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.

Protect your skin.
If tanning is a priority, please apply a spray or lotion before you leave. The worst possible thing you can do to your skin on Spring Break is lie out in the sun for hours without a fresh layer of sunscreen every now and then. The sun-kissed glow lasts a few weeks, but the chances of getting skin cancer can last a lifetime. (Yes, even college girls can get melanoma.)Pack sunscreen and apply it religiously. Same goes for you if your skin is a milky white (like mine) – if you’d like to keep it that way, bring a floppy hat or find a spot of shade on top of all that SPF.

Protect your skin, part 2.
Some people think of sandy beaches and sparkling blue waters when they imagine Spring Break, but others may want to go somewhere cold or dry. If this is the case, remember to slip a few sticks of chapstick and some moisturizer into your suitcase. It is important to remember to keep your skin moisturized and avoid letting it become chapped or dry.

Drink safe, party safe.
You may be traveling to a place where the drinks are cheap and the clubs are open till all hours, but remember to play it safe. We’ve all heard the stories of the terrible things that can happen to Spring Break vacationers when they don’t take travel safety seriously. Travel in groups, stay in the safe parts of town and know your drinking limits. Spring Break is a time to relax, but stay alert – you don’t want to make any mistakes you’ll regret.

Stay active.
Although there’s no point to waking up at 5 a.m. and jogging for miles during a time that is supposed to be your ‘holiday,’ remember to fit in some form of exercise (I’m not talking about carrying as many drinks as you can from bar to table) into your routine. A brisk walk around town, a hike on a local trail or a run along the beach will keep you fit, toned and focused. Be sure to take a friend or stay somewhere public.

Avoid food poisoning.
Last but not least, avoid the what might be the worst of Spring Break ailments: food poisoning. The very words make your tummy want to curl up and tremble in terror. Unless you want to spend your Spring Break hunched over a toilet, keep your hands clean and check out the restaurant before sitting down. Eat fresh and well-cooked food that is served hot; avoid things that have been warmed-up, salads that might have been washed in contaminated water and fish, especially if served uncooked. Unfortunately, even ice cream is on the list of no-no’s if you are in a location where hygiene has been deemed questionable, as it may have melted and been refrozen.

But of course, don’t let the worrying about bacteria-infested ice cream or staying perfectly in shape ruin your holiday. The most important way to stay healthy on Spring Break is to relax and allow the time off to do its work. If you do, you’ll come back home with a glow that will last longer than an overly bronze suntan and keep you smiling through the stress of college for weeks to come.

[Check out our Spring Break Guide for even more tips and tricks you need to know to make this the best Spring Break ever!]

"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.”

Or they do it so if a student gets food poisoning, the toxic waste (pun completely intended) will get out of their system faster. Or so that the students don’t get fat and give the school a bad reputation (because weight is obvi a huge indication of the quality of a school’s prestige and all.) Or because the empathetic food service people know how test stress and homesickness can constipate the youngin’s and they just wanna help things along. All of these reasons are the usual suspects for the explanation of this rumor…and they are all totally whack.

First of all, despite what you may think after tasting dorm food, there are health and safety standards (pretty rigorous ones, considering the widespread university distaste for lawsuits), so the idea of adding an un-prescribed medication to the masses is kinda ridiculous. Any medication, even OTC, has some kind of side effects. Imagine if a student had an allergic reaction, or died, as a result of these non-existent laxatives; yea, it would be the university’s turn to sh** themselves.

Also, even if the dining hall food did give someone food poisoning (I’m sure it’s happened), a laxative wouldn’t prevent the toxins from being absorbed by your body on the way out, no matter how fast it’s moving. There is absolutely no feasible reason for any university, anywhere, to allow its dining halls to slip a lil Ex-lax into the meat on Taco Tuesday. Consider this myth officially debunked.

What are some of the urban legends you hear around your campus? Share them in the comments section below. Our scientific team of experts (me, Google, and sometimes my best friend) is always looking for new myths to dispel!

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!

- Has sex with your man been more pain than pleasure? Blame last week’s sushi dinner! A study of the latest food poisoning outbreak in North Carolina reveals a link between sexual pain and consuming predatory fish contaminated with Ciquatera Fish Poisoning (CFP). Men have reported painful ejaculation and women have described a burning sensation. Unfortunately, fish contaminated with CFP cannot be detected through odor or taste and is not a result of spoilage or preparation. Your best bet is to avoid predatory fish like Barracuda, Grouper, Red Snapper and Amberjack. Ask your waiter if any of the dishes contain these fish.

- I am the biggest baby when it comes to getting vaccinated. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just eat yogurt instead of getting stabbed in the arm? Researchers have developed a way to use the probiotics in yogurt to release a vaccine through your stomach’s immune system. This method was quicker and more effective than injections in a study using mice and an anthrax vaccine. The scientists are even developing a yogurt vaccine for breast cancer and other infectious diseases!

- Your younger sister may soon be able to access the morning-after pill, even if she’s under 18! A U.S. court ruling this week will allow 17-year-olds to obtain the pill, sold as Plan B, within a month. U.S. District Judge Edward Korma is asking the FDA to reconsider whether it should be available without any age restrictions at all.

Who knows what the world’s best doctors and scientists will discover next week? In the meantime, don’t drink too much, watch your Red Snapper intake, eat your yogurt, and keep an eye on your sister!