Heading off to school for the first time is an exhilarating experience. Most of us probably know that by now. College is jam-packed with a goodie bag full of firsts: our first test, first hangover, first boyfriend, first affair, first time away from home… you get the point. Just like we were hundreds of years ago in kindergarten, we’re first-timers once again!

While Ms. Jones might have taught you how to reluctantly share your crayons or recover from your first fall on the playground, there aren’t very many teacher-pick-me-ups once you reach the higher ed world. Yes, mom and dad are always just a phone call away, but when you’re stuck in the library at 4am cramming for your first big exam, those words of encouragement don’t really work. Damn.

College is a whole new lifestyle. Late nights, eight hours of classes, a whole week devoted to midterms and finals can really drive a girl crazy; and on top of all that other stuff, you’ve got to make it work with whatever roommate you’ve got in a crazy 11 x 11 closet space.

We dwindled down the long list of college stressors to compile the top eight stressors for college girls. Read More »

Yes, the school year just started, but man am I already stressed out. Even if you’re not in college, life is stressful. There’s always some sort of stress factor. I went to the dentist this morning, and my conversation went something like this:

Dentist: Do you have a lot of stress in your life right now?

Me: Um, yeah I guess. Why?

Dentist: I can tell you’ve been clenching and grinding your teeth in your sleep, which usually comes from high stress levels. Would you like to get fitted for a night-guard?

Seriously, that happened. No, I’m not getting a night-guard. But stress is a problem, and it causes other problems like breakouts and lack of focus. I had the opportunity to test out three really cool products: Clearogen, no!no! Skin, and 21 Drops. Watch below! Read More »

During the school year, eating well and exercising can feel like a real challenge. Going out with friends or sleeping in late is often so much more appealing than dragging yourself to the gym, and at 2:00 a.m. after hours of reading, that bag of chocolate chip cookies is just…so…tempting!

We’ve all heard that we should try to avoid the dreaded “Freshman Fifteen” (which is actually more like the “Freshman Seven”), but there are other important benefits to maintaining a good nutrition and exercise routine. The better you treat your body, the better you will feel. The better you feel, the more successful you’ll be in school and the more energy you’ll have for the really fun stuff. Read on to learn how you can use the latest discoveries in health and fitness to stay healthy, happy, and motivated this school year.

1.     Cut down on time at the gym with interval workouts.

Intervals have long been an important part of many exercise routines. But a new study has shown that intense interval workouts may be just as effective as time-consuming endurance training. The study divided its subjects, healthy college students, into two groups. One group rode a stationary bike at a sustained pace for 90 to 120 minutes three times per week. The other group pedaled as hard as they could for 20 to 30 seconds, with short breaks in between, for a total of about six minutes of intense riding per day. The result? The students who rode intervals showed just a much of an increase in their endurance as the students who did sustained training, and showed the same molecular indicators of increased fitness in their muscles. Read More »

“Oh.Em.Gee.  And then I woke up in his bed and he had peed all over his Superman sheets after we made out for four hours.”

“If one more person raises their hand in class and asks what time the final exam is as it is written in the 80 page syllabus, I’m going to vow to never eat a scone from the caf ever again. And that’s serious.”

“I think somebody farted in class today and I hope it wasn’t the hot dude. I really like looking at him and that would totally ruin things for me.”

These aren’t conversations I have anymore. In fact, I can’t even believe I used to have them. They are completely pointless, entirely stupid and absolutely glorious.  Ok FINE, I wish I still talked about this kind of stuff on a daily basis – but things have been a little different in my new post grad life. I never said people don’t fart in meetings rooms, but they aren’t sexy and I won’t tell anyone about it.

I’ve noticed a huge shift in my conversations lately. They’re like, slightly grown up. Flash Notice: I still talk about sex, flatulence, snot and totally gross 5-year-old boy things – just bare with me while I try to sound cool and old. Here are the top five new things I’m chatting about these days (that I’m not quite used to yet): Read More »

Alright. My life is really funny because in college, I actually thought I was constantly stressed out. But looking back now…all lies. If I could go back to the consistent life of a college student, I would reclaim it in a little hummingbird heartbeat. Sure, maybe it was stressful to drink on a Thursday and barrel through a quiz the next day. Sure, maybe it was stressful to skip out class on a Tuesday to sun bathe in the quad.

The key word in the past two sentences is: sure. College sure wasn’t stressful at all.

In this real world I’m treading through (or flailing through), stress has been tumbling upon me like a pile of heavy, wet and unapologetic rocks. Because while in college the stress was completely personal, when you get a job – stress leaks onto other people’s plates. Suddenly, you’re no longer only responsible for yourself. You’re responsible for an entire company. Um, HELLO.

My body has been completely tweaking out on me because of the stressful job world. I have zits on my cheeks (I usually only get them in my t-zone), I wake up with night tremors about screwing up and I have been listening to more Enya than usual. While these may be personal problems, I have come up with a system to aid my stressed out tendencies…and I want to share them with you. And trust me; these new stress remedies are way different than college stress remedies. Think tea bags (the kind at the grocery store) instead of beer bongs. Think candles in place of a 14-hour Grey’s Anatomy marathons. Think timeliness practicality. Read More »

Are you a stress seeker?

And a teen mom heads to rehab

I’m kinda digging Amber Rose’s style

31 celebrity promo photos

Who knew Will Smith was such a diva

 7 ways to get over your Facebook addiction

What excuse do you use to get out of plans with friends?

