Welcome to April: Possibly the most stressful month of the average college students’ year. I’m sure most of you reading this have already designated prime study real-estate in the library, ran up an extreme coffee bill, and cried over the struggles over the long-distance relationship between you and your bed. Your professors just happened to choose the same due date for all of your assignments, your athletic team is lifting and conditioning 900 times a day, everyone and their mother needs a shift covered at work, and you’re just about ready to pull your hair out. You have a thousand different obligations and responsibilities piling up and it’s becoming nearly impossible to keep up with everything. So what do you do? You pile up on the espresso shots, energy drinks, and caffeine pills to keep you going at full speed like a freakin’ super-human.
Wrong.
Caffeine is one of the most widely used substances on the planet. About 80% of Americans consume it daily. It is a Central Nervous System stimulant that increases alertness, helping you feel more awake and less tired. Thousands of studies have been conducted over the years that show enormous benefits from the drug. It’s thought to increase memory, replenish glycogen after excursive, detox the liver, prevent various types of cancer, improve reaction time, and prevent weight gain. So, you take copious amounts into your body every day to, again, keep you going at full speed like a freakin’ super-human.
Wrong Again.
Although caffeine is said to have a number of health benefits, the incessant intake of Monsters and Large House Roasts can take a huge toll on your body. Short term side effects of caffeine overdose include insomnia, restlessness, muscle tremors, headaches, irritability, and upset stomach… Ouch! Prolonged caffeine overdose can result in cardiac arrest, hallucinations, stomach ulcers, and addiction (no surprise there). Of all the different forms of caffeine intake, energy drinks are without a doubt the most dangerous. Because energy drinks often contain plant and herbal ingredients, companies like Red Bull and Monster can choose to label themselves as a “dietary supplement”, which allows them to put their drinks on store shelves with no regulation from the FDA. Energy drink companies don’t even have to reveal how much caffeine each drink contains. Taking a stimulant drug without any idea of the amount or level of safety is a strong VETO.
But… you still have three term papers, a championship game, and four shifts at work that you have to be awake and alert for. How on earth are you going to survive the month of April?!
1. Sleep: Sleep is said to improve to improve memory, physical agility, attentiveness, metabolism, and mood. Professionals recommend 6-8 hours of sleep per night. Try to turn electronics off thirty minutes before bedtime. Increased exposure to cell phone and laptop light prevents the photoreceptors in the retina from telling the brain that it’s time to rest.
2. Plan Your Time Wisely: It might be time for you and Netflix to take a break. Try to spend free time either catching up on sleep or making a study group with some friends. Breaking up large assignments into small parts will make the work load easier to manage.
3. Prioritize: Pay close attention to due dates. Try to work on assignments that are due first to avoid the “I have four hours to write an 8-pager” fiasco. And sometimes, staying in on a Friday night can ACTUALLY help your performance for your Saturday morning game.
4. (A Little) Coffee here and there is OK: Try to avoid the energy drinks. Stick with good old coffee. A cup in the morning can be tolerable, but try to avoid drinking coffee in the late afternoon because it will make it harder for you to fall asleep. It’s also important to realize that caffeine is a drug that causes extreme dehydration, so make sure that for every 8oz of coffee you drink 16oz of water.
5. Take a Break: Five strait hours of cramming can put loads of stress on your body. Make sure that for every 45 minutes of work you have 10-15 minutes of resting and de-stressing.