About five per cent of school children are diagnosed ADD/ADHD. Though that number decreases as they reach adulthood, not all of us grow out of it.
If you're like me, you have trouble organizing your plans, your room, and anything else that you need to stay on top of. For me, navigating university with ADD/ADHD is kind of like being in a room full of people who all want your attention. I become so overwhelmed that I just turn around, walk out, and get some frozen yogurt in solitude. Without tactics in place to minimize disorganization, it can be quite stressful. Even if you don't have ADD/ADHD and are just a naturally disorganized person, the best way to ensure success is to find a tactic that works for you. Being in the 99th percentile of ADD/ADHD diagnoses, I've learned some tips and tricks along the way that keep me on top of things.
This can be a lifesaver. Whether you use an agenda, a wall calendar, or your phone, make sure you write down all your due dates, upcoming appointments, and even your plans with friends to avoid double booking. It's not enough to just write things in your day planner—make sure you actually look at it too.
By the second last week of August, I started settling into my daily routine. The transition from summer to school is easy for me because of a full-time job that requires me to wake up by seven and head to bed by eleven. However, if you, three a.m., and Netflix got very close during the summer months, you may want to decide on a wakeup time and a sleep time. For some, those two are enough, but you can also plan your wake-up, breakfast, medication, study, and bedtime. Even if you don't have class at the same time every day, I recommend waking up at the same time anyway. Though your schedule may be broken the morning after a couple of six packs, following a routine for the most part means there is less to think about.
I set up a three-goal reward system that helped me kill two birds with one stone. I'm the worst at delayed gratification. I’ll eat stale donuts even if I know there’ll be fresh ones in an hour. But I trained myself to set three goals for myself, from something as simple as "email professor about assignment" to "don't forget medication for a week". Your reward can be after however many goals and be whatever you want, but I find that three is usually the magic number.
Many people hate cleaning their room, especially when you just cleaned it a week ago and have no idea how all of your clothes got on the floor. When it comes to things we just don't want to do, having a friend over who doesn't mind just hanging around with you while you do your chores can make it a less sleep-inducing experience. If they're nice enough, they might even offer to help. If they're like my friends, they'll probably just keep telling you about the spots you missed.
Student Accessibility Services is in the basement of the student center and is very helpful if you have an ADD/ADHD or learning disability diagnosis. You can get accommodated to ensure you achieve academic success.
It's perfectly okay to not be able to focus all the time or feel like you just can't get organized sometimes. Take the steps that are right for you, but don't measure yourself on another's "ideal". Figure out how to manipulate external things like alarms and calendars so they can help you reach whatever goal(s) you set. Although school generally gets easier when you manage to organize, sometimes the restless and messy kids grow up to be the restless and messy adults, and that's totally okay.
As those who know me can woefully attest to, I am not the type of person to agonize over wardrobe choices. But when I reached for a sweater from my dwindling Clean Pile and came up with a cozy blue one, I hesitated. I stood there for a little while, half-dressed, holding the sweater at arm’s length as a convoluted stream of thoughts battled it out through the morning grogginess. Not because the colour was unflattering, not because it clashed with my pants, not because knits are out this season, but because emblazoned on the front, in friendly, bubbly lettering, was the word “SMILE.”
I knew that most people, myself included, faced with a goofy-font request to grin would likely react in some positive way. If not by smiling, than at least hopefully remembering that it’s still an option. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that demanding a smile from everyone I crossed paths with seemed a bit insensitive. What if someone I encountered, a friend, was having an off-day? My shirt wasn’t offering a sympathetic ear or a tight hug, it was suggesting they bury whatever they were really feeling under a veil of cheerful visual cues.
Nearly everyone has an automatic response for the casual query “How’s it going?” In the barrel, loaded, ready to go, is that reflexive “Good,” “Well,” “Fine.” I’ve come across a lot of discussion about this lately, calling us all out on out how little stuff like this normalizes the way we stifle hardships, hiding our weaknesses from one another. We’re all kind of programed to appear healthy and happy when someone asks how we are, regardless of whether or not we are. This discussion, I think, is constructive in that it encourages people to answer “How’s it going?” more honestly. I think it’d be nice for people to feel at ease talking through their problems, and would be a good exercise in empathy for all parties involved.
