The Fed+Fit Podcast | Nurturing a Healthy Mindset for a Healthy Lifestyle
We’re back with our 33rd episode of the Fed+Fit Podcast! Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode and be sure to subscribe on iTunes!
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Episode 33 Topics:
- Introducing the guest, Samantha Garcia! [5:14]
- Fed+Fit college students [9:03]
- First pillar of health: sleep [15:35]
- FOMO: the fear of missing out [20:18]
- Napping [23:24]
- Setting up your dorm room [25:45]
- How to recover from sleep deprivation [30:48]
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Ep. 33: The Fed+Fit College Student: Part 1
This is the Fed and Fit podcast starting your week off with motivational thoughts on real food and fun fitness activities with Cassy Joy Garcia and co-host, Charissa Talbot. Remember our disclaimer; the information and opinions shared in this podcast are solely those of any given individual, and not a substitute for medical advice. Here are the ladies.
Today, we’re introducing the Fed and Fit college student miniseries with our first topic, the importance of sleep. We’re sharing tips and tricks on how to negotiate with your roommate, how to time manage, how to set up your dorm room, and what to do when you’re sleep deprived.
TOPICS:
1. Cassy’s announcements [3:04]
2. Introducing our guest, Samantha Garcia [5:14]
3. Fed and Fit college students [9:03]
4. First pillar of health: Sleep [15:35]
5. FOMO: the fear of missing out [20:18]
6. Napping [23:24]
7. Setting up your dorm room [25:45]
8. How to recover from sleep deprivation [30:48]
Cassy Joy: And we’re back with another episode of the Fed and Fit podcast! Today is episode number 33, which I think; that’s a special number.
Samantha Garcia: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: Because it’s 11 times 3, and 11 is definitely a special number. {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: {laughs} It is, any way you slice it.
Cassy Joy: Oh goodness! Today, if you couldn’t tell, that is not the voice of Miss Charissa {laughs}. My other sister, Samantha Garcia, is joining me on the show today.
Samantha Garcia: Hello!
Cassy Joy: {laughs} And we hope you can hear us ok. We’re trying a slightly different audio system. I wanted to bring Samantha on for a number of reasons; I’ll get to those in a second. A little bit of housekeeping first. I wanted to let all of you guys know that if you are having trouble accessing the older podcast episodes, those are now available. I received an email from a listener saying they wanted to go back and listen, and I had no idea that not all of the previous episodes were still loaded on iTunes! So we’ve gotten that fixed, so you are more than welcome to scroll back and listen to all of those straight from your podcast app on your phone! So there’s that.
Second piece of housekeeping, is that the enrollment in the September project is now open. I know a lot of you wanted to jump in in August, and it was a little bit late. So now is the time, you can log onto FedandFit.com, and go on the top menu bar, all the way to the right, there’s a tab called the project. Click on that, and it will take you right to the page with more information. We are accepting, once again like last time, there are 5 spots available with one on one coaching with your truly, I am doing the coaching for these first couple of ones. That means that you get me on the phone for 30 minutes once a week during the 4 weeks. So, anyways, that’s available. I would love to have you. And I think that’s about it.
1. Cassy’s announcements [3:04]
Before we jump into the meat of today’s show, and I introduce Samantha a little bit better, I want to talk just briefly about what we’re up to right now. So, the podcast so far, what we’ve done is have come up with some topics that we believe are really important to talk about, they’re things that, maybe it’s just something that really interests me, so a geeky side of me comes out when I want to talk about how alcohol affects the body and what the chemistry looks like; caffeine 101, those are some really fun, long episodes if you want to really jump into some of the science.
Sometimes we talk strictly about mindset, you know. How to stress manage, or how to accomplish any goal, things like that. And while those are really fun shows, I think I’ve decided I want to take this in a slightly different direction and start up a couple of miniseries. So what we’re going to do with these miniseries is we’re going to pick one topic that’s a pretty big topic, and we’re going to break it up into a bunch of different pieces, and I’m going to bring on experts. Like my sister today is an expert {laughs} and I’ll tell you all about her in a second. But I’m going to bring on experts to really help expand on these episodes.