40 things that will make you feel old

Facebook gets busted

Recreate the best celebrity beauty looks From The 2011 Metropolitan Gala

Follow us on Twitter!

I will be the first to admit that it is hard for me to relax during finals, especially when everyone around me is freaking out. The weeks leading up to finals are basically the worst time of the year, especially during spring term. Summer is staring us all in the face, but we have mountains of projects, papers, reading, and random homework to do before we can throw on our favorite cut off shorts and sit by a lake for three months straight.

But girls, don’t let that get you down. There are lots of ways to relax when everyone you know is having a minor brain aneurysm.

1. Indulge.
I don’t know about you guys, but when articles tell me to “eat healthy snacks!” when I’m stressed, I just want to punch the writer in the face. You don’t know me. When I’m writing a 15-page history paper at 3am in the library, you know what I don’t want? A carrot stick. However, I will take an entire pizza and a chocolate milkshake, thanks. All I’m saying is: if eating a whole thing of Kraft mac’n’cheese and a plate of cookies is going to make you feel good for at least at hour, do it… just so you don’t strangle that girl next to you in the computer lab. (How to make your favorite unhealthy foods healthy)

2. Sweat it out.
You might be lacking on time to eat, time to sleep, and time to finish that project you’ve been procrastinating doing for two weeks…but make some time to sweat out your frustration. Go for a run, do some yoga, find a sweet kickboxing video and punch the air. Trust me, you’ll thank me when you remain calm when someone reminds you that your big paper is due in a week. (This will also burn of all those calories that you consume from indulging.)

Read More »

Right before I sat down to write this I opened a letter (yes because apparently people still send those) informing me that come April I will be able to pick up my cap and gown. I looked at the letter, rolled my eyes, and thought April? Really? Why are they sending me this now when I don’t need to pick it up until April? But still I opened up my Google Calendar and went to plug in the date. But oh wait…what’s that?

April is only two clicks months away.

TWO MONTHS.

That’s shorter than a season of the Bachelor.

And that doesn’t even account for all the days off I have coming up.

Currently, I’m enjoying a five-day weekend. I’ll head into class one day next week, and then two more the week after, and then it’s Spring Break time. And when I get back there will only be three more weeks of March. And then it’s April. A month filled with weeks shortened by Easter and Passover holidays. The month I thought was oh so far away. The month I can pick up my cap and gown. My last month of undergraduate classes. My last month as a college student. Maybe April is closer than I thought. I mean, how did we even get to February already anyway?

Read More »

“This is going to be my stress free semester.”

That was me, as I sat down to coffee with my friend approximately one hour before the start of my first class of the year. I was hopeful, really I was. Along with an awesome internship, I’m only taking two classes, a senior seminar, and a senior reflective tutorial, the capstones for my English major. I mean, how hard could those be, right? As is, I’ve already cut my workload in half. And, sure, I’m still working on my thesis, but I’m at the halfway mark, and I just have to find some time to actually write it. (Read: Cut my Facebook stalking time in half.) So really there’s not much to worry about, right? My friend, and fellow senior just looked at me and laughed. And, well, actually, she’s probably still laughing right now.

I had high hopes, really I did. My winter break was enjoyable. And productive. My schedule seemed promising. I came back, fresh-faced, relaxed and ready to take on the final semester.

And then, well, then I got hit with a thesis discussion meeting, multiple club budget meetings, a 5-page paper to do over the weekend, and too much reading to type out for all of you. Plus a weekend full of familial obligations. Not exactly what I had in mind for my first week back. But hey, if there’s one thing I learned in college it’s that nothing ever goes quite the way you planned. So I really should have known, this semester wouldn’t exactly be “stress free.”  Which, you know, isn’t exactly a bad thing, either.

You see as I gulped down a coffee and attempted to plan out how I was going to finish all of my homework, attend my grandmother’s 80-something birthday party, and show my face at a family friend’s sweet sixteen (that sure felt like a time warp) I remembered something I read in my school paper a while back.

Read More »

[It's a new year (which I am having trouble remembering when I have to write the date on anything), meaning it's the perfect time to wipe that slate clean and start anew. And we're gonna help you out. Every Thursday in January we're bringing you advice from experts on ways to improve yourself and your life. From mental health to making the most of your workspace, we'll all work together to get our lives, health and GPAs back on track. First we feng shui-ed our rooms to make them happier, more productive places; now it's time to overhaul our inner selves with mind/body coach, Sarah Yost.]

Stressors in life are inevitable: deadlines, expectations, the lack of time to do it all. But you don’t have to be at the mercy of those things. The less you stress the better you’ll feel and the more you’ll accomplish. Think about your energy as if you have a finite amount of it every day. If you use a lot of it stressing out about things beyond your control, you’re left without the energy you need to actually do the things that matter to you.

So how does one simply not stress?

Try these six easy tips to calm down and preserve your energy so you can accomplish everything on your plate and all those other things you just want to have time for.

Attend to your breath.
You know how people are always telling you to “just breath”? Well, there’s a reason for it! Full diaphragmatic breaths aren’t going to cut a full fledged panic attack, but they will make a noticeable difference. Full breaths change you physiologically, bringing more oxygen to your blood, slowing the heart rate and soothing the nervous system.

Try this: Inhale through the nose to the count of four, exhale through your mouth to the count of four.  Do that four times. That simple exercise will make a huge difference, and it takes less than a minute and you can do it anywhere with your eyes open. No one needs to know what you’re up to and you don’t need to schedule any extra time in your busy day to find some inner peace. Read More »