But like anything good, this message’s resonance came to an end with me. After scrolling through pages of various blog posts, newspaper articles and well-intentioned videos, I started to feel a little smothered. The concept of someone’s ability to be honest warped into a responsibility to share. I felt guilty for all the times I’d answered “Great!” to a polite co-worker, when what I was really feeling was more “Dishearteningly overwhelmed by life, stuff, and things.”
After wallowing in this image of myself as an everyday liar for a while, I started to actually think about why I lie about these things. It wasn’t because I felt some societal pressure to be perpetually cheerful, or enjoyed perpetuating an image of emotional invincibility. In fact, there are many people who have seen me laying, probably curled up, on the floor, or perhaps sprawled across a table, sobbing unattractively as only an excess of feelings can cause a person to do. Mostly because of my inability to handle terrifying amounts of kindness and happiness, but sometimes because I’ve been wholly defeated by the day.
It’s not that I don’t tell people what I’m really feeling. I’m not an emotional hermit. I just like to choose when I share, and with whom. If I tell you I’m doing great, when I’m really not, it’s not because I’m afraid the pillars of society will crumble, it’s just because this isn’t the time or place to talk about what’s eating me.
I do encourage you to ask, though. People you really care about, even when those people are strangers. Make sure you really ask, not just a quickly-rattled “whatsup?” Only ask when you want to know the answer, and know that really asking places a responsibility on you, not the answerer.
And that is a responsibility I am willing and happy to take on, all the time. So if you see me around wearing that blue knit sweater, know that despite the bold invitation, its shoulders would welcome your tears.
Plus, I give great hugs.
By: Em Kwissa
My first forays into the awkward and heated territory that is disrobing in front of another human being occurred in my junior year of high school. I was seventeen and I had already dated a few people, but with all my previous partners things had been kept strictly over-the-clothes. This particular relationship was markedly different in two ways. One, I was in love. Two, I no longer had any interest in pretending I wasn’t incredibly horny.
Arguably the most important part of sexual encounters of any kind is that everyone involved wants to be involved. There was no question that I was enthusiastic about the direction in which my boyfriend and I were headed and the speed at which we were getting there; the problem was, I wanted to be involved as someone else. I wanted to be someone with a flatter stomach, smaller thighs, and bigger breasts. I wanted to be someone hairless and devoid of unsexy bodily functions, someone who could contort into wild poses and who smelled and tasted like vanilla ice cream.
Thus, my first sexual relationship was a very sad thing. In preparing to go and see my boyfriend, I spent hours meticulously correcting every imperfect detail of my appearance. In spite of wanting very badly to get to the fun naked things I knew we could be doing, it took me forever to get out of my clothes, and once I was in the buff I became preoccupied with sucking in my stomach and tensing my thighs and pointing my toes and lying only on my side to make my cleavage look bigger, and you know what? None of those things are conducive to fun sex. Here I was with this boy I loved and who loved me (and who, for the record, thought I was beautiful every inch), and for some reason I thought that things like a tan or a six-pack would make the experience better.
Fast forward through three years of experiences in sex and identity and arrive at present-day me, twenty years old and still soft-bellied, small-breasted, and covered in razor-burn if I shave my legs too often. This isn’t a story about how I started working out and tanning and applying various creams and perfumes and memorizing the Kama Sutra. I realized very soon after my boyfriend and I broke up that those things wouldn’t make a difference. My problem wasn’t with my body; my problem was with me, and no matter how much I changed my appearance, if I continued to believe that pleasure was only attainable if I became some future, new-and-improved version of myself, I would always be able to find something new to pick at.
I fully support physical self-improvement as a means of bettering one’s health and happiness, but I was kidding myself that I couldn’t be happy until I looked a certain way. I have the same body I did three years ago. The difference is that now I want to do naked fun things lights on and comfortable, because it’s way easier to have a good time when you’re thinking about how awesome sex is instead of how much more awesome sex would be if you looked like someone else. Don’t let a hypothetical version of you upstage you in bed. You’re here. You’re horny. You’re hot as hell. Go get some, kid.
