I've got it!!

As I sit here, studying psych and reminding myself of the mile-long list of things I have to do in the next few weeks, I have had a sudden epiphany thanks to the lovely passage I just read.

"Common sense and everyday experience tell us that even the most health-conscious college students are less likely to exercise and more likely to eat junk food during final exams than they are at the start of the semester. Research evidence shows that psychological stress decreases health-promoting behaviors, such as exercising and getting enough sleep, and increases unhealthy behaviors such as consumption of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and foods high in fat, salt, and sugar."

and America wonders why it is obese,

and why its college students all blossom into raging alcoholics,

and why suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students.

College is supposed to prepare us for the real world, but is the real world really going to stress us out so much that we want to kill ourselves or it? or drink until we pass out? or eat our feelings? Notice, suicide is not the leading cause of death of those who are NOT in college (the 11th leading cause for all Americans).

I just find it sad that at such a young and prospering age, college students are exposed to some of the highest stressful environments and expected to charge through it with flying colors. Sure there are ways to alleviate that stress, but at the expense of your grades. And in college, that is all that is preached about.

Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic since yes, it is midterm exam time for me. And yes, I am stressed to the max. and yes, I go to a school where they could really care less if I'm doing well mentally, as long as I'm doing well in classes and paying the tuition . . .

why did I go here again?

and why am I being a doctor again?

hah.

Nothing will stop me from either of those though : )