Health at PSU

What the health is up PSU welcome to the second of my favorite posts: How to be Unrecognizable in 3 Weeks. Little secret though – the advice in this article (and the upcoming one) will change your life in just a few days. As I said, base your diet in leafy green vegetables, cut out processed sugars, reduce complex carbohydrate intake, and add natural fats to your diet and you will see improved physical and emotional performance and well being in a matter of weeks. Diet is the most significant aspect of health (its what your putting inside your body and fueling yourself with!!), but there are some straightforward changes that will have you feeling like a new person in a few days.

This article will talk about the next most important aspect of health as a college student: SLEEP! I know you’ve heard this over and over and, like me, you’re thinking that you would if you could. I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but I am going to challenge that and say that if you are going to sleep after 11 pm, most of the time this is your choice. Over the past semester, I have had weeks where I sleep an average of 4 hours per night. Others, I have averaged 9-10 hours – and I have all morning classes. Here’s how you can change your lifestyle to get more sleep:

Wake up before 10 am. Change your sleep schedule so that you are awake in the morning and tired at night; this will fix the ‘I am not tired until 2 am’ problem every college student has at some point.

Don’t drink coffee every day. I know sometimes you were up all night working and slept for two hours and you really need to do well on an exam and you juts need it; but most of the time try to go without it. Caffeine gives you a buzz that is addicting – I love a good cappuccino any time of the day -, but this hyper-feeling isn’t what it feels like to be naturally awake and energetic. It takes a while to break an addiction or just get used to naturally being energized, but caffeine messes up your circadian rhythm, the natural ‘clock’ in your brain that regulates neurotransmitters like melatonin and your metabolic rate to stimulate your body and energize you or put you to sleep. This is going to make sleeping harder and reduce your body’s ability to naturally be energized. Furthermore, long-term use of caffeine increases risk of heart disease and stroke in some. You don’t need to cut it out completely, but breaking that dependency will do wonders for your natural energy and sleep patterns.

Get intense physical exercise during your day and stay active. Increasing the heart rate for just an hour every day is known to benefit sleep and regulate the circadian rhythm as well as remove toxins from the blood and glands. Furthermore, it has been studied that sitting for the majority of the day will counteract the gains of a workout, so be sure to remain active throughout the day by taking the stairs, walking, standing, and just staying moving. This will improve your body’s blood flow, benefitting mental as well as physical performance and wellbeing.

Go outside. Vitamin D is crucial to your metabolism and regulating your circadian rhythm. Your body synthesizes vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. I know its cold and you don’t want to expose your body to the cold air, but you don’t have to! The most significant input of sunlight into your body is through your eyes. Just being outside without sunglasses (obviously do not look into the sun) for 10-20 minutes per day gives you enough vitamin D for proper function. Increasing this to at least an hour will do wonders for your sleep cycles and energy levels, as exposure to natural light inhibits your body’s production of melatonin and increases your metabolic rate of energy production.

Finally, Don’t waste time during the day. So many people I know (and myself) spend hours a day lying in bed or watching TV and while relaxing is important, if we could get our necessary work done during the day, the nighttime could be reserved for relaxing and self-care. Your body is meant to function during the day and unwind after the sun goes down. By staying up late under artificial lighting doing intense schoolwork, we are confusing our body’s circadian rhythm and basically telling our brains that it is still daytime. When we fall into bed with exhausted bodies, we then can’t fall asleep right away because our brains are in ‘daytime-work-mode’. Consider doing schoolwork in the morning and early afternoon, doing physical activity in the evening, and unwinding at night with social activities, TV or books (turn on a blue light filter if its 30 minutes before sleeping), and hygiene before bed. While rearranging your schedule is helpful, the main goal of all of these tips is to get you to sleep earlier. We need 7-9 hours of sleep for optimal bodily function. You don’t want to go below this number more than once per week, and should try to get more on the weekends.

Go to sleep y’all and tune in next week for more fast-acting tips to completely revolutionize your life.

Now that we’ve cleared up how much you should be eating… its the quality that makes all the difference. Most of us grew up with the nutrition triangle that shows the largest section is carbohydrate or grain at the bottom and fats at the top. While some of this can be seen as useful, it is pretty misleading. Through my time dieting and playing with my macros, a base in complex carbohydrate has been the absolute worst time for me. While this is not to say it may not work for some people, it definitely exposes some holes to the typical nutrition triangle. However, I have been through the ringer and I can tell you that diet is the biggest component in how you look, feel, and perform physically and mentally.

First of all, and hardest of all, studies have proven that there is no better base for a diet that leads to longevity, daily energy, and highest functioning physical and mental capacity then dark green leafy vegetables. I know, not the tastiest, but I have seen the effects of increasing the intake of green leafy vegetables in my own life and it feels like waking up from a life of mental fog. My endurance in the gym increased, my energy and motivation increased, my performance in school improved, I was sleeping better. Start by eating as much kale, collard greens, spinach, etc. as you can stomach before every meal. It might not be the most exciting part of your day but it will lead to incredible benefits.

Secondly, processed sugar is an inhibiter of you living your best life. Sugar slows your mental processing, disrupts correct energy and hormone production and use, and creates cravings that lead to an unhealthy diet and eating pattern. Start checking labels for sugar content. Keep in mind, natural sugar is not inherently bad for you – but 70g of it definitely is. Most smoothies will start at 50g of fruit sugar. Consider replacing the juice with water or some of the fruits with vegetables to bring down the sugar content. Women should eat less then 24 grams of sugar per day, and men 34. However, decreasing that number by 14 grams brings added health benefits and is recommended for optimal performance and longevity.

Finally, consider limiting your complex carbohydrate intake. Complex carbs include breads, pastas, cake, etc.: these foods are broken down by the body quickly into sugar and leave you craving more carbs and sugar as your body lacks the nutrition and vitamins it is craving. Furthermore, these foods are calorie dense and will cause a short burst of energy that will leave you tired after an hour or two. Instead of processed carbohydrates, replace them with grains like rice, quinoa, or bulgar! These grains have similar textures and tastes to pastas but have too many nutrients to list here, including high levels of proteins. With grains, you will feel full for literally hours and have energy that lasts all day.

Short note: fats aren’t bad for you if they’re natural! Replace butter with oil and don’t be afraid of avocado and nuts!

If you make these changes to your diet, I promise you will start seeing results right away and be unrecognizable in three weeks!