By: Jennifer Bacher
Christmas break is long gone and yet the winter drags on. No longer do we have the days of going to bed at 2 a.m. and sleeping till noon. Back to the books and back to the essays, labs and all those other assignments you’re facing this term. A good night’s sleep can seem like an impossible luxury, but it can help you tackle the day with ease. If you find yourself staring at the ceiling late into the night, try these foods to help you drift into peaceful sleep:
Herbal Tea
Teas such as chamomile and any herbal tea have been known to aid in relaxation and relieve anxiety. Try brewing a cup and enjoy while reading a book in bed.
Almonds
Almonds are an excellent bedtime snack. The magnesium in almonds relaxes muscles and their protein content keeps your sugar levels stable while you sleep. Try a handful before bed.
Milk
A cup of warm milk is the tradition route to help catch some Zzz’s. If you’re not a fan of straight warm milk try it in some decaffeinated tea, in hot chocolate or with some honey. You could also try a bowl of cereal with milk. Carbohydrate–rich foods increase the availability of tryptophan, the sleep-inducing effect also seen in turkey.
Banana
Like milk and turkey, bananas are also high in tryptophan. Try some bananas with peanut butter, on their own or as a sandwich.
Crackers
Enjoying snacks with carbohydrates and calcium will aid in a blissful sleep. Try Triscuits with melted cheese or turkey.
By: Julie-Anne Mendoza
1. Stop Multitasking.
You may think that you’re being efficient by doing multiple things at once, but multitasking is more likely to lower your productivity than raise it. Our brains aren’t actually capable of focusing on more than one individual task at a time, so when we think we’re multitasking, we’re actually just quickly switching between activities as opposed to doing many at the same time. And for those of you who think you’re great multitaskers: a study at Stanford found that those who multitasked a lot we’re worse at filtering information and switching between activities than those who rarely multitasked. In short: multitasking will actually make you worse at multitasking.
2. Don’t use electronics immediately before going to bed.
Melatonin is the hormone that makes you feel tired at night, and it’s released when your brain registers lower levels of light (i.e. when it’s dark out). Your laptop, phone, and tablets emit high-intensity LED light that suppresses melatonin production, and will make it tougher for you to fall asleep. Going tech-free for the hour before bed might be tough, but it’ll trick your body into helping you fall asleep faster.
3. Exercise.
I know you’ve heard this one. I know you’re tired of hearing it. There’s a good reason exercise is in every magazine’s list of life-tips: it works. Exercising releases endorphins, which have a very similar effect to opiates. Fun fact: these are the same hormones your body releases during orgasm.
4. Stop sleeping in on the weekends.
This is a tough one to swallow, I know, but sleeping in on the weekend will not help you make up any sleep debt you’ve accumulated over the week. By changing your sleeping patterns and throwing off your body clock, you’ll just make it harder to wake up on Monday morning.
5. Google it.
I know it seems obvious, but people just don’t do this. You would be surprised at how many problems Google can solve for you. Having a hard time with integral calculus? Google it. Need to get a stain out of your favorite shirt? Google it. Don’t know how to fix your stove? Google it (and call your landlord). By looking up the right solution, you can avoid time wasted trying out all the wrong ones. You might have 99 problems, but don’t let a lack of information be one.
Check out @OMGLifeHacks on twitter for more tips on reprogramming your productivity.
By: Palika Kohli
I’m the kind of person who gives second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances to the people I care for. I firmly believe that if I know the reasoning behind someone’s mistake, then I can figure out a way to genuinely forgive them.
But sometimes there comes a point when you realize the mistakes a person makes aren’t actually mistakes at all. They’re purposeful decisions that reflect an integral part of their personalities.
But, being the all-forgiving soul you are, you ignore this fact and continue making excuses for their behaviour. You repress your response to their abrasive characteristics. You focus on the good memories you have of them and remind yourself that they haven’t always been this way. You hold on to an idea of the person, no matter who they are becoming or have already turned into.
