Health in College Part 4: Exercise

Morning! Hope you had a fun time last week! I had my first week of school, so life has been busy and good to say the least.

For me, health--while not crucial--definitely helps contribute to happiness, so that's why we are continuing today with the fourth part of our series Health in College. We've talked about body image, sleep, and diet. As you may have guessed, I am a big fan of exercise--being active and moving around is a hobby that I enjoy so much!

Why is exercise so important? Well, it improves circulation and breathing, it provides stress release, it challenges the mind in a different way, it keeps your body strong, and it's fun! These are some of my favorite reasons to exercise, but even more can be found by clicking here.

Despite all of these benefits, researchers have found that younger generations aren't as strong or active as previous ones despite the fact that workouts are more accessible than ever. (There are millions of workouts on YouTube that you could do in your own home!)

I'm actually working in a health psychology lab now and wanted to share a possible recent finding. Researchers have found that if they compensate people for exercising with a certain amount of money, those people were more likely to continue exercising far into the future even after they are no longer paid. There are multiple hypotheses as to why this occurs, but one of the top ideas is that it is because while they are being paid, people realize that they are physically able to work out. What? That's a little weird. Please allow me to go further into depth.

Society seems to think of fitness as a hardcore thing. Like, you need to be a dedicated bodybuilder or athlete in order to frequent the gym. We hear about High Intensity Interval Training and Crossfit, and when you visit any fitness center of sorts, you see people in expensive workout clothes, sweating buckets, and benching at the very least seventy pounds or running ten miles. It's a lot to take in as a student, who just wants to scrape by with a C in the first hard semester of Calculus.

But that's where our perception can deceive us.

Exercise can be performed in a huge variety of ways, with a huge amount of varying commitments and intensities. You don't really even have to go to the gym in order to get good exercise--a brisk walk in the morning before lunch is still getting some circulation flow.

And although running a mile sounds intimidating at first, it really isn't that much when you realize that it's only ten minutes of very slow jogging.

So, when people try going to the gym for about two or three weeks just so they can get paid by the psychology researcher, they realize how capable they actually are of doing what is good for their bodies and then the habit sticks.

Unfortunately, I can't pay all of you $1 for every time you go work out to help motivate you for a month, but I hope that this post has helped you see that you don't have to be the "gym type" to be healthy.

clubsolutionsmagazine.com

Smile on,

-Riley XO

Health in College Part 3: Nutrition

Good morning! It has been a while, but last semester I started a mini-series called Health in College. I had completed two posts, one on body image and one on sleep, before I realized that it was almost the end of the school year and that the things I had to share wouldn't be as applicable! So to make things come out in a more timely manner, I put the mini-series on hold. Since we are on the verge of the end of summer and a lot of people are starting to make plans about moving back to school, it is time to reopen the series! So I bring you the third part, which will be all about nutrition!

Before we dive into today's post, I just wanted to throw in a quick recommendation for you to add something to your browser: Tab for a Cause. One of my Facebook friends suggested me to add it to Chrome, and basically it donates a cent to a charity every time you open a tab. These charities help supply education, water, and medical help to third-world countries, promote human rights, and help the environment. One cent doesn't sound like much, but I personally open up a lot of tabs throughout the day, and if everybody added this app it could make a big difference! If you are interested in adding Tab for a Cause to your browser or just learning more about it, please follow this link.

I am so excited for this part of the series because today we get to talk about one of my favorite topics in the whole wide world: FOOD!!!

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School can be stressful, and when things get stressful, it is easy to fall into the habit of some sort of unhealthy eating habit--whether you tend to over-eat or under-eat. I personally tend to stress eat, so it can be a pretty rough day when I'm studying a ton and have my hand in a bag of chips the entire time. Do any of you guys have any bad habits too? If so, this is the post for you!

Nutrition is another thing that interests me (although not nearly as much as sleep does!). Your body is a complex system full of different chemicals, and what you eat affects the balance of chemicals. The balance of these chemicals in turn affect your metabolism, your energy levels, your cognitive abilities, and overall health. Kind of weird to think about it that way, no?

