Most Americans wake up in the morning with a cup of coffee and head out to take on their busy day. It keeps them awake and feeling more energized because of the caffeine. However most Americans overlook tea. I personally wake up in the morning with a cup of tea and feel just as fresh as my roommate who is a total coffee addict.

Why is tea better than coffee? According to Harvard Health, tea contains substances linked to a lower risk for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (all things everyone wants to stay away from). The main substance that lowers the risks of those conditions, is polyphenol. Lab and animal studies have concluded that those molecules contain anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that lower your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

Drinking tea regularly seems to have a positive impact on people’s lifestyle and their general health. According to this article, tea has been associated with a lower risk of depression and was proven in a 2015 meta-analysis of 11 studies gathering almost 23,000 people to participate in this study. It was concluded that for every three cups of tea consumed a day, the risk of depression decreased 37%. 

Not only does tea reduce the risk of depression, but it also reduces the risk of stroke. People who consume more than three cups of tea a day decreases their chances of getting a stroke by 21% than those who consumes less than a cup a day.

In a more recent meta-analysis (mentioned in this article), 22 prospective studies were looked at involving more than 850,000 people and concluded that drinking an additional three cups of tea daily would reduce the chances of getting a coronary heart disease by 27%, cardiac death by 26%, total mortality by 24%, cerebral infraction by 16%, and intracerebral hemorrhage by 21%.

Does it get any better? Well this article explains that green tea specifically is known to help lower cholesterol, both total serum and LDL. Most websites would suggest drinking five cups a day to see results and there have been multiple studies that prove the more tea consumed would lead to the biggest drop in cholesterol.

If you’re thinking about looking out for yourself when you’re in old age, drinking tea and making a habit of it would decrease the risk of dementia. A 2011 study concluded that tea acts on brain waves to sharpen your memory and increase your attention span if you start drinking tea early on in your life.

However, we can’t prove the causality just by this data since it was purely observational findings. But I can say that tea does have its perks and drinking it daily won’t hurt and might even give you long-term health benefits. I personally drink maybe 2-3 cups of tea a day. One in the morning, one after I get home from class, and then a nighttime tea to relax my mind before I head to sleep and call it a night. I find myself to be more calm when I drink tea everyday and it’s not as harmful as what people accuse coffee to be. Plus, I personally don’t enjoy the taste of coffee.

Now, I don’t know about you, but my parents have always warned me about cell phones and how they can cause cancer. They’ve always told me not to make long phone calls because of the radiation that can be transmitted to parts of my brain through my ears and cause cancerous tumors. That’s just what they’ve said. I decided to take it upon myself to do some research on the topic and find out if that’s just their way of trying to get me off my phone so I can talk to them more or if it’s actually true.

With the world filling up with cell phones, even my grandparents have their own now and it doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s a good piece of technology to have on you and it’s the most convenient way of catching up on social media and the news because you have the power to do so right at your fingertips. However, according to this article that I found, maybe you’ll think twice and put your phone down once in awhile.
In this article, there was a study by Yakymenko that was mentioned where it revealed many findings of radio-frequency from your phone that has the ability to damage your DNA. That damage isn’t too bad the first time you come in contact with it, but if you’re like me and have your phone glued to you 24-7, then that might cause problems. The damage of the radio-frequency builds up over time in your body and can cause a variety of health concerns such as cancer, headaches, fatigue, and skin problems. According to the researcher (Yakymenko), using your phone for 20 minutes a day for five years increases the risk of one type of brain tumor threefold. Using your phone an hour a day for four years increases the risk three to five times. However, if you minimize the usage of your phone and keep the radio-frequencies away from your head then the chances of those health conditions decrease.

However, according to another study (mentioned in this article) that looked into more than 420,000 cell phone users over a time span of 20 years, researchers found no correlation between cell phones and brain tumors.

There might also be a chance that our generation of smart phones are safer than the Nokia phones we once had (remember those things?) The designs of our cell phones are a lot more advanced than they used to be and the antenna that transmits those radio-frequency waves are located inside the phone, rather than outside the phone where it used to be. It’s important because with cell phone radiation, every millimeter counts and the exposure of radiation drops dramatically if the distance between you and your phone increase.

People might be frightened by this because our phone is something that we come in contact with everyday and knowing that it could possibly be the cause of brain tumors and possible cancers does not sound good. But for now, no one has proof of knowing whether or not cell phones’ radio-frequencies really do cause cancer and other health issues. It’s going to take more research and testing to see whether or not there’s a direct link from cell phones to cancer. But if I were to stay safe, I would minimize the time I spend on my phone and keeping it close to my head when I sleep, which is what I often do so I could hear the alarm I’ve set for myself every morning. Also, I would keep your phone on speaker, if you can, whenever you’re on a phone call to maximize the distance you have between your head and the phone itself. Better be safe than sorry!