So for this miniseries, because it is back to school time, we’re going to talk about the Fed and Fit college student. And as we will discuss in a little bit, we’re talking about everybody who is just starting, you’re going to college for the very first time, if you’re staying home and you’re going to community college, or if you’re going off, if you’re going from grad school to maybe pursue a PhD. Anybody that’s in a transition stage in an academic type of environment, that’s really what we want to talk about. And we’re breaking kind of what it really takes to be a Fed and Fit college student up into a bunch of smaller episodes, so it will be a kind of a fun little chunk of information.
And if you are not a college student, or you don’t know any college students, I hope that the way we’ve organized the information is still useful to you. So don’t tune out just yet, there’s some really good stuff here that I think can apply to everybody.
2. Introducing our guest, Samantha Garcia [5:14]
Cassy Joy: So! Now, moving on. Introducing my beautiful sister Samantha. So, Samantha is actually my youngest sister, there are three of us. And unlike popular belief when we’re just out on the town, I’m the oldest. {Laughs} I usually get accused of being the youngest. They don’t look very closely; they don’t see my grey hairs, I guess. {laughs} Samantha is the youngest; she’s also my maid of honor for my wedding coming up in a couple of months in October, along with my other sister Kimberly. Samantha received her Masters of Education in Student Development Administration recently. She graduated with that degree; before that she was at Texas A&M University, like myself and my other sister Samantha; or Kimberly, excuse me. Oh gosh!
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: We’re in trouble. {laughs} I’m going to start sounding like mom. “Kim, Sam! Whoever you are!” {laughing}
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: “Come in here and pick up your shoes!” Anyway, so the three of us did go to Texas A&M University for our undergrads, and we had a great time there. All 3 of us really jumped into extracurricular activities, and really got involved on campus, and that experience kind of ignited a passion that Samantha has for helping to lead and develop college students; really help them feel at home, and like they are going to make the most out of their experience while they’re away.
So, outside of all of that, she is now currently working in Residence Life at a university in San Antonio, Texas, where she conducts and helps to design student leader training, and teaches a freshman transition course. So, like I said, she’s incredibly qualified. She’s got a wealth of information about the subject, and I’m super thrilled to have her on here today. She’s an incredibly loyal, solid person with an enormous heart, which is why she’s in higher education. You’ll find that the people who work in higher education are not doing it because, I don’t know, they want to build a mansion. {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: But it pays well; it’s like a teacher {laughs}.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, exactly. They’re doing it because they love what they do and they love why they’re doing it.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: So, I’m excited to have you on today Sam, welcome!
Samantha Garcia: Yeah, thank you so much. I’m excited to be here, and having this conversation, and spilling out all I know onto your listeners, who may want to tune in. So it’s exciting. Thank you.
Cassy Joy: Yeah! It is exciting. Sam, when I asked her if she wanted to do this with me, her first reaction was kind of, she blinked. {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: A couple of times, she says, well, what, me? I was like, yeah, I think it would be so great, because she and I can sit there and talk over dinner, and have hours of conversation about the things that we want to share with the world, and she’s got such a passion for it. I was like, Sam, I think this would be a great topic for the podcast. So anyways, after we finally organized some thoughts, I think she finally is feeling really good about it. We’ve got a good list of things to do, or talk about today.
And for those of you who don’t know, this is a topic, speaking to college students, especially women in my case when it comes to food and nutrition just because of my background, is something that is really near and dear to my heart. I do travel, and I do speak to women in college, about everything from nutrition to proper fitness routines, to healthy body image. So I’m excited. This is something that I’ve joked for the last couple of years that I wanted to write an eBook, or a dedicated resource just for college students, so I’m excited. This is an itch I’ve been wanting to scratch.
