Depressed College Kids

A lot of students begin to feel an overwhelming depression while away at college. Some kids lead to excessive sleeping, drug-use and drinking. People begin not to know how to handle the pressures of school and all the intensity that comes along with it. "College students are more likely to experience depression then other age groups," said Jennifer Sisk, social worker. In 2005 a survey was conducted through almost 17, 000 students and it showed that almost 25% felt severely depressed and 21% considered suicide. A lot of students have trouble socially while at school. They question why they don't fit in to certain groups. Others have difficulty in their personal relationships. Students use drugs and alcohol to mask their feelings. Most don't realize they are depressed. Several students visit counceling to share their feelings with someone they can trust without them passing any judgement.

http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/swsept2006p17.shtml
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/mental/2002-05-22-college-depression.htm

Poor Decisions in the Food and Health Dep.

I didn't really believe that everyone gained 15 pounds when they went away to college. I believe it now. I didn't gain 15 pounds but I got pretty close. Its important that when you gain weight you choose to try and lose it in a healthy way. A lot of girls resort to not eating. Other common excuses are that there is no time to go to the gym or cook a descent meal. Studies show that the rate of eating disorders at colleges is rising. As close as 50-60 percent of students have a eating disorders. 91% of students have attempted to control their weight through dieting. Girls are not the only ones, the numbers for boys are increasing as well. There is a high number of young adults that diet when they have no reason to. They suffer from belief that the typical college student must weigh around 115 pounds. Whether your not eating right or not eating at all, most students don't know the best ways to approach a healthy diet. Its hard to adapt from your homelife to college life and this leads to poor choices when it comes to our food intake or lack of. We must take the extra steps to insure the we are eating right. In the following link is a list of tips to avoid some stress in this department.
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/15-diet-tips-beat-freshman-15-at-any-age.html
http://www.waldenbehavioralcare.com/eating_disorders_among_college_students.asp

Bad Bad Tanning Beds

Nowadays, some girls have an extreme infatuation with tanning beds. A lot of guys have even started to show an interest in artificial tanning. I have always been knowledgable of the skin cancers risks. Every year more then 1 millions people are diagnosed with skin cancer. I never thought it necessary to where eye protection in the tanning beds because I've always been pretty good about keeping my eyes closed. They never hurt or felt strained while I was in the tanning bed. Studies show that in a tanning bed your eyes are exposed to 100 times more ultraviolet radiation then if you were out in the natural sun. This can lead to corneal burns, cataracts and in some rare instances retinal damage. Something else I didn't no was that certain medications you take can increase your sensitivity to light. For example, antibiotics, high blood-pressure medications, tranquilizers, diuretics, some birth control pills, and oral diabetes medications.

http://www.hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q676.html
http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/azhealthtopics/a/tanboothworthit.htm

Who is looking at your Facebook

Facebook is the seventh most trafficked site on the internet. Everyone who is anyone has a facebook by the time they reach college. More then college students are using facebook. My mom and numerous aunts and uncles now have a facebook. It is one of the largest social networks. You can search anyone you desire online. Anyone can search for you online. You need to make it apparent that your information is private on your facebook. Companies, organizations and colleges have been known to look at your facebook to gain perspective of who you are. You need to be careful what you say online, what pictures you post and what pictures you provide. A student was denied admission to his choice lawschool based on elements posted on his facebook that were seen by the dean of admissions. School authorities have taken an active interest in why students have begun to devote so much time on their facebooks.

Walking the streets at night

I went to Texas over Spring break. We visited Austin, San Antonio, Aransas Pass, La Plum, and La Grange. South Texas is not the safest place in the world. People that live around here voice that Downtown, Baltimore is the area that is best to avoid at night. My Mom and I visited the Riverwalk in San Antonio one night. We parked in a garage three blocks away from the Riverwalk. It was around 7:00 and it was getting dark. My Mom power walked the entire way there and said five minutes out of the car that we probably would not be able to stay long because it was getting dark. My Mom has extreme paranoia. To my suprise a homeless man did approach us in the short distance that we were walking from the car to the Riverwalk. He stood between us on the sidewalk and clapped his hands together. He looked like he was trying to say something but couldn't find the words. Me and my Mom walked around him quickly. I was calm but my Mom looked like she was going to pee herself. He didn't do anything to us but he still could have. We were the only ones walking down the street. It is important, especially in the city not to walk in bad neighborhoods. Try to avoid walking alone. This man could have easily grabbed me or my Mom and done something far more severe.

Do you not think prescription drugs can take a toll on you?

Ever feel overly depressed, anxious or even violent. These feelings can often be triggered by an overuse of prescription drugs. Many students use amphetamines and metamphetamines on a regular basis. Aterol is a common drug used by college students. It is often used to complete late night homework or study for that mid-term you have tomorrow. This drug is intended to be used by people with a.d.d or attention deficit disorder. Aterol is designed to alter your brain chemistry and if not prescribed by your doctor it can have serious consequences on your health. Some students take the abuse of this drug to a whole nother level. You can increase your dosage to such an extreme that you can loose sleep for as much as 3-14 days. Side effects can lead to hypothermia and formication(where you feel like insects are crawling underneath your skin). Forces of procrastination are what typically lead students to use these drugs. We as students need to learn how to better budget are time and not lead us into these type of temptations. Study groups and doing homework with a friend are strategies that I have found to be helpful in getting a jumpstart on my homework.

Would it happen if alcohol wasn't involved?

Rates are higher for death, drunk driving, injury, and police involvement when people are under the influence of alcohol. Students are typically binge drinkers before they come to college. However, when they get here and their peers bombard them with the mass amounts of alcohol they can consume, they do not know when they have reached their limit. People who do not have much experience with drinking alcohol generally do not know how to behave responsibly. Especially when they come right out of highschool and there 17-18 years of age.

If you are caught underage drinking or providing alcoholic beverages to minors on campus it can lead to parental notification, mandatory counseling and suspension or dismissal from the university or from university housing. If your willing to underage drink, you had better be willing to accept the consequences if you are caught. Campus authorities are not the only people you need to worry about when you are under the influence. Police are knowledgable and ready to find and convict anyone who is underage and driving under the influence or is found intoxicated while in public. On a typical Tuesday night you can drive from Charles Street to Osler and find three cops at different locations ready to make their mark. 2.1 million students between the ages of 18-24 were arrested for driving under the influence in 2002. 1, 700 students between the ages of 18-24 die in alcohol related car accidents every year. 599, 000 students are unintentionally injured. Most college students who are underage will drink and the majority of them do get away with it. Drinking is a difficult situation to stray away from while at college because the larger perecentage of students do it. If you choose to drink there are many precautions you can take to make sure that you are drinking responsibly.

First, there is no reason to ever get behind the wheel while intoxicated. You are not only threatening the life of yourself but the lives of those around you or in the car with you. Public transportation is always an option. Cab fares are managable if you travel in a larger group. It is more responsible to pay that extra four dollars on a ride home, then letting your drunk friend tell you that they did not have that much to drink that night. Those four or five dollars would probably have been spent at Mcdonalds the next morning, which are calories that you don't need anyway. Another way to avoid this type of scenario is by making prior arrangements with who your illeged transportation is going to be, like having a sober friend drop and pick you up. A designated driver is hard to come by because no one generally wants to play that role. If you are of age you need to remember that in all 50 states of America your blood alcohol concentration cannot be any higher then .08%; otherwise they are hauling you in the clinger. 2.1 million students drive under the influence each year. Don't be another statistic. Play safe. Drink Responsibly! :)

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/StatsSummaries/snapshot.aspx