Your tickets are bought, your bags are packed and your alarm is set for the first day of your Spring Break. Aside from the token textbook you’re bringing with you (simply to keep up appearances, right?), you plan on leaving all your worries, cares, and assignments at home. But here’s one final checklist for you to go over before you leave so that you have an awesome, healthy, safe trip.

Get sleep.
Wait a minute, “get sleep”? Yeah, yeah, Mom. The last thing you want to do after dozens of late nights studying for exams or writing papers is sleep through your Spring Break. This is your time, baby! Maybe you’ll get a nap or two in the hotel room after a day on the beach or a night on the town, but otherwise – sleep is on the bottom of your list of priorities. Unfortunately, sleep should be a crucial part of your Spring Break days. A good night’s rest will keep you happy, alert, fresh-faced and relaxed – and it’s even been shown that sleep helps keep your metabolism up, which will keep off the pudge from that extra helping of the local dishes…or bottomless margs.

Drink water.
It seems obvious, but the last thing on your mind when you’re running around a new town, shopping, sightseeing and hitting on waiters in a foreign language is to get your 8 glasses of water a day. Carry a reusable water container with you throughout the day and refill it as soon as it’s empty. Staying hydrated is especially important in the warmer Spring Break destinations. If you are uncertain about the safety of the local water, buy bottled or sterilized water. Avoid ice unless it was made from treated or chlorinated water.

Stay healthy en route.
Whether you’re carpooling with some friends or flying first-class, it’s important to keep yourself healthy and avoid catching something that could ruin your Break. Pack some hand sanitizer, dress comfortably and take your vitamins (especially Vitamin C). A lot of students will be traveling during the first days of Spring Break and, odds are, someone’s immune system will buckle. Read More »

"Oh god. I gotta go, guys. Like, really go. #2."

That’s where College Candy comes in. We’re not going to debate whether or not the Theory of Relativity actually exists (a disappointment, I know, but I’m a communications major and stopped taking science classes after Baby Bio fresh year). However, we are here to thoroughly investigate the most widespread college knowledge (no, not rhyming)—the myth.

If you go to college, chances are you’ve eaten at a dining hall. You’ve experienced gourmet menu items such as “liquid mashed potatoes,” “Sahara-dry chicken” and “green jell-o with mysteriously hard parts around the edges.” And as delightful as your dining experience was, chances are you felt the results of that extra serving of corn a short time later as you were flooring it for the communal bathroom. And if you were just lucky enough to have a meal-plan (like I was my freshman year), you got to experience the joy of this routine three times a day. Every day. For a year.

I remember wondering what the hell was wrong with me; I’d never spent so much money on toilet paper and air freshener before in my life. Did college trigger an internal mechanism that doomed me to poop all the time for the rest of my life? “No,” my roommate said, “The dining halls put baby laxatives in the food, duh.”

“OMG, why would they do that to us?!” I demanded of her.

“Because that way people get hungrier faster after they eat and go back for more; it helps the school make more money.” Read More »

Health guidelines and facts are constantly changing as we learn more about the human body and what we need to stay strong. To maintain optimal health, you need to keep up to date with the newest in fitness, nutrition and medical research.

Check out the latest headlines about that unique body of yours:

- So you think you’ll impress your crush by taking on a beer bong like a champ? A new study published in the March issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors asked women how much they thought they needed to drink at a social event to interest a man. The women’s estimates were more than twice what the guys said they would prefer. At your next party, drink less and truly impress! Read More »