You begin to believe that if you find it in yourself to forgive them, you are becoming a better, more mature person; that it will help you deal with ‘all kinds of characters’ in the future.
Then, suddenly, the invisible line that you have been pushing farther and farther out into unknown territories gets crossed. And that’s it.
Sometimes we need to do more than just clean out our closets to get a fresh perspective on ourselves. So here’s a list of indicators if a relationship in your life – romantic or otherwise – is unhealthy.
Verbally abusive: This doesn’t have to mean what you think it does – their snide remarks can be the basis for a realization that this person isn’t adding to your quality of life.
Uses gossip to get close to you: On this same line – if you realize that all you discuss with this person are other people, your relationship probably isn’t going anywhere.
Feeling a lack of privacy: They’re constantly in your room, reading your phone, or consistently referencing details of your social networking profiles.
Inconsiderate of your situation: They can make unreasonable demands, expecting things from you that maybe you can’t afford to give – be it time or money – and then they don’t appreciate what you do give, because it isn’t a tangible object.
Passive-aggressiveness: They won’t say anything aloud if it’s bothering them, but will show it in other ways – or will hold it against you in the future.
Gratefulness: You should never be feeling grateful that a person is suddenly making time for you, that they returned your call or that they showed up – this indicates imbalance.
Justification in assertion: You should never feel uncertain asserting your opinion or be scared of arguing when you don’t agree with them.
Finally, it can often be cathartic to actually tell a person why you don’t want them in your life. It means that you have to think carefully, and drain out your anger and bitterness before confronting them. You will have the opportunity to sit down and have a civil conversation over past issues, thoughts or feelings – maybe you will even prevent them from making the same mistakes in the future. But at the very least, it will be off your chest.
By: Amanda Watkins and Jamie Hillman
Whether it’s excessive stress and anxiety from school, a crush on your best friend, or personal insecurities, everyone has a secret.
In response to this reality, the Student Wellness Centre has developed the “MacSecret” program. Based on the online phenomenon “PostSecret,” the initiative is going into its third year.
The program is designed around the sharing of personal secrets via hand-written postcards revealing anonymous concerns or insecurities. As outlined on the MacSecret posters, the goal of the program is to “raise awareness about the many challenges students face, and to provide an outlet to share these concerns openly, yet anonymously.”
“Having the anonymity is helpful when dealing with things that are more challenging to address,” explained Pearl Mendonca, a Wellness Education Coordinator at the Student Wellness Centre.
By offering MacSecret as an outlet of expression, students are able to open up about issues and ideas that they may not otherwise be comfortable sharing. In an effort to create a safe and comfortable environment, the Student Wellness Centre strives to offer services that cater to a variety of concerns, such as stress and life issues, mental health, relationships, academic concerns and identity struggles.
In discussing the values of the MacSecret project, Khadeeja Sheikh, a Mental Health Team Leader, expressed the rewards of the program. “The fact that students can share [these secrets], helps relieve stress…We were surprised at how sincere the secrets were and [how the program] allowed them to write something really private.”
MacSecret has 10 locations around campus that provide blank postcards for students to fill out and boxes where they can be submitted. Currently, boxes are situated in Mills, Innis and Thode libraries, DBAC, SHEC, the north and west quad Residence Service Desks, the Student Success Centre, Student Accessibility Services and the SWC.
The coordinators find it interesting that “Depending on where the boxes are, the secrets are often geared towards those locations and who uses them,” said Melissa Fernandes, Wellness Education Assistant. For instance, the boxes in libraries often housed academic concerns, whereas boxes in residences usually held secrets about relationship struggles and identity crises.
The program was first run in the 2010-11 school year by the SWC. Despite the fact that the boxes and postcards were available for the entire school year, the program only received around 150 postcards.
This year, the coordinators are looking to change that and have more students submit messages about their concerns, fears and personal thoughts, as it is an effective way of expressing pent up emotions and stress-inducing secrets.
The boxes have been available since Nov. 1 and will be up and running until the end of the month. Already in this month alone, the SWC has gathered around 60 postcards and are hoping to increase that amount exponentially as the month nears its end.
