Tag Archives: RCL1516

Passion Post 2: Sleep Affects Everything

Posted on January 27, 2016 | 12 comments

I wish I could be more creative with my title but guess what?  I’m sick. Guess why? I don’t sleep enough… at all. And it’s finally caught up to me!

sleep jet lag tired sleepy exhausted

In college, it’s very easy to stay up until the early hours of the morning. So easy, in fact, I can no longer fall asleep before 2 am. But getting the right amount of sleep doesn’t just make you incredibly grouchy. It also causes detrimental effects on your mental and physical health.

Mental Health: Sleep problems can be symptoms of depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. “But neuroimaging and neurochemistry studies suggest that a good night’s sleep helps foster both mental and emotional resilience, while chronic sleep disruptions set the stage for negative thinking and emotional vulnerability,” states the Harvard Health Publications. While there is no definite screaming falling asleep passing out david after dentistproof for sure just yet that sleep contributes negatively towards your mental health, I’d say it’s a safe bet to think that negative thinking and emotional
vulnerability aren’t exactly beneficial to your mental health.

 

Physical Health: Simply put, The Better Sleep Council says, “While weary, overextended Americans are turning to “quick fixes” like caffeine and performance-enhancing supplements, which claim to improve everything from their daily workout to their sex lives, they are losing sight of what experts say is essential to improved performance: a good night’s sleep.” Some studies even show that sleep deprivation can be linked to the development of diseases like obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Chronic sleep loss has been shown to create an impaired immune system.

Tips on how to sleep better: Going to sleep at the same time each night. Exercising daily, tire yourself out naturally! Wind down, read a book, tryyyyyy not to be on your cell phone because the brightness convinces your eyes that it is still time to be awake.

girl beach kid tired sleepyNext time you go to nap…

Try to power through so that you’ll be more tired EARLIER at night (maybe even BEFORE MIDNIGHT! :O )

On that note, I better get some sleep. Goodnight 🙂

mtv kanye west sleeping goodnight vmas 2015

 

Research Links:

Sleep and Mental Health (Harvard)

Physical Performance & Sleep

How Sleep Affects the Immune System

Healthy Sleep Tips

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Civic Issues #1: Stand for State

Posted on January 27, 2016 | 3 comments

For my civic issues blog, I am choosing to focus on different movements and actions involving or pertaining to the current feminist movement. I think that I am far too ignorant on these subjects and would love to have a better understanding on important topics like intersectional feminism and cultural feminism. I hope to spread knowledge and help inform others (as well as myself) about ways you can help movements such as these and many others that promote gender equality and fairness.

"I stand because... We ALL deserve better"

“I stand because… We ALL deserve better”

This week I was lucky enough to be able to take part in a program put into place by Penn State called “Stand for State” (which I found out about through Stuco Leader Aaron Blakney, shoutout to him for always having the best service projects and encouraging everyone to take part in awesome things happening around campus). A recent article on the event, wrote “The culmination of two years of planning, Stand for State promotes bystander intervention and its place in preventing sexual and relationship violence.”

I think that this ties back to gender equality because we as a society needs to learn how to protect each other, no matter what. There is a stereotype that only women can be victims and it is simply untrue. We learned and healthily discussed how to help victims, no matter who they are and no matter what their situation. It’s each and every person’s job to stop being a bystanders and start consciously making an effort to help those in danger around you. This also supports the way feminists want all women to start looking at each other as allies instead of enemies. 

“A single choice in one moment in time to use your voice, actions or choices to make one small corner of the world safer,” Green Dot’s company says. Green Dot is a company that helps people learn about how to prevent violence within their community, so Penn State was inspired to incorporate many of their ideas into this day. Basically, new violence prevention behaviors are nicknamed “Green Dots” in hopes that people will choose these acts instead of remaining a bystander. The key to making a good violence prevention behavior is the “Three D’s”: direct, delegate and distract.

There were lots of different spots to check out during the event all scattered throughout the Hub. There was entire room filled with green balloons!** On some balloons were messages you were supposed to find with questions on them to discuss with others in the room. For example, “How would you recommend making this campus safer for everyone? (presumably, in regards to sexual assault)” to which @Amanda wittily responded “By doing events such as this one!” This was by far my favorite part of the day.

IMG_2760

Amanda and I in the ball(oon) pit

**Also fun PS, I’m on the PSU Snapchat story, twice kind of. By the time you’re reading this it will barely still be there, but there’s a video of me popping all the balloons. Here’s a quality screenshot below. Also the video immediately following it is my story, which has like 18k views and is my fourth snapchat on the PSU Story!!

A screenshot of me popping balloons

A screenshot of me popping balloons on the Campus Story.

 

 

Links for Research:

Stand for State

Stand for State provides the tools for Penn Staters to stop violence

Live the Green Dot

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Passion Post (Take 2): Balancing Physical & Mental Health

Posted on January 20, 2016 | 8 comments

In my previous set of 10 Passion Posts, I discussed the impacts your daily life activities have on your happiness. I looked at how components such as sleep, religion, and income level affect how happy a person is or sees his or herself.

Similarly, this semester I will be focusing more closely on the importance of balancing your physical mental health. I think that in college, it is very easy to get heavily invested in clubs, activities, sports, classes, or even just your workout schedule.

health healthy salad lettuce dieting

What even is “being healthy” anyway?

beyonce bey fake smile denial

None of these are good examples of being mentally or physically healthy. 🙂

By forcing myself to write this blog each week, I will also be forcing myself to work on these two major factors (mental and physical health) in my life that contribute so much to our over-all well being. I will probably bring other aspects of well being into the equation, but mental and physical are the two main focuses.

Each week, I will make more conscious decisions to make sure that my mental and physical health are in check, and share some of the best ways I have figured out how to while living on campus in a dorm. This may be anything from making hard boiled eggs in the communal kitchen (to get more protein!) or forcing myself to skip my daily nap and instead get my butt over to the White Building (which is quite literally only twenty feet away).

SLOTHILDA life cartoon comics sleep

I’m super excited to delve deeper into these topics and I will start here by saying that this week and “syly” week I tried (and I would say succeeded) to keep my mental and physical health in check. This new schedule with classes in Ford and Forum are making even my Fitbit exhausted. I’ve hit a couple Power Remix classes, the elliptical, and eaten a pretty good variety of food groups. As far as mental health is concerned, I’ve made sure to start alllll my homework way ahead of time to cut down on the breakdowns this semester (kidding…) and I’m desperately trying to give myself a strict bedtime of midnight… or one am depending.

Thanks for reading, see you next week!

Other Links to Check Out:

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