3. Fed and Fit college students [9:03]
Cassy Joy: Ok, so for the Fed and Fit college miniseries, the way we’re really going to kind of break up this content, because it can be pretty broad, is we’re going to talk about the four pillars of a healthy lifestyle. Those are the same four pillars that I use in the Fed and Fit project, if you’re familiar with that, and it kind of comes up over and over again in conversation here. But those four pillars are sleep, water, food, and fitness. And those are named really strategically, but those being the four pillars, there’s a lot we can cover between those, and beyond.
So today’s episode we’re really only going to focus on sleep, and we’re also going to talk a little bit about roommate agreements. And I think it’s an important one to bring up now, because it does tie in with sleep, but it’s also a slightly separate topic of you just want to definitely listen in for that part.
So kind of pulling back a little bit, getting a little bit more of an elevated viewpoint of this all. We said that today’s miniseries, though it’s directed and geared towards college students, it really can speak to anybody who is going through a transition. And this is something that Sam and I were talking about when we were preparing for the show. But when we’re going through a transition, whether we’re leaving home for the first time; we’re 18 years old. Some of you are 17 going from home to college, and that’s a huge transition, leaving your parents house. Going from undergraduate to graduate school, or going from college to your first job. That’s a huge transition.
It happens so often that when we are in the middle of one of these transitions, we tend to put our health on the back burner while we kind of scramble to get life in order, and to make things feel comfortable. And it’s kind of backwards thinking, and that’s really what we want to do, is try to right size some of that thinking, because if we place health as a top priority during those transitions, the transition will become much easier. It will be much easier on you.
Did that kind of cover that, Sam?
Samantha Garcia: Yeah, that was right on point. Transition takes time, and you have to be gentle with it. So being gentle with your body and your mind, and how you’re reacting to all the emotions that you’re experiencing in those times is really, really important like Cassy said. Being mindful of your health in this period of time. I know, personally, I’ve dealt with a lot of transitions. For graduate school, I moved from Texas to Seattle, Washington, and that was a huge step. And now I’ve just moved back from Seattle to Texas, and again another transition period. So trying to keep up with my priorities and all of the new information that I’m learning.
When you’re in transition, typically you’re drinking from a water hose – a fire hose.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}.
Samantha Garcia: You’re trying to drink from a fire hose, because there’s so much information coming out at you, but really like Cassy said, the best thing you can do is take care of your body, and connect with that part of yourself.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm. Because your body will take care of you, you know? It’s easier to feel comfortable when you are healthy and happy. It’s easier, I guess, to arrive at those emotions when you are healthier, more quickly, so that’s great. And something else that we want to touch on real quickly before we jump into the meat of today’s topic, I think it’s important to begin with this point. In any transition, it’s a change, and we are typically, unless you are one of those rare birds that thrives in change, and that’s probably a decision you made, that’s probably not a natural thing, and more power to you. But we typically like to resist change. It’s uncomfortable, we find, when we nest and we find a place that we feel comfortable at, like the room you grew up in and the house that you grew up in, you love it so much and you want your new space to feel just as comfortable.
So it’s usual that we’re trying to make these new spaces and these new experiences feel as comfortable as possible. But one thing that we want to bring up is the really cool opportunity available to you in a new transition, is that now, before we get to all the sleep, the water, the food, the fitness, the tips on how to ace your tests with nutrition, what to do when you’re sleep deprived, and all those other things. We really want to stress this one point; that this is an amazing opportunity for you, and we want you to take the bull by the horns and use it to your advantage.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: You have the power now to choose all new beginnings. Especially if you’re new to college, if you’re a freshman. This is a unique opportunity, you won’t get exactly like this again in your life. Chose your friendships brand new. You know? Don’t feel like you have to go back and fall into the same ruts and habits, and I guess run in the same kinds of circles that you did in high school. Know that this is a brand new opportunity to choose people that you want to be around.