Once the cards have been gathered, the coordinators will be posting scanned secrets online via the SWC’s Facebook page, and will be putting them up on their bulletin boards.
Similar to the initiative of PostSecret creator, Frank Warren, the Student Wellness Centre hopes that by displaying the secrets, students will be able to relate and connect to one or more of the secrets and help them understand that they are not alone in their struggle.
The organization also hopes to use the web, much like Warren, to make the postcards and ideas more accessible. The initial PostSecret website, www.postsecret.com, was developed in 2005 as “an ongoing community art project,” according to its webpage. But within two years, the site received over 2,500 postcards and became far bigger than initially anticipated. The site grew into a web-based community that allowed anonymous strangers to post secrets from all around the world without feeling judgment or alienation.
Initially, a comment section was enabled to allow viewers to connect to one another, but it was eventually removed as it defaced the original judgment-free mandate.
And even though many secrets are hard-hitting and stress-inducing, some deal with more trivial matters. As stated at his March 2012 presentation at Western University, Frank Warren revealed that the most common secret he receives is admitting to peeing in the shower.
The representatives from the SWC explained that many of the secrets they receive are usually related to mental health and academic concerns, but the project welcomes postcard messages of all natures.
So drop off your secret, and help yourself while helping others.
By: Matthew Greenacre
So you finally went to the clinic after weeks of peeing what feels like boiling water, or maybe you are just seeing someone new and want to get yourself checked, or maybe it was just part of your yearly check-up. But regardless, as you leave the clinic with that piece of paper and your positive test results, you can at least console yourself with the knowledge that you were responsible or, alternately, found out before you passed the STI on to others, caused lasting damage such as infertility, or made your genitals look like a rare tropical fungus.
And now, depending on the STI you have contracted, the biggest worry that is running through your head is that you must notify your future, current and previous sexual partners. Since you only need to worry about taking a couple of antibiotic pills to clear bacterial STI’s, such as the very common and contagious Chlamydia and Gonorrhea, shame or the fear of losing your partner are likely bigger concerns than the actual disease - especially if the STI brings infidelity to light.
On the other hand, viral infections such as hepatitis, herpes, HPV (genital warts), or HIV/AIDS will either be destroyed by your immune system just like the ‘flu, or are permanent and can only be suppressed, but not cured. The knowledge that you must not only live with the disease itself, but that it can be a barrier to future developing relationships can be crushing.
Once you are tested either the Health Department will anonymously inform your previous partners for you, or your doctor may assist you in the process. Having a public health professional tell them is a valid option, since the health professionals can provide your ex with all the information he or she needs about the STI and how to get checked.
However, if you have a permanent viral infection such as HPV or herpes, it is your responsibility to tell your next partner before your relationship becomes physical. This daunting task can be made quite manageable if you keep the following in mind:
Finding out that you have contracted an STI is almost always traumatic and because it can be stigmatizing, many students do not know whom they can talk about it with. Simply discussing their infection can defuse your stress and help you think about how to move forward. SHEC’s peer counsellors would love to talk with you about your challenges, and can provide resources so you can make informed, healthy decisions.
By: Bernard Ho
In patients experiencing diabetes mellitus, the body is either unable to produce insulin or is resistant to the body’s own insulin. The usual treatment for this ailment is exercise and dietary modifications, but when the disease becomes more severe, exogenous insulin injections must be given on a consistent basis in order to regulate blood sugar levels. However, past observational studies have shown that higher insulin levels are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Thus, insulin injections to treat diabetes may lead to problems elsewhere in the body.
Recently, researchers at McMaster University put this belief to the test. Dr. Hertzel Gerstein, a professor at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Medicine and deputy director of the Population Health Research Institute, conducted a randomized control trial along with several other researchers to determine whether exogenous insulin increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. In the study, over 12,500 people from 40 countries, who were at high risk for or were in the early stages of Type II diabetes, were randomized to either one daily injection of insulin or no insulin for an average of six years. After analyzing the data, researchers found no difference amongst the two groups in cardiovascular outcomes.
