Check out this video from Deepak Chopra for more information related to the action of sleep, I really like it!

If you can't see the video go here https://www.deepakchopra.com/video/view/508/the_rabbit_hole__the_science_of_sleep

Say No to sleep deprivation!

As I posted earlier the effects of Sleep deprivation can shape negatively they way we live. Therefore i am going to give you guys some tips that I follow hoping that would be helpful for those that struggle getting some sleep time:


Finish every homework, every diligence, every cooking etc before an specific time, for example:
 "I will finish this paper before 9:00pm" so in that way you make your duty a little bit more interesting transforming it into a kind of race.

Exercise, a well set of exercise will get you tired and ready to go to bed

When I miss sleep time, I usually pick one day to wake up really early (a day that is not going to be so busy) and then during the night Im tired enough to sleep at a decent time. The idea of this is to create a routing of sleeping time.

Those are some of the stuff I do, however I know not everybody functions the same way. That is why I found you guys an useful article that explains a little bit more about the ways of coping with sleep deprivation:

Ways to avoid sleep deprivation!

Some factors on sleep deprivation

 - As a college student, I have experienced many nights of long studying, not eating well and worst: combination of both. I'm sure the majority of college students had struggled with this situation before so I went and did a little research to see what the effects of this behavior might cause.

Check this article I found

www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-48440287/sleep-deprivation-the-surprising-causes-and-solutions/

They talked about about many factors that are involve on sleeping deprivation and eating less related to weight gainning:

• About 95% of people use some type of electronics in the hour before bed, whether it's watching TV, surfing the internet, playing video games or texting.
• The youngest generation of adults, Gen Y'ers (19 to 29 year olds), are the biggest users of interactive electronics, like cell phones and the internet. They are more than eight times as likely as baby boomers (46 to 64 year old) to text in the hour before bedtime--52% of them texted compared to 5% of boomers.
• About 19% of respondents sent or received work related emails before bed.

 Notice that this article studies young adults that are out of school, now... my point is, how many students use technology before they go to bed either because they have to write a paper or simply because they are just on facebook, twitter or any other app.

check out this video:

added to nutrional effects, sleeping deprivation has also a negative impact on your brain...so that makes think that maybe students are living in a vicious cycle.. we have a lot of homework, they have to eat well but sometimes they don't manage the time well, therefore we don't sleep, we start eating less and our brain does not work at 100%.

Protein supplements, do we need them??

When going to the wight room, there is a big chance of finding many people filling up a bottle with some kind powder before or after training. That powder can change in color or it can come from different types of cans or containers, but they mostly, have the same purpose: Gaining muscle!

People may have different reason of why they exercise such as general health, getting that "beach body" etc. But in my experience as a wellness student, from what I have seen the most, its guys wanting to get bigger and bigger by using different kinds of supplements. Some of the ones I know say that supplements accelerate the process of getting stronger and gaining more muscle. 

Therefore,  before criticizing this substances we need to know what are the most popular ones that some people use:

Creatine

Beta Alanine

Whey Protein

Branch Chain Amino Acids

popular protein supplements

 if we compare these supplements with real food (supplements with real food) we see that supplements make nutrition easier by lowering in costs and they are easier to get. But on the other side these supplements can develop some stomach bloating in some people and are hard to combine with other foods. Real food makes nutrition more like a satisfaction action rather than only taking nutrients. Food such as eggs, cheese, and specially beef could have more protein than any of the top 5 shakes. 

“..supplements that provide essential nutrients may be a short-term option when food intake or food choices are restricted due to travel or other factors” and that they should be “used in accordance with current evidence under the guidance of a well-informed professional". This was the statement of  the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Even though  such organization may have considered to accept the use of supplements, I believe that it is important to highlight the part when they said "due to travel and other factors" . It may be true that Athletes can encounter some difficulties related to their competition and practices that can make their nutrition and training plan be affected, but I think it is the Job of the professionals surrounding those athletes to create a plan with sufficient organization that provides the athlete easy access to nutrition. Hence, my opinion is that it is not a matter of thinking than protein supplements are better than real food or that food is better than these substances. I think it is a matter of professionally creating a plan that does not requires the need of supplements.

For people that are only looking only for general health and gaining muscle: I have found another statement from the IOC (muscle diet , you may translate the web page) which  says that in order to gain muscle, no more than 2 grams per Kilogram of protein is an efficient amount for gaining muscle, so don't be to worried about getting big so fast.