when you overindulge, your decision making will be negatively affected. Your devotion to care and caution may slip a bitâor a lot.
Allow me to introduce you to the idea of productive procrastination: If youâre not going to work, spend the time doing something positive, like cleaning up your living space, working out, preparing a good-quality meal, or knitting toques for seafarers. Youâll feel better about the time away from the books and your quality of life will be improved.
Sometimes your luck is bad. Despite all your efforts to prevent illness, you might still get sick when the demands on you are high. Itâs not the end of the world. If the stress is academic, get in touch with your instructors and dean ASAP. Itâs not the first time this has happened. You can work it out.
(*Name changed)
As I write this response, Iâm listening to a radio station, checking Facebook (for the news, really), and monitoring my email forâĶwell, in case I can find something urgent that needs a response. (By the way, there were no urgent emails when I just checked. I guess I need to finish this response.)
This is all to tell you that I, probably like you, am a distracted person. It has gotten worse as I have found more entertaining things to do to keep my mind off my work. I mean, cute cat videos are fun, and they make me feel better when Iâm procrastinating. However, we all have deadlines and work to do, which is why I have created a list of tips to help you stay focused.
This is the first step to making a change. If you know you get easily distracted, you will more likely change your behaviors. How do you know you have a problem? One sign: Completing tasks takes you much longer than you think it should. Another: You find yourself completing assignments with barely any time to spare (or late), when youâve actually had plenty of notice.
Yes, you need to treat distractions as you would your work, instead of letting them âshow upâ whenever they want. Just as you schedule time for studying or writing a paper, you should also schedule time for checking your Twitter feed or Snapchat. For example, set a timer for 45â50 minutes to work on a task or study for a test. Then take a timed break for 5â10 minutes.
Sometimes distractions lure us away from our work because we arenât that enthusiastic about what we must do. A 20-page paper on the economy of an ancient civilization? HmmâĶthat may not shout âexciting activity,â which is why, by contrast, our diversions are welcome. If you find yourself faced with a task that is importantâsuch as studying for a final examâtell yourself, whether you believe it or not, âThis task will be interesting,â or âI can improve my skills by completing this assignment and that will help me in the future.â Repeating these claims can motivate you to keep going when you want to find something else to do.
âJayden*, Portland State University, Oregon
Yes, in ways both large and small. Are there students who drink from time to time and still manage to get good value out of their investment in higher education? Of course. In fact, most students would fit this description. But alcohol can still impair your learning experience. Here are several ways that this can happen:
If youâre drinking, you arenât in a state to concentrate or remember, meaning you arenât learning. For many college students, drinking is part of blowing off steam and relaxing after a hard few hours of academic work. In moderation, this may not present any problems. You just have to weigh the risks and be conscientious in your decision-making. Itâs certainly the case that drinking to the point of being sick or having to go to the hospital, or getting in fights or injured, will likely soak up much more time than youâve budgeted. If you have a big paper due Monday, perhaps it would make sense to take a weekend off from drinking so you have plenty of time to complete your work at a high-quality level. I often challenge students to take two to three weeks off from drinking just to prove to themselves that they can, and to see what itâs like.
Learning has several components. You have to be concentrating when exposed to ideas, in order to form short-term memories. While you sleep, those short-term memories are consolidated into long-term memories. Research has shown a linear relationship between hours of sleep and GPAâin other words, the more you sleep, the better you do academically.
Not sleeping enough, or getting poor-quality sleep, impedes long-term memory formation and thus the learning process. Drinking often affects decision-making, leading you to stay up later than youâd planned, and the sleep that you get when intoxicated is relatively poor quality (though itâs healthier than engaging in other activities while intoxicated; e.g., driving).
There are many reasons not to drink on a particular night. Maybe youâre sick or taking medication. Maybe you have a big test the next day, or want to do well at tryout. Maybe you just donât feel like it. At the top of the list is depression and anxiety. If you are unhappy, donât drink. Very few things in this world are 100 percent true, but this is one of them: Drinking will worsen your experience of depression. There are much better medicines than alcohol. Ask for help at your student health center or counseling center.
Drinking amplifies most emotions. This can lead to euphoria, arousal, the belief that youâre an amazing dancer, and so on. Drinking can also lead to drama, and sometimes physical violence. Itâs your life, of course. Personally, I find my life complicated enough without alcohol ramping things up.
Getting in trouble for underage possession, intoxication, vandalism, or anything else does not provide any short-term benefit to your educational experience.
For some students, the stakes are much higher than getting a B instead of the A- you were capable of. About 10â15 percent of people are at particularly high risk for addiction. Their brains are wired in such a way that they struggle to control their relationship with alcohol and/or other substances. Unless they get help, and that help is effective, they are at high risk for suffering serious consequences, such as damaged relationships, financial difficulties, and the inability to complete their schooling on schedule. Sometimes it takes a serious consequence, like failing out of school, to help them come to terms with their condition. But ideally the problem would be identified and rectified before the consequences became profound.
(*Name changed)
