Sleeping really late has became a really popular and common thing in teenage lives. We like to go to parties, have fun with our friends or even release school stress. But most of the teenagers did not realize the damage it brings to our body both inside and out.

Problems will start to appear physically such as getting acne on your face and getting these “Panda Eyes“. From the inside, we tends to feel really tired the next day and have low energy. Our body has its own circle which prepares each part of our body for the next day. So imagine if we always sleep really late, then it will disturb the circle and damage our body.

People who likes to sleep late whether you are working on some important homework or review for a test tends to eat during the night. For example, drinking a cup of coffee and eating some dessert could keep us awake, so people who tends to sleep late will have the habit of eating something at night which would cause weight gain.

Sleeping late is one of the main reasons that causes weight gain and brings damage to our body.

Sources:

1. http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain#

As we all know, giraffes are now the tallest animals that exist on earth. Their necks are even longer than their bodies and could reach more than 6 feet which sounds incredible. So do they get these long necks from their ancestors or not?

I searched some pictures of giraffe’s ancestors, and the picture showed the process of development from short necks to these extremely long necks which proves that giraffes’ long necks are affected by external factors.

French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck came up with his theory saying that the reason giraffes have long necks is because of their demand for food. Back then, there were lots of different species that were the same heights as giraffes, so food sources became a serious problem for all of them. In order to get more food to survive, they forced themselves to reach for high trees and leaves. As time went on, their neck started to change and became longer and longer. Now that their babies would inherit their long necks and would grown even longer.

Sources:

1. http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-giraffes-have-long-necks/
2. https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/how-giraffe-got-its-long-neck

Eating disorders, psychological disorders shown through abnormal eating habits, is a common and grievous problem that appears more and more on college students. Another usual problem that most college students tends to have is chronic stress. So are these two problems happen randomly or relatively? Does one cause another or they do not affect each other at all?

After doing some researches ｏnline and relating to my own experiences, I came up with the conclusion that chronic stress do cause eating disorders. Lots of studies showed that stressful things and works such as ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ｗｏｒｋｓ and relationships, bad illness or excessive use of drugs will all have huge influences on eating disorders. I find that most of my stress come from three main parts: difficulty in school, difficulty in relationships and homesickness.

When school first started, and you just moved into your dorm, this is usually the time when we all started to feel alone and to get homesickness because we were all unfamiliar with the new environment and had no new friends. I had a really difficult time during the beginning of the school year under the pressure of dealing with things independently and making new friends. While feeling alone, eating a lot seems to be a good method of releasing the stress because it gives us that satisfaction and stopping us from thinking about unhappy things.

  Once school started and everything got back in track, we started to feel the pressure and stress from school such as grades, homework and exams. The first few weeks were actually fine, but once midterm week came, this is the time when my stress started to appear. I　ｕｓｕａｌｌｙ　ｅｘｐｒｅｓｓ　ｍｙ　ｃｈｒｏｎｉｃ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ　ｄｅｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ，　ａｎｘｉｅｔｙ　ａｎｄ　ｓｉｃｋｎｅｓｓ．　Ｉ started not showing up to class and feeling sad and lazy, and I　ｆｉｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｅａｓｉｅｓｔ　ａｎｄ　ｆａｓｔｅｓｔ　ｗａｙ　ｔｏ　ｒｅｌｅａｓｅ　ｍｙ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ．　Ｓｏ　Ｉ started to eat a lot of junk food instead of healthy meals.

  When I　ｓａｙ　ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔｙ　ｉｎ　Ｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐｓ，　Ｉ　ｄｏ　ｎｏｔ　ｍｅａｎ　ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔｙ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｍｙ　ｂｏｙｆｒｉｅｎｄ　ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ｄｏ　ｎｏｔ　ｅｖｅｎ　ｈａｖｅ　ｏｎｅ．　Ｗｈａｔ　Ｉ　ａｍ　ｓａｙｉｎｇ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｒｅｓｓｕｒｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｃｏｍｅｓ　ｆｒｏｍ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅｓ　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　ｍｅ．　Ｉ　ｆｉｎｄ　ｔｈａｔ　ｍｏｓｔ　ｃｏｌｌｅｇｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ａｒｅ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅｓ　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｄｅｐｒｅｓｓｅｄ　ｍｅ　ａ　ｌｏｔ．　Ｉｎ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｃａｓｅ，　ｄｅｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ　ｄｏ　ｃａｕｓｅ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ｄｉｓｏｒｄｅｒ．

Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ａｒｅ　ａｌｌ　ｋｉｎｄｓ　ｏｆ　ｃｏｎｎｅｃｔｉｏｎｓ　ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ　ｃｈｒｏｎｉｃ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓ　ａｎｄ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ｄｉｓｏｒｄｅｒｓ．

Ｓｏｕｒｃｅｓ：

１.　　https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1WLXB_enUS526US526&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=eating%20disorder%20definition

２.　http://www.mirasol.net/mood-disorders/chronic-stress.php

Like we discussed in class today with our guest speaker, does a person’s height depend on nature or nurture? In this case, nature is our DNA and genes, and nurture include outside factors such as our living environment. According to in-class discussion and online researching, I find that both nature and nurture influence our heights.

I find a really interesting calculator online which is a height calculator that could calculate your expected adult height, so I put in my information when I was 14 years old and see if the result matches my height right now. The result came up to be 163 cm, and my actual height is 167 cm. So this approves that a kid’s height depends on both nature and nurture.

I used to live with my family back in China until when I was 14, and my height when I was 14 was 160 cm, so my mom used to really worry about my height for a long time because she thought my expected adult height was going to stop at 163 cm. But after coming to America, I grew a lot taller unexpectedly, so there must be some kind of outside factors such as food and environment. I started playing volleyball and basketball during high school and did lot of exercises. Also, I ate more meat such as beef.

