Weekly Wellness Note #5 - STRESS (Part 2)

So I've got about 8 hours before my flight to the Dominican Republic takes off, but I figured I'd do part 2 of my stress segment.

So now that we know a little bit about stress, let's talk about some sure fire ways to fight stress and how you can incorporate them into your life

Excercise: Of course everyone knows about excercise and how great it is, blah blah blah, I don't have enough time, I hate the gym, etc. I've heard it all. We live in a sedentery world, and it's killing us. You can't afford not to. Jonny's got some solutions for you don't worry.

- Hungry? No food in the fridge? Awesome. Call up your best friend and walk to restaurant of your choice (Ideally a subway, panera, or crispers)! Anyone ever wonder why people from New York don't get fat? They walk everywhere! But I know how especially you girls love your walks, so why not make them productive?

- Find yourself channel surfing? Shut off the TV, call a friend, and take a stroll around campus

- Yoga. The slow rhythmic breating performed in Yoga works miracles against stress. They're also a great way to put movement and extension into your spine. And best of all, they're free at your University gyms! Plus they provide a great work out. And guys, if it's good enough for NFL superstars to train with, I think you can handle it.

- Dance classes - They're fun and they get your heart rate going, and best of all, you don't even feel like you're excercising. Don't like the classes? Take a page out of Dane Cook's book and "F- guys, I just want to dance" and go to a club and shake it.

- Swimming. Hanging out at the pool and getting that vitamin D? Hop in the pool and swim 4 laps and get those muscles going.

- Take the stairs everywhere. Make use of those UCF parking garages and park on the top floor of the garage. Come to think of it, get to school a little early and park far from class and walk there.

That's just the tip of the ice berg, just whatever you do, make it fun! Call a friend and do it together. Humans were designed to move and the advent of TV and the computer is killing people by depriving people of movement.

Sleep: What? College kids don't sleep, who needs sleep? Ever wonder why college kids gets stressed out and sick every semester around finals time? They go from little sleep to no sleep in no time flat. Time to fix that here are the stats:

- Getting 8 hours of sleep is worth more than 5 hours of sleep with the 3 hours extra study time. The research is mind blowing.
- Daylight savings time - The rate of motor vehicle accidents goes up immediately when we spring foward into day light savings.

So how do you add sleep to your day? Well the key is being consistant. If you sleep 4 hours a night in the weekdays, and 14 hours on weekends...no go, not effective.

- Set an alarm when it's time to go to bed. Wow, crazy thought, but try it out. Soon as that alarm goes off, you're hittin the hay, no excuses.
- Check out the tea aisles in your grocery store and hit up those sleepy time teas.
- Stay away from drug induced sleep. Drug induced sleep tends to deprive you of that valuable REM sleep you hear about, and may make you more irritable when you wake up.
- Find the book for your most boring class, sit in your bed, and read...works like a charm every time.

Leisure: Have one day a week where it's your time to do whatever you want, and make it worthwhile so you look foward to it. Some recommendations?
- Get a massage
- Driving range/batting cage
- Go to the beach
- Pick up a hobby and develop it. (Learn to play guitar anyone?)
- Add your own, it's your day! If you're pretty active (read: excercise 4-5 days a week), make this your TV or movie day

Coming to you next week, the world's best kept secret in beating stress revealed in WWN - STRESS (part 3)

Be well and stay adjusted,
Jonny