Anyhow, it's pretty easy to get caught up in unhealthy eating habits during college. There's unlimited food, there are a lot of dining options, and it is kind of like going to a buffet every day. Furthermore, it is tempting to eat more food during the year because, for a lot of people, eating is a social event. (To be honest, I don't think that the infamous "Freshman Fifteen" comes from living around so much food--it comes from those few occasions when you go home on holidays and splurge on delicious home cooking.)

Although it is easy to get into bad habits, why don't we start believing that it is also easy to get into good habits?

There has been a multitude of research on nutrition, but two of the best models for maintaining a balanced diet are the Healthy Eating Pyramid and the Healthy Eating Plate, which are shown below (click on the links in the captions to enlarge):

nutritionaustralia.org

health.harvard.edu

Both models are great, and each has their pros and cons, but for me the Healthy Eating Plate is especially easy to follow in the dining halls. 

I usually try to limit myself to one plate, dedicating half of it to a salad of sorts. Then on the other half, I'll get a bit of pasta or brown rice, and then a piece of chicken or fish. If there is already protein mixed in with the pasta or rice, then I just get a little more of that. I usually try to limit myself to one plate, but if I'm still feeling hungry after my meal, I'll drink some fat free milk or add some cottage cheese to the side.

My nutritional philosophy (if that's a thing) is that it is okay to eat a lot so long as you are putting good things into your body. Eating a giant salad with fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and limited amount of dressing can be satisfying, and your body is able to process these things much more efficiently. But I also admit that I have a weakness for particular junk foods--namely ice cream and pizza. Giving up your favorite foods entirely sounds kind of extreme (and depressing) to me, so eating pizza once or twice a month during study sessions or friend times and getting some cake to treat yourself after a hard test is encouraged by me, too!

My nutritional plan has a couple holes, but I've found it pretty useful for staying in shape and getting everything I need in order to exercise daily and conduct all my activities with two meals a day. Reflecting on my health from last year, I would say that eating healthier definitely helped my body do everything I needed it to during the busy year despite the in general lack of sleep college students will get. 

Overall, it is also pretty easy--I came into college used to eating a plate that was not so balanced, but the transition was simple for me. So if you're looking for a quick, painless method for eating healthy, I definitely recommend splitting your plate between the main components.

Pacing oneself while eating also helps control portion size. It's best to eat slowly so that you can tell when you're full. I would start out with a plate of food, and if that isn't enough, go back for a little bit more at a time. Obviously, a football player weighing at least 200 pounds who exercises three or more hours a day will need a whole lot more food than me, a 115-pound taekwondo player. Even those seemingly minor characteristics, such as whether you are male or female, will affect how much food your body needs. Portion size really depends on your body and its needs, so listen to it! 

I must also emphasize the value of water. You may have already heard this, but a lot of times when we feel hungry, we are actually thirsty. Water is important for circulation, regulating the biochemistry occurring in your body, and getting rid of toxins. I personally drank about two liters of water a day and that was plenty for me. I would enjoy have a cup of tea every morning (contrary to what experts said, I skipped breakfast last year), and if I brought a water bottle along with me to class it was enough to sustain me until lunchtime.

foodenthusiastmag.com

Now, this post was pretty informal and was based mostly on personal experience in the dining halls, so for more factual information and advice on general nutrition, please take a look at Harvard's article on what you should really eat.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day! To close, I just wanted to share this video--it's just some good food for thought:

Smile on,

-Riley XO

Health in College Part 2: Sleep!

'Ello there, hope you had a wonderful Easter Sunday! Welcome to the second week of our Health in College series! We did a little bit of reflection on body image last week and today I wanted to talk about something that affects most--if not all--of the college students I know. Catching those Zzzz's.

If only we could all sleep like babies!
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Sleep is one topic that interests me a lot. The neurobiological responses that occur during sleep are weird; dreams are bizarre and for me having a dream is entertaining and suspenseful like reading an adventure novel since I'm a lucid dreamer; and we don't even know why we need sleep or how sleep heals the body after demanding days--I think that just makes sleep mind-boggling in and of itself.