“People have been debating the question of whether there are adverse consequences to long-term insulin use for years,” said Gerstein. “This study provides the clearest answer yet to that question: no, there are not.” Indeed, the hazard ratio for heart disease between the treatment groups was 1.02, meaning that those who were given insulin experienced cardiovascular outcomes at almost the same rate as those who were not. Moreover, the participants of the study given insulin maintained normal fasting blood sugar levels, below 6 mmol/L.
A second key finding discovered by the researchers was that those who do not yet have diabetes, but are at a high risk of developing the illness and who receive daily insulin injections, have a 28% lower chance of developing the disease, even after the injections are stopped. This suggests that some people who start insulin injections won’t necessarily be looking at treatment for the rest of their lives. The study also confirmed the presence of two previously known side effects of exogenous insulin – hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and modest weight gain. Both were considered to be minor from a medical perspective, with participants experiencing a small risk of hypoglycemia and gaining an average of 3.5 pounds during the study.
This study was part of a larger study known as the ORIGIN (Outcome Reduction with Initial Glargine Intervention) Trial, led by Dr. Gerstein and Dr. Salim Yusuf, that also looked at the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on cardiovascular diseases. The ORIGIN Trial has since been completed and the results have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
By: Paulina Prazmo
How many times did you want to call BS on something completely absurd? Would the excuses you heard about mental health, mental illness and the stigma surrounding them be one? That is exactly what Let’s Call BS, a Canada-Wide campaign is trying to achieve. Let’s Call BS prefers to be called more of a “movement” rather than a campaign. The attitude and approach that mental health is given nowadays can be more than questionable and deserves to be criticized by everyone, including young people. They are focused on reforming the way we talk about mental health, act towards it and support it. One in five young people require help with their mental health, but only 25 per cent actually receive it. The lack of resources and funding are to blame when trying to provide help to those who need it. The way people and society treat mental health and people suffering through mental illnesses leads to tragic outcomes.
A local grade twelve Hamiltonian Vanessa Furtado, who is involved in the campaign, has her own story of how the approach to mental health affected her. “My best friend suffered from depression and no one knew about it…[she] took her own life. No one would have guessed that she was suffering, so you can imagine how many people similar to her are out there” said Furtado. You don’t have to be suffering from a mental illness to feel the effects of it. A family member or a close friend such as Furtado’s could be something that is burdening you with attempting to seek the help for them.
The shame and excuses surrounding mental health such as “Your problems aren’t nearly as bad as others, so stop being sad” or “Oh you’re young, it’ll work out. You don’t have real problems yet” are a few posted on the website of Let’s Call BS. Partners for Mental Health cofounded this campaign alongside participating youth, and the president Jeff Moat said, “the campaign is really about engaging young people to take action.” The facts surrounding mental health - like suicide being the second leading cause of death amongst young Canadians - make it no wonder that this campaign wants to call BS on how people and society approach this pressing issue. “Many young people suffer in silence from shame, stigma and lack of resources and this is frankly unacceptable. This isn’t an issue that should just be talked about. It’s an issue that needs full and immediate attention and we hope the name of the campaign delivers on that urgency.” The sad truth about young people opening up to another person and sharing their mental health problem is the BS answers they’re given with such as “shake it off,” “go for a run” or “it’s a phase that will pass,” Moat said.
He believes that generating awareness on such an issue isn’t enough and that young people hold the power to change. But creating that change is something that needs to first be shown within our communities. “The only way we are going to be seeing transformative change is engaging the youth to do something tangible. Taking action in a community, people want to see change where they live and work,” Moat stated. The first and most important thing to do to get involved is signing the declaration form on the website. Declare on the way that society fails to support mental health, share with others some of the BS you’ve encountered with mental health and educate yourself more.
“We feel that it’s important to talk about mental health as loud and authentic as possible. Young people need to raise their voices on calling BS” explained Moat. We’ve all heard about “stomp out the stigma” and “let’s talk about mental health,” but have you come across such a campaign as this one that encourages young people to stand alongside one another and say, enough is enough? Young people should not be given the halting excuses that society is endorsing, but rather be the powerful and brilliant population that can say “why don’t you pull up your pants and start providing help instead of excuses. Because till then, I’m calling bullshit on everything.”