I was talking recently to a girl who is 17, and she was telling me that she had some experiences this summer, and she wasn’t really proud of them, and she was worried about them following her onto college. And what I told her was, you will be surprised by how little follows you when you go to school.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: People in college don’t care. You have the opportunity, if you really decide that you want to be just, you want to be a bookworm. Maybe you love to read, but you’re afraid to really express it and share that with the world when you were in high school; this is your opportunity to do that. Go find people who like to read and befriend them. If you love; I don’t know, what are all the things you can like? Harry Potter?
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: I don’t know, clearly I was in college 10 years ago. {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: {laughing}
Cassy Joy: We didn’t have laptops, we had to march our hineys to the computer lab. Anyways, I just want to say this is your opportunity to choose brand new friends. So strategically find circles that you want to place yourself in, especially when it comes to health and wellness. Because if you find like minded people who really want to put their health first, you’ll be better supported to make those decisions.
4. First pillar of health: Sleep [15:35]
Ok, so let’s jump on into it. Number one. The four pillars, today we’re talking about sleep. And I want to cover briefly why sleep is so important. And we’re going to keep it really high level for you, but it’s so true. Number one, you will enjoy college more. If you get enough sleep at night, I guarantee you will have a more pleasant, happy experience.
Number two; you will do better in class. You’ll make better grades, it will be easier on you if you’re getting enough sleep. Number three; you’ll have a better baseline for overall wellness. So you’ll be less likely to get sick, you’ll have more energy, you’ll be able to really participate in more things if you’re getting enough sleep, and lastly, you’ll be able to handle more stressors if that number one priority, sleep, is met.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: And college is stressful. New beginnings are stressful. It is hard on your body, it is hard on your adrenals, and by covering that baseline of getting enough sleep at night, you’re really helping yourself put your best foot forward. So, before I guess we go much deeper past that, what is enough sleep I think is a good question to ask. And it varies for everybody, but I tend to argue it is between 8-9 hours.
Samantha Garcia: Yeah.
Cassy Joy: And maybe above. And the way to know how much sleep you really need. And this is kind of easier if you’re younger and your listening to this you don’t have kids, or maybe a dog, like a giant Great Pyrenees that likes to wake you up {laughs} at 5:30 in the morning, like I do. But if you’re able to do this, the way to determine how much sleep is right for you is to go to bed at night, tell everybody in the house, I am going to sleep in tomorrow until I wake up. Do not come and wake me up.
So, mark what time you go to sleep at night, and make sure you’re not overly tired on one of these days that you’re calculating this because you want to make sure that it’s a true estimate. But mark when you go to bed, and then mark what time you naturally wake up in the morning, and then do the math. Whatever that number is is a good ballpark for you to determine how much sleep you really need at night. This is something we talked about in sleep 101; it was one of our first episodes, I think it’s episode number 3, so you can learn about more there. But that’s a good way to calculate it.
So how do you do that in college? How do you put that in practice? Let’s say you do this experiment, and this number might change as time goes on, and different life experiences happen. But let’s say that you’ve learned it’s 9.5 hours. And you’re like, oh my goodness! I cannot sleep away 9.5 hours every day, there’s too much to do! And truth be told, you will have more productive hours if you get enough sleep, the sleep that your body needs.
But a way that you implement that is you set yourself a bedtime. So do the math; if you need 9.5 hours of sleep, figure out when is your first class, and then rewind the clock and then give yourself a bedtime that calculates how much time you’d need to get dressed, have breakfast, and get going in the morning. Do you have any tips on bedtime stuff, Sam?
Samantha Garcia: I think you’ve talked about it in the episode you mentioned, the sleeping 101, but when you’re actually going to bed and having that bedtime, really being strict about it with yourself. Turning off your phone, getting that away from your bed, and turning off any kind of distractions. I know Cassy is going to talk a little bit about white noise, but make sure your white noise isn’t actually your TV, because that light that’s coming from it is going to really keep you up, and actually keep your brain working. So it’s harder for you to actually get to sleep.