Recently, I found a studying technique on Pinterest while I was browsing through it, called the Pomodoro Technique. It really stood out to me because the picture that I first saw when I clicked on the link was a tomato, that’s right, a tomato. At first it was confusing to understand how it all works but I read this article that really opened my mind to the idea and I wanted to learn more about it and see how efficient the technique really is.

According to that article, the Pomodoro technique is a good way of managing time and setting your tasks into different 25 minute interval sections. This incorporates “time-boxing” which is a simple time management technique that focuses your attention for a small amount of time (to do a task or a part of a task) and then take a mental break after each interval of work. By completely these tasks in small chunks, you’ll build a mental momentum so you’ll feel more productive which in itself leads to getting more tasks completed. All you need for this technique is a timer. Here are the steps in which you need to take in order for the method to work.

1.  Identify the task at hand.

2. Set your timer to 25
minutes.
3. Work on the task until timer goes off.

4. Take a 5 minute break (get up and stretch).

5. For every four 25-minute intervals, take a longer break (15-20 minutes is a good time)

According to a study (mentioned in this article) at the University of Illinois in 2008, being stuck at your desk for long periods of time actually decreases your ability to focus and reduces your productivity and attention on the task at hand. The study showed that regular short breaks help keep you attentive and more energized. Numerous other studies have concluded that sitting at your desk for a long time can increase your chances of developing health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a higher overall risk of death. I know, it is crazy to think that just by sitting at your desk, you are at a risk of getting these conditions due to extended periods of inactivity. Research done by scientist Dr. Elin Ekblom-Bak, in 2010, concluded that even though exercise is needed for good health, taking regular breaks from whatever task you’re doing that requires you to sit at your desk for a duration of time can reduce those health risks.

Personally, I think that my research on this studying technique is something to consider when I’m sitting at my desk in my room working on a research paper or studying for a big exam (finals week is coming up). I want to be able to minimize extended periods of inactivity and take advantage of the Pomodoro method. There’s no harm in taking breaks and being more productive in the end. Am I right?

Being in college usually comes with a side of unhealthy habits, such as binge eating chips at 1 AM, cramming in homework that’s due before class the next morning. That’s definitely something you hear a lot from college students nowadays. They’re not getting enough sleep or the sufficient nutrients that they need.

The other day I was wondering how a cleaner and more healthy lifestyle would change a person’s way of life. So I did some research and came across this article that explains how the food that we take in on a day to day basis does not only affect our physical health, but it also plays a major role in our emotional and mental health as well. It was also mentioned in the article that 90% of the serotonin found in our bodies is found in our intestine. So it’s no surprise that if our intestinal health is suffering from an unbalanced diet, then the serotonin (helps regulate our moods) in our body would fail to work.

In a study (mentioned in this article) that was conducted in New Zealand, 300 young adults were brought together to conduct an experiment where the young adults had to complete daily food journals for three consecutive weeks as well as record their mood throughout the day. The scientists found patterns in the experiment and concluded that the greater intake of fruits and vegetables gave the people more energy, calmness, and overall happiness. Also their moods generally remained good throughout the next day, not just on the day that they consumed the fruits and vegetables.

We all know that the better you sleep, the happier you are overall. Certain foods that you consume can make your sleep feel much better than other foods. According to this article, researchers from University of Pennsylvania and the University of Rochester have experimented with tart cherry juice. They believe that it is a beverage that can benefit your sleep. Their study included volunteers that was randomly assigned to drink an ounce of tart cherry juice or a placebo (for a week). The tart cherry juice drinkers experiments a 25-minute increase in sleep quantity, a 5-6% boost in sleep efficiency, and a measure of overall sleep quality. Other foods that they found to have the same effects as the tart cherry juice include fish, whole grains, nuts, and dark leafy greens.

It’s easy to say that exercise can improve your lifestyle for the better. You feel good after a good workout and more accomplished as a person. But certain “workouts” are better than others when trying to achieve different goals. For example, if you want to feel more calm and serene, you might want to try yoga out. According to a German study (mentioned in this article) published in 2005, 24 women were asked to participate in a three-month regimen. These women were described as “emotionally distressed” and were separated randomly into two different groups. One group (serving as the control group) was asked not to start an exercising routing or any stress-reduction programs during the 3-month experiment. “At the end of three months, the women who were assigned to the yoga group reported significant improvements in perceived stress, depression, anxiety, energy, fatigue, and well-being. Depression scores improved by 50%, anxiety scores by 30%, and overall well-being scores by 65%. Initial complaints of headaches, back pain, and poor sleep quality also resolved much more often in the yoga group than in the control group.“

After doing research on how a clean diet and good exercise (such as yoga) can change such a drastic part of your everyday mood and sleeping habits, I would want to give this better lifestyle a chance in my own life by cutting out the processed foods and junk foods that I would normally binge eat in my room.