However, a person’s height are both influenced by nature and nurture.

Sources:

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9326819/Nature-vs-nurture-outcome-depends-on-where-you-live.html

Gaining weight seems to happen stealthily, and there are so many factors that could cause weight gain. From my point of view, I came up with two main reasons that I think we need to be aware of in order to avoid gaining weight, and the two reasons are: depression and PMS (premenstrual syndrome).

Let’s first talk about Depression. It seems that gaining weight has nothing to do with depression, but a study published in the American Journal of Public Health revealed that people who are always sad and lonely tend to gain weight more quickly compared with people who are less sad and lonely. This study totally applies to me. When we under depression, we tend to eat more high-calorie food instead of healthy food.

PMS, premenstrual syndrome, is a really personal topic for all girls and women. It influences a woman’s emotions and behaviors. This is a very common condition that almost affects 85% of the women. So we need to be very careful when dealing with PMS.

There must be lots of other reasons that could cause weight gain, but PMS and depression are probably the most two common factors that cause weight gain.

Resources:

1. http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/health-problems-that-make-you-gain-weight/slide/2
2. http://www.healthline.com/health/premenstrual-syndrome

It seems like listening to music whiling walking, studying or reading has became the most popular trend in university campuses because you can see students with earphones or headphones on everywhere whether it is in the library or in the dining halls. And I am definitely in this category right now especially after starting college.

It is really hard to say whether it is good or not to listen to music while doing something else. First of all, it has to depends on what type of music you are listening to. Many researchers believe the “Mozart Effect” which shows that it helps students memorizing things better while listening to music, and I have asked so many of my friends and most of them said that they can not studying without listening to some music. But according to Mozart’s music, I believe most of us do not listen to his music. Instead, we listen to pop music or urban music such as my favorite rapper Drake‘s music! So the changing of different types of music that we listen to compared with Mozart’s music, the result of Mozart Effect must have changed.

I personality love to listen to music while studying because music brings back my mind and make me only focus on studying. It may sounds really weird, but I have at least five playlists prepared for studying, and I play different kind of songs depends on my mood!

Website Source:

http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/149570/Do-Or-Dont-Studying-While-Listening-To

I do not know about other people, but I personality love studying at night when I am by myself. So what is actually the best time to study in a day? By the way, the time when I was writing this blog was 9 p.m. already.

It is really hard to say that one side is better than the other because there are people who love to studying during daytime, and there are people who like to study at night like me. I mean both sides have benefits, so there is actually no correct answer to this question in a scientific way.

The number one benefit for studying at night is an empty library! I can not express how much I appreciate the tranquility environments every time I walk into the library at night because it just puts me into that “Studying mood” where I tend to just focus on what I need to finish. By staying in a quiet library, it really helps me on my efficiency. For example, I would probably do twice more work in the library comparing with any other time.

Another benefit would be few distractions. It is really hard to be 100% concentrate during daytime without getting distracted by food, friends, the pool and video games like I always do. I especially can not say no to my friends when they ask me out for a lunch or playing the pool! So night time is definitely the best time for me to just sit down in my chair and do some real works without any distractions.

Studying at night also gives you a silence and quite environment which can makes you put more attention to whatever you need to do and get them done as soon as possible, so this is why I always give myself a three to four hours break just to do my homework or write an essay. Last but not least, studying at night also brings people some really creative ideas because when you are under a really silence environment, it is more easier to come up with generous ideas. So I prefer to study at night!

On the other hand, it also has so many good benefits for people who love to study during daytime. And the number one benefit I am going to talk about right here must be group studying or studying with your friends. It is so helpful and beneficial because you have the opportunity to get help and share your opinions with your friends right away.

Another good thing to study during daytime is that people tend to have more energy in the morning so that they feel motivational.

So there is no such thing as the best time to study during a day because everyone is different and has their own way of studying!

Website Source:

https://www.goconqr.com/en/examtime/blog/best-time-to-study/

Losing weight and getting in shape is always the most popular topic for both girls and boys, of course including myself. For me personality, I really care about my weight and body shape because I do not want to repeat my high school experience and gain the “college 15”. Okay, let me explain my “hihg school experience”:

For the first two years of high school, I was actually pretty satisfied about my body weight because I was doing enough exercises and was not too overwhemling about school works. But when I started my junior year, what I did was I put too much stress on myself because of all the AP courses and ACT and SAT, so I started sleeping really late so that during daytime, I did not have enough energy to do anything else such as workouts and school activities. I also like to eat more when I am under stress, so I started eating lots of junk food which was like a vicious cricle to me. The important thing about weight control is not only about a good body shape but confidence and a good mood. After too much eating and drinking, I had gained 15  pounds and totally damaged my body inside and out. Just seeing the change of my body through mirror everyday was a body blow. I started hiding myself just because I did not feel confidence at all, and to be honest, I was not happy. It even got worse during my senior year because I got all upset and almost gave up on myself. I kept eating unhealthy food and unlimited amount of ice creams until……a turning point.

After graduation, I went back to my hometown and under my mom’s persuade, I finally realized that it would be too late for me if I don’t change my lifestyle. So I started using dancing as my main exercise, and I think it is also important to choose something that you are interested in and will benefit you at the same time. After two months of dancing and diet, I successfully lost 15 pounds!

Now that college has started, so this is the special time to keep in mind about your body shape and “college 15”, so I found this youtuber’s videos being really helpful, and HERE is a link to her videos, and it is really easy to do when you are at home our in your dorms!