And we’ll go into a little bit later, but having an agreement with your roommate if you’re living on campus, or you have someone else in the space that you’re living in. Whether they have a 9 p.m. lab class that gets out at 10 and you need to go to bed by 10, but they would like to watch TV until 11 p.m., have an agreement with them that you need that time to get enough sleep, because maybe the next day you have an 8 a.m. lab. So there are different holes that can come up with your sleeping schedule, so being really proactive about every day of the week and figuring out when you’re going to be able to go to sleep, and what sort of things do you need to problem solve around in order to make that happen.
5. FOMO: the fear of missing out [20:18]
Cassy Joy: That’s great. And touching on that a little bit further, setting yourself up a schedule, let’s just jump into that totally real quick. But something Samantha brought up when we were talking about the show; she was like, well, you know, you also have to address FOMO.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: And she has to hold her graying sister’s hand through this.lgs
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: And reexplain what FOMO is. Just kidding, I knew, kind of. It’s Fear of Missing Out. But you know, going to bed, it’s not glamorous. Let’s jump right to it. If you have an 8 a.m. class and you figure out you have to be in bed by 9:30, that’s not very glamorous when it’s a Thursday night and all of your friends are going out. But, if you know that going to bed that early that night, and you can schedule yourself an outing with friends later that you have to look forward to, that’s one way to kind of overcome that FOMO, that fear of missing out. So be proactive with scheduling your social life. Don’t always be at the mercy of folks calling you up last minute, and being like, oh it’s whatever dancing night at the Dixie Chicken.
Samantha Garcia: Right. And I still struggle with that, too. I mean, I have FOMO for sure, but I’ve learned my body is going to shut down when it’s going to shut down, and I need to go to sleep, otherwise it’s not going be a pretty picture and I’m just going to be a crazy person.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: But I had a friend last night who said, hey, you want to come hang out? And I had just taken a really wonderful shower, I was ready for bed, but I hadn’t hung out with him in a while, so I was like. Oh, yeah, I’ll come hang out. But then I said no. Cassy and I were going to do yoga this morning, and I was like, I have an excuse, I’ve got to go do yoga in the morning.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} And then I canceled on her.
Samantha Garcia: {laughs} Which is ok, because I woke up and I was still exhausted. But really, it’s not going to be a perfect picture. All of what we’re saying, it sounds like it’s going to be a perfect picture of, you’re going to plan it out, it’s going to be right, and it’s going to work. There are going to be times when you’re just like; ugh, I just want to give myself a break! But really, what’s that going to mean for your wellbeing? What are your priorities? I think that’s a great thing to talk about is prioritizing, like Cassy said, what is number one, and we want number one to be your health because that’s going to, again, help you through these transitions.
Cassy Joy: Right, and the biggest access, and that’s what we’re trying to get at is the number one route to health is sleep. And honoring your sleep schedule, and honoring how much sleep your body needs. When people say, you’ll sleep when you die, I just want to shake them. Because your quality of life goes up so much when you and your body has enough sleep.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: And I could sit here and geek out over all the crazy science, or you could just take my word for it.lgs
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: And read the book one day when it comes out. {laughs} Yeah, that’s great. Schedule your social time so you’re not feeling like you’re at the mercy of other people’s just whims and wanting to go out. And having said that, Samantha and I are both reasonable people. There comes a time where you do, part of the full college experience, you’re going to let your hair down, you’re going to go out, you’re going to have a late night, and you’re going to have a couple of hours left before class the next morning, and I’m not saying that’s the worst thing ever. I’m just saying, please make that the exception to the rule.
Samantha Garcia: Right.
Cassy Joy: For your own sake. For your own health. Try to focus on that being the exception to the rule.
6. Napping [23:24]
Samantha Garcia: Right. I think one really good piece that we didn’t mention before when we were kind of talking all this out was napping. And if, I’ve heard, if you’re going to nap, make it short. Otherwise, you’re going to mess up your evening sleep time, if napping at all. I know that’s a big thing for college students; you’ll see them lying around in the library asleep, go to their dorm, possibly miss their next class kind of thing because they were napping for too long, because they’re not getting enough sleep in the evening. So what are your thoughts on that?