At first it was difficult for me to pursue this subject and write a post on it because I wear makeup everyday and use products on myself that I’m afraid would negatively affect my health and natural skin. I was afraid to come across something that would persuade me to consider not wearing makeup anymore. I mean, realistically speaking, everyone is exposed to different chemicals everyday, whether that’s coming from the air that we inhale, the water that we drink, even through the foods that we eat. So it’s not surprising when people talk about how harmful the chemicals in our everyday products, such as the ones found in our vanity. The following video explains how our cosmetic products have gained a more toxic status in our society.

this picture shows different cosmetic products and their brand names associated with the type of ingredients that could potential alter the user’s health in a negative way

I looked into a source that I found online, (it links to a PDF and will automatically download if you click the hyperlink) one of the studies mentioned in this article was through Contact Dermatitis. They found 88 eye shadow colors from 49 different cosmetic products that contained lead, cobalt, nickel, chromium, and arsenic. The article explained (page 7) that 61% of the 33 brands of lip products that this company researched, contained lead. According to an Environmental Working Group analysis, 146 (and more) cosmetic ingredients contained possible impurities that have been linked to cancer and many other serious health defects. 80% of 9,747 personal care products that were studied, contained contaminated ingredients, mostly found in lip balms (80%).

The heavy metals that are found in our cosmetic products seem harmless at first, if you use a small dose of it. However, they are said to be able to build up in your body over time and are known to cause health problems (page 19) such as:

• cancer
• reproductive and developmental disorders
• neurological problems
• memory loss
• mood swings
• nerve, joint and muscle disorders
• cardiovascular problems
• skeletal problems
• blood problems
• immune system
• kidney and renal problems
• headaches
• vomiting
• nausea
• diarrhea
• lung damage
• contact dermatitis
• hair loss

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, preservatives and parabens (such as methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, or benzylparaben) are used in our cosmetics. Why? Because preservatives are mainly used to (ironically) protect consumers against microbial growth. According to the article, a study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology in 2004 detected traces of parabens in breast tumors. Which doesn’t necessarily prove anything because the study did not have a control group of possible paraben levels in normal tissue rather than a contaminated one. There are plenty of unanswered questions such as: Do parabens cause cancer? Are they harmful to our bodies? Although those questions have yet to have scientific proof behind them, I’d say it would be safe to avoid parabens as much as possible, if possible. 

I’ve looked at plenty of websites to see if the impurities in cosmetics affect one race more than another. No studies were made to test that hypothesis. However, if I had to make a guess it would be that everyone is affected by these chemicals just as equally because the chemicals seep into your body. However, maybe some immune systems can fight off those chemicals more? Further research has to be done to prove anything.

Judging by the research that I have done, I would limit my makeup use. It’s really not too bad if I walk out of the house every morning with a clean and fresh face, I mean, if it were to protect myself against all the heavy metals and toxic chemicals that are found in my products, I would take that extra step to not cake foundation on my face daily.

As college students, we all know what it is like to be stressed and filled with anxiety. Whether you’re swamped with three exams in a week, managing to fulfill a position in a club or a professional setting or even having two big papers due for two different classes, there’s just always something going on. I stumbled across the topic of aromatherapy and I was interested in how that might affect a person’s mood and way of life. Studies show that aromatherapy really can do wonders with healing your state of mind and nourish whatever tension your life is bringing you.

Aromatherapy is “the practice of using the natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots, or other parts of a plant to enhance psychological and physical well being”. I believe that aromatherapy can benefit different aspects of a person’s life because of the positive way that these scents can affect our bodies. Not many people believe in the art of aromatherapy. Each scent triggers a sense of peace in our bodies that help relaxes or ease the pain of a stressful day. Different scents do different things and tends to have different therapeutic properties because of their varying chemical compositions. Some scents are scientifically proven that they can help aid and cure symptoms of illness.

According to University of Maryland Medical Center, aromatherapy has be proven to have treated conditions such as alopecia areatea (hair loss), agitation (including agitation related to dementia), anxiety, constipation, insomnia, pain, headaches, itching, and psoriasis. The chart on the left that I found shows therapeutic uses for some essential oils.

