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College Tribune | September 16 2008
Things you should do....
to get health savvy
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One healthy meal at the start of each day: breakfast boosts your dopamine levels and leaves you feeling rejuvenated and awake. Have something with proteins like eggs or nuts and seeds on the side with your toast or in yoghurt. Porridge is great for leaving you feeling full and for energising you for long periods. Banana slices on toast with a glass of juice is another surprisingly nice morning meal.
One
citrus fruit a day keeps the stress monkeys away, and the doctor.
Two MMR vaccines: to prevent mumps. If under the age of 25 you may have only had one of the vaccinations. Several cases of mumps have been reported in the last week in UCD. Check and if unsure contact the Student Health Service. The vaccination is free.
Five
glasses of water a day: everyone knows it but let’s face it, hardly anyone actually ever does it except when they have a particularly bad hangover.
twenty five to thirty minutes.
Two
aspirin four times a day if suffering from the affects of a cold or flu (unless asthmatic).
Three week you should
times exercise
a for
Eight hours of pure, uninterrupted sleep at night in a dark, quiet room free from dust and clutter.
Ten
minutes of complete relaxation a day: you should do absolutely nothing except breath. Surprisingly, nobody really does this but
it does relieve stress and serves to make you more able to cope with an otherwise jampacked day.
Five
minutes to contemTake plate how much alcohol you have already consumed in the past twentyfour hours and stop if it’s more than a five-finger count. Remember- one unit is the equivalent of half a pint
of beer, one glass of wine or a standard measure of spirit. A man can have up to twenty-one units a week while women can have up to fourteen. You should have two or three drinkfree days. Aoife Ryan
How Not to Gain Those Ten Pounds, and Stay Mentally Sound this Year “So many people come into UCD thinking they don’t fit in. They feel alone but don’t really do anything about it except let themselves spiral down into a state of unhappiness. It’s said all the time but all students should be really aware of all the support services available to them if they need a hand. Admitting you need help is nothing to be embarrassed of.” These are the words of Student Advisor Aisling O’ Grady who is located in the Newman building near the Programme Office. Every year she, along with a number of her colleagues, talks to a large number of students who need to discuss their problems, whether academic or otherwise. “It would be more unusual to go through college life without any issues at all. If you come across one, why not deal with it instead of ignoring it?” As every college student knows, one of the greatest problems is trying to stay reasonably healthy while at the same time enjoying the social aspect and keeping the food shopping expenses as low as possible. “Just remember that a
diet of pot noodles is not going to get you through life. The majority of the students I see are simply not healthy. You end up tired and unable to make the most of your time, which ultimately leaves you stressed.” O’Grady states that the student habit of late nights and long drinking sessions have one particularly ungainly result. She calls this the fresher’s ten pounds. “This is named after the American concept. It’s pretty self-explanatory; the first years usually gain around ten pounds because of the sudden change in their habits. Although some do, the majority don’t do as much physical exercise as they used to do when it was all arranged for them in school.”
It is not just first years who have problems settling into the new routine of college, despite the stereotype. O’Grady insists that in fact a large number of her clientele are older years and students from local feeder schools still living at home as well. “It’s not only country people who come to see me. People who went to Mount Anville and other areas close by drop in to see me too. If you don’t really solve the issue in first year, it’s carried into the next. That’s when older years tend to drop in. Either way it’s the brave ones who step across the doorway.” Among those who students can
Aisling o’grady
contact are the student advisors like O’Grady, their tutors, the chaplaincy, the psychologists, doctors and the triage nurse. “It can be a reassurance to talk about everything going on. Most
For the first six weeks everyone calls them freshers, and then suddenly that stops and they become first years students then realise that it’s not half as bad as they originally thought. If you leave it, the problem grows. “My favourite word is balance. It takes six weeks to settle in for the first years, which I don’t think is well enough known. For the first six weeks everyone calls them freshers, and then suddenly that stops and they become first years. I think that title gives a greater sense of integration. They be-
come one of the team and are given a greater sense of purpose. Everyone who has gone through the process remembers what it was like to eat lunch alone for the first time.” The main advice O’Grady wishes to impart to new students is simply to join some of the college activities straight away and to relax about the new academic approach taken in college. “At college, thinking is done in a different way. It’s a slow process and it doesn’t happen overnight. Those of us around here for what feels like a hundred years know seeking help is a sign of strength. Get involved, and we’ll be here to help. At the end of the day the college is yours.” AOIFE RYAN