Cassy Joy: That’s a good question, Sam. {laughs} You really put me on the spot!
Samantha Garcia: Sorry! {laughs}
Cassy Joy: That’s ok. I like being interviewed, I like tough questions. That is a great question, and you’re probably not going to like my answer. I’m a non-napper.
Samantha Garcia: There’s a lot of people that don’t like that answer. {laughing} That’s ok, though.
Cassy Joy: Just like I don’t promote snacking, and I promote 3 square meals a day with no eating in between meals, is the same as sleep. I really encourage folks to get all of their sleep all at once, because there are certain things. Sleep kind of builds upon itself, and you’re mentally allowed to unlock certain things as you sleep through the night, and by breaking it up, it prohibits you from reaching certain stages. So I’m a big proponent of sleeping all the sleep that you need at nighttime in the dark, when it’s not daylight. Because even if you are napping when it’s daylight, you’re not going to get the same kind of quality.
And if you are so exhausted and so run down, and you’re like, there’s no way I can make it through this day without taking a nap; by all means, take a nap. New mothers; I mean, I hear you. You’re going to sleep when that baby sleeps. So do what you need to do when the time comes. But for the most part, try to sleep all of your sleep at nighttime.
7. Setting up your dorm room [25:45]
Cassy Joy: Ok. Let’s see; so setting up your dorm room. We’ve got some tips for you. So if you are moving into a dorm room right away, or your daughter is, or your son is, or your niece or nephew and you’re going to tell them to listen to this podcast, here is some advice that I have to really make; because dorms are uncomfortable. They’re not glamorous; except for the one that Samantha is in charge of, it’s the prettiest dorm I’ve ever seen in my life.
Samantha Garcia: It’s a castle.
Cassy Joy: It is a castle {laughs}. I walked into this place, I was like holy moley, this place is gorgeous.
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: But a lot of dorms are kind of damp, for whatever reason, they don’t always smell that great, and you really have to add a touch to make it work for you. So I recommend that you invest in some black out curtains so that you can close off; typically, campuses, if you’re staying on campus, are really well lit, and that’s a really great thing at nighttime, but those lights sometimes can shine right into your room, so get some blackout curtains. Because in order to get the best sleep at night, you need things to be totally dark. Ok? So blackout curtains.
Keep it cold. Don’t be afraid to keep the air down so that you’re able to really relax and snuggle up in bed at night. Samantha recommends this product called Damp Rid?
Samantha Garcia: Yeah, I think that’s what it’s called.
Cassy Joy: Ok, we’ll link to it in the show notes so you can click on it directly.
Samantha Garcia: It’s essentially an inexpensive dehumidifier. Just a little bitty pod thing, and I think it has beads, and as it absorbs moisture, it turns into water itself. I actually need to get them for my apartment because it is so humid.
Cassy Joy: Yeah.
Samantha Garcia: But like Cassy said, it’s a really good way to get rid of that humidity in your space, so it makes it a lot more comfortable for you to lie down and rest at night when you need to do that.
Cassy Joy: Totally. And humid is a good thing in certain situations; but sometimes in dorm rooms, too much humidity can turn into moldy situations, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid. I recommend you invest in a white noise machine to take with you to school. This is because if you are staying in a dorm, or an apartment, or anything like there were you’re in a sort of community living situation, there’s going to be all kinds of noise. Just because you have a schedule, and an agreement set up with your roommate, and they know when you’re sleeping, and they know when to be quiet and when not to turn things on, that doesn’t mean that your neighbors are going to respect that. So a white noise machine will really help drown out some of that outside activity.
Really comfortable sheets. I’m a huge advocate for comfortable sheets. That is where you want to invest in your dorm room. That is pretty much the sole purpose for your dorm room, is to provide you with a place that you can get restful sleep at night. So tell mom and dad that you want really nice sheets to sleep in at night. Things that make you feel really comfortable, and nice and warm.
