Sleep And Succeed.

After coming across this post in the Huffington Post...

"As these snaps show of a Chinese student shot by her roommate some people are prepared to go to hair-raising extremes in order to get good grades. The two girls, Chen Tang, 20, and Huang Lu, 21, had been complaining about how difficult it was to keep up with all the study they were expected to do while students at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, in Fujian province, in southeast China." 

...I thought it may be a good idea to reiterate the importance of a balanced lifestyle. A balanced lifestyle sounds pretty easy to accomplish, but when you are a student under pressure, it is sometimes easy to slip into hour and hours of study without having the appropriate breaks and sleep. Sleep is extremely important to comprehension and retaining information, as is a good diet. 

• Only 11 percent of American college students sleep well, and 40 percent of students feel well rested only two days per week.
• Inadequate sleep appears to affect the brain's ability to consolidate both factual information and procedural memories about how to do various physical tasks.
• The most critical period of sleep for memory consolidation is in the hours immediately following a lesson.

Stats courtesy of http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/

Balance is something which I have always struggled with. I was diagnosed with Epilepsy about four years ago which meant that I had to change my lifestyle in order to stay healthy and to reduce this risk of having seizures. It is important to remember that not having a balanced lifestyle can have lasting effects on your body and NOTHING is more important than your health-trust me!

So, to all students out there TAKE A BREAK! Stay healthy, eat well, exercise and the world is your oyster!

Amber Williams
Bearla International Studies.