Dealing with stress at the university

The word stress has become one of the most popular of recent years. Many activities can cause us stress. For example, have you heard about stress at the work, or post vacation stress or even Christmas shopping stress? Apparently, stress level increases proportionally to the number of activities you have to do. In my case, I’m a university student so you can imagine what kind of stress I have.
Stress is an organism physiological reaction in which a lot of defense mechanisms act to face a situation perceived as a threat. It is a natural response but the most of the time we confuse it with a pathology because, in certain circumstances, it triggers serious health problems.
University is a very demanding place. I think you need to be committed with the courses if you want to pass them with good marks.
This semester has been exhausting. I have at least three evaluations a week, so I have to study every day. In addition, students who study health related-careers are very competitive therefore if you want to stand out from your classmates you have to make efforts and sacrifices.
At these days another thing is bothering me...I live far away from the university, so the distances drive me crazy. During the first semester it didn't matter. But now I can't take it anymore. It is awful. Especially the subway, with all the heat inside of it.
Well, I suppose you notice I'm quite stressed...but I have my own methods to feel better.
Spending time with the family because into the week there is no time enough to talk with them all I want. At least once a week I go out with friends. Sharing experiences about what happened to each one in the week is a great therapy to de-stress. I like to do exercise, so I try to do it as often as I can. I like many comedy series on Warner Channel so I watch them when I have free time.
These are some of the activities I do to avoid daily stress. But one of my favorites is sleep.

DISPELLING NEUROMYTHS: There is no time to lose as everything important about the brain is decided by the age of three

There are many information explaining that the child’s first years are crucial for his/her neurological development and that practically everything is decides at this age.
Some physiological phenomena that take place during brain development can, lead to beliefs that the critical learning stages occur between birth and age three.
Neurons are the basic component of information processing in the brain. Humans have 100 billions of them which are interconnected. Thus, information can circulate in several directions at the time. This process is known as synapses. Synapses allows skill development and learning capacity, if we consider that learning is a creation of a new synapses or the strengthening or weakening of existing synapses.
Compared to an adult, the number of synapses in newborns is low. However, when the baby is two months, the synaptic density of the brain increases exponentially and exceeds that of an adult, with a peak at ten months.
For a long time, science believed that the maximum number of neurons was fixed at birth and weren’t thought to regenerate and each individual would then lose neurons regularly. Now, is known that new neurons can appear at any point in a person’s life.
I think this neuromyth is pretty common. I’ve heard it a thousand of times. There are so many products to stimulate babies in this stage of their lives like music, food, even special training to develop their intelligence.
In relation with the use of these products, studies have been inconclusive. Although, is scientifically proven that the number of synapses in children under three years is higher than adults. But this discover doesn’t imply a relation about the density of neurons in early life stages and the ability to improve learning.

A healthy lifestyle. Is it possible? How?

What is a healthy lifestyle? A healthy lifestyle is when you have a good diet, do sports, don’t smoke, sleep 8 hour at least...
Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle? I think I don’t. In my personal experience, as a student, I sleep like 4 hours a day so I feel tired all time. I don’t smoke and I drink alcohol in especial occasions. I like do sports, in fact if I have free time after my classes and I don’t have to study for the next day I go to the gym. But it doesn’t happen to often. I consider I have a good diet. I really like fruits and vegetables and I eat them everyday. I am informed about how many calories I have to eat to keep a normal weight, considering my height and my body mass index. Therefore I have a balance diet which includes the proteins, carbohydrates and lipids that I need.
Like I said before, I enjoy do sports but I really don’t have much time. I have to say that is not just for all the subjects that I have and need to study. I think the real reason is I am a disorganized person. That is one of my biggest defects. During all my life I have been like that and it is hard to change it. But it is not impossible.
Of course having a healthy lifestyle is possible. In my case, I need to get adapted to all my daily activities and organized my time. For example, since like a month ago I have being avoiding the weekend study. That is too bad for me because I rest on weekends and enjoy them but my weeks are being very stressful and exhausting…I think that is my main problem. And the main consequence: I’m always tired.
So, I need to organize my time. In order to do this I need to make a big effort. Changing a habit is quite difficult. Just like if a smoker person wants to quit it. Thus, I will have more time to get distracted, go out and do more exercise.