And then lastly, amber glasses. Remember, this is not high school. People are not going to make fun of you for being really careful about your health; they’re going to celebrate it. This is a whole new community; people are going to be very different. Amber glasses, the point of them, is to help you avoid blue screens and blue lights, which help keep your body. Blue lights, which is like daylight, it’s the light that’s on your phone, it’s the light that’s on your computer. These are all lights that kind of keep our body, they keep us thinking that it’s daytime, and it prevents us from naturally starting to fall asleep and to naturally start to expect rest.
Amber is the opposite of that blue light. So if we put on amber glasses, which you can get at Home Depot, or Lowes, because it’s those same welding glasses, those amber ones you get there, help block out blue light and allow your body to just kind of start to wind down. So invest in some amber glasses, and remember it’s good to avoid blue screens at least an hour before bed.
Samantha Garcia: And just to go back to the white noise machine, as far as Cassy was talking about the people in your community; if you’re living in a residence hall or an apartment space, especially for a residence hall, know the quiet hours, which typically start at 10 p.m. every night, even on the weekends, or they might go a little bit later on the weekends. And if people are being noisy, to know your RA, your resident assistant. Because they’ll be the ones that police that for you, and make sure you are feeling comfortable and safe in your environment. And part of your safety is being able to get that sleep, and be happy where you are. So they’re the ones that can help enforce that and make sure that you are enjoying where you’re at.
Cassy Joy: That’s great. I didn’t lean on my RA’s enough when I was in school, and now seeing what Samantha does with her students, I see what an amazing resource it is. So definitely lean on those people. Just like you get to choose your friends, you get to choose your mentors, as well. So reach out to them and introduce yourself, at the very least.
8. How to recover from sleep deprivation [30:48]
Ok, the last thing we want to cover today is what to do when you’re feeling sleep deprived. Because eventually it’s going to happen. You’re going to throw caution to the wind, you’re going to go out, have a great time with your friend’s last minute, you’re going to wake up and go to your 8 a.m. lab, and then you’re going to come back to your room, and you’re going to say, what the heck do I do now, I’m so exhausted I can’t even focus. Or, it will be finals week, and we’re going to talk about food for thought, you know what to eat around finals time, but maybe it’s finals week, and you’re just feeling a little bit sleep deprived then. So what to do.
Number one; hydrate. Drink lots and lots of water. That’s the best thing you can do for yourself when you cannot get enough sleep, and we’re going to talk all about water and all of the other liquids in the next episodes. {Laughs}
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: The water, the uppers and the downers, so the full spectrum. But drink lots and lots of water if you’re feeling sleep deprived. Number two, eat lots and lots of leafy greens. Those micronutrients in those green vegetables are really going to do wonders for you. Get lots of clean protein; tuna fish, for example, is a good one that you can keep in your dorm room, it doesn’t require refrigeration. And healthy fats, like nuts, seeds, and avocado. And keep all those refrigerated or cool, at least if you can, so that they stay nice and healthy.
Do not overdo the caffeine. I know when you’re sleepy and it’s 2 p.m., and let’s say you’ve got a 4 p.m. class; do not run to Starbucks and grab yourself a coffee on campus. Because while it might feel like it’s going to help keep you awake for that class, it’s probably going to also keep you from going to sleep at night, and will keep you from catching up.
Samantha Garcia: Right.
Cassy Joy: So try to avoid coffee in the afternoon when you’re feeling sleep deprived. Overall, I encourage you to avoid it in the afternoon.
Samantha Garcia: Isn’t it, it takes 8 hours for caffeine to really have its full effect or something like that?
Cassy Joy: That’s a good question too! We’re going to talk about it in the next episode.
Samantha Garcia: {laughs} So I think I’m right. {laughs} I’m kidding.
Cassy Joy: {laughs} It’s a good question Sam; it’s a teaser.
