Freshman Insomnia: Seven Tips To Get More ZZZ

As September settles in, college freshman are anything but settled. Instead, these students are rollercoastering through major life adjustments, especially those living in dorms or other shared spaces. Extra noises, unsettled sleep patterns, academic adjustments, general anxiety and bedtime social media browsing that skyrockets FOMO*(Fear Of Missing Out) often blend together and create sleepless nights that can trigger a downward spiral of fatigue, trouble concentrating, and poor grades…which leads to anxiety and more difficulty sleeping. What can students do to try and stop this cycle? Start with these seven steps:

  1. CONSISTENT SLEEP (and AWAKE) TIMES- with MWF and T/Th schedules,
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6 Tips for Freshmen Insomnia

Freshmen college students have many challenges as they adjust to their new environments, and sleepless nights in dorm rooms can trigger a downward spiral of fatigue, trouble concentrating, and poor grades…which leads to anxiety and more difficulty sleeping. What can students do to try and stop this cycle? Certainly there are multiple causes for insomnia, from roommate noise to seasonal allergies, to homesickness or academic stressors, but here are six basic steps to try first:

  1. CONSISTENT SLEEP (& WAKE) TIMES- with MWF and T/Th schedules, often students have drastically different sleep and wake times each day, which doesn’t jive with
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Hey College Parents, Today’s Weed is Not Your ’80s Pot

“They’re just smoking a little pot, right?”

Listen up, parents, because today’s “WEED” is not your “POT”.

Back in the late 70’s and 80’s, smoking pot usually meant passing a joint or bong around a circle of friends with half-closed eyes and mellow vibes (thanks, Cheech&Chong). The nicknames were endless- pot, dope, grass, marijuana, MJ, Mary Jane, reefers, roaches, etc, and the concentration of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive part) ranged from 2-5%. With these low THC concentrations, there was no recognized withdrawal syndrome and therefore pot was not considered addictive.

Today’s “weed” in the United States- legal or not- routinely … Read more

Why Doesn’t My Kid Love College (Yet)?

College life by ncgrimes

I sincerely hope your college student is already having an AMAZING experience, but if your “kidult” is struggling, please know they are NOT alone! This “Fall Frenzy” hits every year, especially for freshmen and transfer students. Realities of college are setting in, from suboptimal (or truly awful) midterm grades to social struggles. Some students party way too much, coping with anxiety by blackout drinking, using weed and/or other drugs. Other students hole up in their dorm rooms, escaping reality with video games. Along with these academic and social struggles, many students begin to question if they should change their major, … Read more

College Health Checklist: 12 Things To Do Before Your Child Leaves Home

*This post was originally published as a guest blog on one of my favorite teen parenting sites, RaisingTeensToday  Be sure to check out their site!

As parents, when we’re preparing to send our “kidults” off to college, we often spend the last few months before they leave cramming every possible nugget of wisdom into their brain – and rightly so.

And, even though our loving advice, (passed along with all good intentions, of course) might be met with an eye roll and an “Okay! I knoooowwww!” we have to press on because part of the separation process isn’t … Read more

Struggling with Test Anxiety? Fix It Now… BEFORE Finals!

With Spring Break in the rearview mirror, the rest of the semester will start to fly by, and finals begin to loom large. If you are one of the 20% of college students with TEST ANXIETY (yep, that’s 1 in 5 students!) then this post is for you.

Start with objectively deciding if your test anxiety is APPROPRIATE, meaning that you put in hours and effort studying, but when you sit down to the test, you do not know the answers (proportionate to your study efforts.) THIS IS SUPER COMMON, especially for freshmen who never struggled to make good … Read more

#1 New Release: The ULTIMATE College Student Health Handbook

Jill Grimes, MD with 2nd Edition
Cheers! I’m excited to share that the new, fully updated edition of The ULTIMATE College Student Health Handbook is now available both in stores and online!
What’s NEW? Well, I finished writing the first edition in December 2019, which was (barely) pre-pandemic. Updates obviously began, therefore, with COVID (*noting that recommendations will continue to evolve as we get more data). With online learning, the next immediate addition was practical and evidence-based tips for Zoom Fatigue. My favorite new topics, however, are ones we simply couldn’t squeeze into the first edition!  Happily, today,  they are just in time for Spring Break.
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What I Wish Every College Student Knew

Welcome to 2022! College students are nearly all back on campus, though not everyone is having in-person learning yet. As we head into the spring semester, here is my short list of what I wish every student knew:

  • Spring semester freshman year (or transfer students’ second semester) is VERY often the time that things start to click. Especially if you felt alone or like you didn’t fit in during the fall, DON’T GIVE UP! Join study groups in your classes (even if virtual) and keep trying new organizations/clubs and going to different types of events. Schedule at least one event
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2021 Best Gifts for College Students (Especially Those that “Have Everything”)

Happy Thanksgiving week! Ready to shop for your favorite college student, but no clue what to get? I’ve got you covered! Here’s my 2021 list of the gifts that I order and recommend to promote HEALTH and HAPPINESS in your college student. (Please note that I have no financial ties to anything other than The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook.) 

For Stress Reduction: 

  • Weighted Blanket– These can be pricey, but for anyone dealing with anxiety and/or insomnia, they are worth their WEIGHT in gold. What weight? 15-20 lbs. (Bigger adult, heavier blanket. 15 lbs is plenty if
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