There are a couple of articles that I found that show aromatherapy being a cure to anxiety and depression in cancer patients. In this particular article, researchers in Japan (2009) conducted a small trial of 12 patients who have breast cancer found that aromatherapy massage helped reduce their anxiety. In 2007, a UK trial tested whether or not adding aromatherapy massage to the usual treatment for cancer patients would reduce their anxiety and depression related to their chronic illness in people that had advanced cancer. 280 patients participated in the study and they all had anxiety/depression due to their cancers. Half of those patients had the usual treatment (supportive care). The other half had supportive care and the additional aromatherapy massage. The researchers found that the patients who had the additional aromatherapy massage in their supportive care were less anxious and/or depressed for up to 2 to 6 weeks after the massage but showed no difference at 10 weeks. However, further research needed to be conducted and researched to support my hypothesis.

So I searched up an American study (mentioned in this article) that was published in The Journal of Palliative Medicine in 2004 that researched 42 people who had advanced stages of cancer. They were separated into 3 groups. The first group of people were given weekly massages over the span of 4 weeks. The second group was given massages that used only lavender oil for therapy. Group 3 had no massages at all (control group). The result of this experiment was the patients in groups 1 and 2 were sleeping well and showed less depressive symptoms than those patients in group 3, who weren’t getting much sleep and had depression.

I wanted to make sure that the previous study wasn’t just an outlier study so I went and looked ahead at a study that shows how the extract of lavender can reduce a person’s stress (overall). This study involved studying patients in the intensive care unit. They were randomly put into four groups. Correlation coefficients were calculated to look at the relationships between stress response and health measures.

Group 1: were told that they would receive the aromatherapy treatment and received the therapy while doing the task; experimental group

Group 2: told they would receive aromatherapy but they did not; tested the placebo effect

Group 3: not told anything about aromatherapy but still received the treatment; purpose was to test if aromatherapy really works even with the patient being unaware that they are receiving it

Group 4: were not told anything about aromatherapy and did not receive the aromatherapy treatment (control group)

In this study, the results were a little confusing to me because of it disproves the theory that I was suggesting where aromatherapy can cure stress. Each group was given a test to take after given the treatment (if any) they were assigned to. It was mentioned in this study that the effects had no differences between the groups with any of the following characteristics: age, gender, race, level of physical activity, weight, height, physical symptoms, smoking, caffeine, and alcohol consumption, life stressors, and year in school. Group 3 had high levels of stress before taking the test than the rest of the groups. Groups 1, 2, and 4 showed a great increase in stress levels. Only 27.4% of the patients tested on correctly identified the use of lavender essential oil for stress reduction.

However, only the purest, most natural, and highest quality of essential oils can effectively heal one’s illness (so maybe in that last study, the experimenters were using the wrong type of essential oils). Synthetic oils won’t work. Not only can aromatherapy alter a cancer patient’s emotional health, but it can also cure common conditions such as burns, chest congestion, dry skin, earache, eye strain, athlete’s foot, headaches, herpes, weak immune system, nausea, insect bites, joint pain, insomnia, muscle pain, nerve pain, poison ivy, PMS, sore throats, tooth pain, pimples, asthma, and even warts. Now we wonder how this affects different demographics. Are the results different in girls versus boys or does aromatherapy work better for white males rather than hispanic females? Well, because aromatherapy mainly affects our sense of smell and has an antiseptic property that has the ability to eliminate microorganisms that cause disease, it shouldn’t work more for one race than for another, or one gender rather than another. Although, not many studies have been tested to prove this theory.

I, myself, after doing all this research have recently purchased and used essential oils in my life to keep myself more calm during finals week and other stressful weeks that college life seems to throw at you. Personally, I use an oil diffuser that sprays a scented mist throughout my room whenever I study, lounge around, or sleep. I’ve seen improvements in my mood from when I started using my oil diffuser. It helps me concentrate more on my homework and relaxes me before I head to sleep at night.

Hi everyone! My name is Tiffany Fu and I’m from a small town in New Jersey called Marlboro. It’s been quite a journey for me so far as a Penn State student. I’m currently a sophomore and I’ve been here since the summer of 2014 as a summer semester freshman.

I’m very excited to be enrolled and taking SC 200. I read all the reviews about Andrew on Rate My Professor and I was impressed by how many people enjoyed coming to class and listening in on the lectures.

I’ll be honest, I don’t like science very much. It’s not my favorite subject, which is why I am not considering being a science major. But when I looked at the syllabus that I received for this class, I was actually pretty hooked on the topics that we will be discussing during lecture. I have high hopes for this class.

here’s a fun little picture of sunflowers I just found on my computer

just a little article on onward state about general education classes that don’t suck