Samantha Garcia: {laughs} Ooh! Oh no!
Cassy Joy: We’re going to have a cliffhanger! This podcast just got so riveting.
Samantha Garcia: Oh my gosh.
Cassy Joy: It’s going to be like the new Lost.
Samantha Garcia: It is.
Cassy Joy: Cliffhangers.
Samantha Garcia: Every episode.
Cassy Joy: When does caffeine affect your body? Find out next week! {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: {laughs} dun-dun. Oh, wait that’s the Law and Order.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: I’m not good with TV.
Cassy Joy: Ok, and then lastly what to do when you’re sleep deprived; don’t put off sleep. Don’t keep kicking the can down the road, just, if you had little sleep the night before, make it a point to go to bed early the next night. I know that it will be tempting; let’s say you were up late on a Thursday, and then all of a sudden it’s Friday night and you don’t want to be going to bed at 8 o’clock to catch up on sleep. I understand that, but the longer you put it off, the worse you’re going to feel. So don’t put it off; try to get in that sleep, and like we said at the very beginning of this; make it a priority.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: These things, like Samantha said; we’re not trying to say that this is the only way to do college, and the only way to be healthy. These are just really great access points.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm. It’s going to be most to your advantage and to keep up your emotional health. And like Cassy said, don’t put off sleep. Don’t keep going after self deprecating mindsets of, oh I didn’t get enough sleep last night and now I’m really behind, and now I’m so stressed out about everything that’s going on, and I just don’t want to get any sleep because I’m not going to be able to sleep.
Cassy Joy: {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: Just put your head down on a pillow, and see what happens. You know?
Cassy Joy: {laughing}
Samantha Garcia: Give yourself a moment. What I do, when I have those moments of, ugh, I just have so much to do. I think about how tired I’m going to be in the morning because I’m not getting enough sleep, and then I instantly fall asleep. It’s really kind of funny. I’m like, oh I’m going to be really exhausted, and then I wake up and I feel refreshed. So like I said, sleep is going to help with your emotional health, and if you come to a point where you’re just having negative thoughts constantly and you just don’t know what to turn to; turn to mentors. Turn to people on campus. There are tons of resources. There is typically a counseling center that is on campus. And again, if you don’t know how to contact those people, talk to your RA. Talk to a professor. They know the resources that are available, and are more than willing to help you out.
Cassy Joy: Mm-hmm. Totally. That’s great. Definitely reach out to your resources. Talk to your parents about setting up a list of contacts, as well. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help you research that stuff. And then remember that sleep is an easy button. Like Sam said, when you feel like you’re in one of those stressed out, downward spirals of, I just don’t know when I’m going to be able to get it all done, and I’m so tired, honestly getting a good nights’ sleep is going to do wonders for you.
Samantha Garcia: Mm-hmm.
Cassy Joy: So that’s what we want to leave you with for this first episode. We hope you enjoyed this. And tune in again next week; we’re going to talk all about the liquids that {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: {laughs}
Cassy Joy: That are available to you in college, and some tips on how to navigate those waters.
Samantha Garcia: Oh! {laughs} Oh no.
Cassy Joy: Pun intended. Did you like that?
Samantha Garcia: I did, that was really good.
Cassy Joy: Navigate those waters, because we’re going to talk about water. {laughs}
Samantha Garcia: Oh no. And she explained it. {laughs}
Cassy Joy: {laughing}
Samantha Garcia: Kidding.
Cassy Joy: Oh goodness.
Samantha Garcia: Well thanks for having me on Cassy, and I look forward to next episode.
Cassy Joy: Yeah, for sure! Thanks for being here. You guys, if you’ve got questions, or if you have some things that you want us to cover in the coming episodes, go ahead and comment on social media or in the show notes with some of your questions or requests, and we will be sure to address those in the coming weeks. When all of this is done, hopefully we’ll be able to bundle all this up into a nice little information packet, so it will be easier to share with your friends. Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back again next week.
