How to stay healthy during the dreaded post-reading week sludge
It’s that time of year again. You’re either coming off two weeks of midterm hell followed by a week of binge drinking and sleeping until 4 p.m., or you’re headed into two weeks of midterm hell after a week of binge drinking and sleeping until 4 p.m. Either way, your internal clock is probably very confused as to why you’re up before noon, and your immune system has probably taken a beating over the last week by drinking out of sketchy plastic cups and being in extremely close proximity to germ-infested strangers. At this delicate time, it’s important to take care of yourself to avoid getting sick and perhaps having to defer your exams. In the infamous words of Hermione Granger – paraphrased – “You’re going to get yourself killed – or even worse, expelled.”
Here are some useful tips for keeping healthy at this perilous time.
1. Eat well: This probably means you should pack a meal if you know you’re going to be out of the house for an extended period of time. Continuously buying food on campus is bad for your wallet and your body – especially considering that one of the only places on campus to take debit is the Taps. Fried Ravioli Bites does not a healthy student make. And, as much as we could argue about the benefits of eating breakfast, you’ll probably feel a little better in your morning class if you’ve got some food in your stomach. Plus, you won’t be that kid whose stomach growls through the entire lecture.
2. Exercise: I mean actually exercise, instead of signing up for a gym membership and then being conveniently “too busy” or “too tired” to go. Even if you just take a long walk outside, or do the Seven Minute Workout in your own bedroom (seriously, that thing will kick your butt), taking a break from working out your mind and doing something active is one of the best things you can do.
3. Sleep: This is one of the most important contributors to a healthy lifestyle, but it’s also what you’re most likely depriving yourself of. Friends, parties, readings, reddit, and general procrastination all lead to sleep deprivation. So, do your best to log off the Internet, put down the textbook, and catch an extra hour or two of Z’s.
4. Drink water: Drink it all of the time. Drink at least two litres a day. Buy one of those giant U of G Nalgene bottles in the bookstore and make sure you go through at least two refills. Carry it with you everywhere. For your and your body’s safekeeping, take it with you to parties. Try to drink a quarter of your bottle for every drink you have, and then your Tuesday night trivia adventures won’t seem like such a bad idea the next morning. Keeping hydrated is exceptionally important all the time, but even more so when you’re making the kind of life decisions that seem a lot better in the moment than they do in hindsight.
5. Hand sanitizer: Campus is like a petri dish of all kinds of gross bacteria. All day, you touch door knobs, keyboards, phones, desks (and, accidentally, the gum on the bottom of those desks), and other people’s hands. While, to a certain extent, our bodies build up immunity, it’s still pretty easy to catch whatever’s going around campus if you don’t protect yourself. You can get the traditional Purell in little mini bottles, or you can get really cool ones that smell like vanilla or gingerbread, so you don’t smell like the inside of a doctor’s office all the time.