For those of you who don't empathize with my conviction that sleep as one of the most complex and fascinating topics in psychology, this video is for you:

Anyhow, I saw one of those memes that said "If you are in college getting more than eight hours of sleep a night, you're doing something wrong." This seemed kind of silly to me because college isn't about staying up all night--it's about learning, spending time with friends, discovering yourself, making new memories, and of course earning your degree. I guess it's fair to say that if a person sleeps all day every day, then that person won't be successful with accomplishing everything she or he needs to do. However, I'd say that there's a certain threshold you can reach that would make having less sleep impact your performance negatively.

As a lot of you probably already know, I believe that each person should do what's best for herself or himself. It's hard to know the right amount of time you should be sleeping, because each of our bodies functions differently, but I happened to do some of research that is helpful for getting enough sleep. So all I can really do now is compile some options for getting a healthy amount of sleep and feeling more alert and upbeat during all the activities and events that happen throughout the busy day. I hope you find something that fits you. Basically, research on REM sleep has made it possible for ordinary people to drastically reduce the amount of sleep that we need--possibly to only two hours every twenty-four hours!

I. The Monophasic Cycle
This was the first sleep schedule I was exposed to. It's the most standard/common one, so I won't spend a ton of time on it. Basically, there are 24 hours in a day and a well-balanced lifestyle will divide those hours into three portions: one for work, one for play, and one for sleep.  Research shows that it's best to get around 7-10 hours of sleep a night because it gives people the right amount of REM cycles. This is probably the most common one and is easiest when it comes to planning things. But some science has been done to find alternatives for those who don't have as much time to sleep, and these are discussed below.

II. The Byphasic Cycle
Basically, you sleep for five hours a night and then take a twenty-minute-long nap sometime after lunch. I personally used this schedule first semester of college because I had several classes that started at 8:00 and would usually not go to bed until 1:00 or 2:00 (AM) doing work and spending time with friends or Skyping or whatever. Now-a-days I alternate between the byphasic and monophasic cycles because my schedule is different and allows me to get to bed early some nights.

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III. Napping Cycles
There are a couple other cycles that essentially consist of not having a main block allotted for sleep and instead focus on taking several naps throughout the day. I'm kind of scared of trying these ones for a couple reasons. Firstly, I spend a lot of time on the computer, and looking at the screen that much makes it difficult to fall asleep, and I feel like the whole nap time would be spent trying to fall asleep. Secondly, these cycles are based on staying in the lighter stages of sleep, so I question if these cycles would be healthy in the long-term, since I personally believe that deep sleep is important for the body to recharge. (I don't know anyone who's done this cycle for their whole life, if reported benefits are unique to the few people who try them, etc. The woes that come with uncertainty!) Thirdly, if you miss a nap then you'll be in big trouble, so these sleep schedules require very careful and strict planning; this can be a problem especially with busy days. Fourthly, I like my warm and comfy bed.

But it looks like several people have used these, and if you're interested in trying them out, here they are:

1. The Dymaxion Cycle: Four 30-minute long naps a day, five hours apart. 
2. The Uberman Cycle: Six 20-minute-long naps a day, each three hours apart.

Maybe I'll try each of these out for a week or two and report back to you guys in the future. If you would like to learn more details on each type of sleep cycle and see pie graphs, follow the link to Collective Evolution's article Alternative Sleep Cycles: 7-10 hours are not needed.

Have you ever tried any of these schedules? Do you think you're getting the right amount of sleep? Let me know in the comments below!

I wish I could write a whole series just on sleep, but this is all for today. To see Part 1 of this series (on Body Image!) click here. And to make sure you receive updates on the next parts of the series, please follow me on Twitter or Bloglovin'! (Or subscribe by email on the right sidebar!) Thank you for reading and I'll see you around next week.

Take care,
-Riley XO

Health in College Part 1: Body Image

Hello there! Has everything been going well for you? I hope it has. Last night, two special friends and I stayed up super late studying for a Chemistry exam and on the way back to our dorm we saw the blood moon! Did any of you see it too?

