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 stress
#1 New Release: The ULTIMATE College Student Health Handbook
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.
Best Years of Your Life?
College years are unquestionably awesome, often dubbed “the best years of your life”. However, as you recover from high school grad parties and start dorm room preparation, consider adding another topic to the “last-summer- gotta-cram-in-every-bit-of-parental-advice” talks: not EVERY day in college is quite so awesome. Shouldn’t it be obvious to our kids that they should expect ups and downs? Possibly not…
In our home, our kids grew up hearing stories time and time again about fun-filled Notre Dame or Texas Aggie football weekends, road trips, dorm parties, and cherished school traditions. Our dearest college friends are called “Aunt” and “Uncle” … Read more
Can College Students Get Ulcers?
“Does STRESS cause stomach ulcers?”
In a college health center, this is a question I hear fairly often, especially around midterms or finals. Certainly most of us have experienced stomach discomfort when we are anxious- whether that is nausea, cramping, diarrhea or pain- but the vast majority of people with those symptoms do not have actual ulcers.
However, people who are stressed may have COPING HABITS that can irritate the stomach lining, causing a gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) which might facilitate the development of ulcers:
- Drinking too much alcohol (more than one drink/day for women, or more than