Well, as some of you may know, I was at Taekwondo Collegiate Nationals  a couple weeks ago, so I've been thinking a lot about fitness and health lately. And it's been a while since I've done a series, so that little light bulb flashed in my brain and I thought, "Why not do a series on health? Whoa!" (Okay, so I'll admit that was a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm still pretty excited to share some of my fitness routines and ideas with you all.) Let's get started!

Today I wanted to focus on body image, which is one of the trickier things to deal with in college. I personally believe that I have never put so much thought into my physical health until I got to university. To be honest, I think a large part of it has to do with the double-edged presence of dining halls and the college culture. I've had a relatively excellent experience with dining halls at my school because there is a huge variety of options and it is literally a source of pride for our campus. However, it's bad because there is nobody limiting you. Like a lot of college freshmen, there is a transition from eating mom's home-cooked meals every night, with the occasional excursion to a restaurant, to being in a buffet atmosphere for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You really learn to control how much you're eating and make smart decisions about what you're putting into your body. People who don't make the right choices of how much and what food they're eating end up having, as one would naturally assume, unhealthy eating habits.

And as for "college culture"...

I'm not going to talk about how sex culture affects body image in college because it honestly varies between campuses and even friend groups. But as for the overall "college culture," there is the general belief that your college years mark the prime of your life. This is the last chance for kids to be kids. The time to make mistakes, the time just before metabolism starts slowing down, the time to party, hang out with friends, to laugh and live. So with this comes the pressure to also look the part of a college student. People at "the prime of life" are supposed to be healthy, strong, and fit.

I believe that the college student's body image is formed by these pressures.

It is important to have a good body image because having a misconstrued body image can be detrimental to self esteem.

So what makes a good body image?

The media sends us a clear message, but the message makes us insecure. It makes us insecure because the media shows only one image that all people should project. Men should have washboard abs, a broad chest, strong jawline, muscular shoulders, and height. Women should have luscious hair, the right curves in the right places, flat stomachs, and glowing skin. White hairs, wrinkles, and fat are abominations that everyone must be rid of. You see, society doesn't help us find a good body image because society only has one body image. Society doesn't account for the fact that there are billions of people here, and none of them fit perfectly into the box that they've constructed. People don't fit into boxes. We are meant to be free, to explore, to do things.

We need to find the good body image by looking into ourselves, because body image is unique to each of us.

The human body is like a vessel. 

You wouldn't have much fun on a cruise ship if it wasn't beautiful on the outside in--or if it didn't even have functional parts. There are certain things that the cruise ship needs in order to make it a cruise ship, to make it float and do its job: music, food, sleeping areas, a well-functioning engine, rudders, etc. However, if the ship is too decked out, it wouldn't even be able to leave the dock!

Image from bangkok-cuises.com

This is how our bodies are too. Not caring about what we eat, throwing proper hygiene out the window,  and avoiding exercise is like using a bad quality of oil, not cleaning the pools, and not checking up on the engine to ensure proper function. And on the flip side, if we are too concerned with maintenance, what fun is it if we don't have the time to do anything else? Balance is key when it comes to health (and many more things too--but those discussions will just have to be saved for future posts).

One part of body image comes from loving myself and knowing that I am blessed to be who I am. Another part of it comes from setting goals--not only that, but it actually comes from the progress I experience as I'm moving toward my goals.

Let's do some reflection with our lives and start finding a positive body image that is our own.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What do I want to do with my life? - Do I want to go hiking, swimming, and dancing during the weekends? Do I want to live longer with less concern about getting sick when you're older? Do I want to make new friends by joining a team? Did I know that healthy people tend to be happier too?
• How good of physical shape must I be in in order to accomplish my goals? 
• What can I do to reach this physical shape that I must be in? - How many times can I go to the gym in a week? What makes a good, balanced diet? How much sleep am I getting? What can I do to maximize my time and health?

The next posts in this series will serve to address these questions and promote healthy habits. I hope you'll find them motivating and helpful as we go through the weeks. My vision for this series is to help us recognize the beauty we each have and work to preserve this beauty. Health and happiness are beautiful things, don't you think? 

If you have any insights or suggestions of things you would like to see, please email me or leave a comment below!

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Take care,
-Riley XO