I often wake up and wholeheartedly believe I am still dreaming. The scenes in my slumber world and my reality meet and intertwine, carrying the affect of my dream into the start of my day. Sometimes, I am 50 feet tall and walking for miles down unrecognizable roads; other times,[Read More…]
Tag: sleep
I could sleep wherever I lay my head
During my undergraduate degree, I became a night-owl: The day was occupied by class or work, and I allotted my most academically and socially productive moments to the witching hours. Although I could never predict where I would sleep each night, I always found a place to rest if I[Read More…]
The power of effective studying
Productivity and procrastination: The notorious p-words of finals season. As students pack into libraries like sardines to cram a semester’s worth of information into a few days, final exams seem like the only thing on anyone’s mind. Fortunately, there are ways to make the studying process more effective and less[Read More…]
Mental Health Awareness Week promotes wellness for every student
From Jan. 15 to 21, the 2018 Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) featured a variety of events to spark discourse on mental health and strategies for improving it. Student organizers led workshops and panels on topics ranging from sleep habits, managing mental health while[Read More…]
Viewpoint: How I learned the importance of sleep hygiene
Don't let the students posting Snapchat stories of how late they've been cramming at McLennan fool you—there's nothing glamorous about insomnia. The condition, which affects 30 to 50 per cent of the United States population, can be one of detrimental to both academic success and student wellbeing. I would know:[Read More…]
Coffee-naps: A scientifically based life hack
University life is known for many things, but an overabundance of sleep is not one of them. The endless onslaught of lectures, papers, labs, and midterms that McGill throws at its students is not conducive to getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep every night. For many students,[Read More…]
Douglas Mental Health Institute identifies new target for slowing cancer growth
Postdoctoral student Silke Kiessling and McGill Psychiatry Professor Dr. Nicholas Cermakian conducted a study out of the Douglas Mental Health Institute to better understand how people’s biological clocks affect cancer cells. Specifically, they examined whether cancer cells’ growth can be inhibited by targeting the biological clock. The study was published in[Read More…]
McGill researchers advocate for delayed school start times for adolescents
With the onslaught of midterms on the horizon, sleep will likely be pushed down the list of students’ priorities. According to a report card issued by ParticipACTION, a Canadian non-profit organization focused on improving public health, 26 per cent of adolescents are either mildly or moderately sleep deprived. In addition[Read More…]
Defending the 8:35: Why early mornings at McGill aren’t going away
There is a certain meme circulating the depths of the Internet with which, by now, many McGillians should be quite familiar. It depicts a triangular model whose vertices point to certain generalizations about college life. “Good grades. Social life. Enough sleep. Pick two!” Though some may not find that their[Read More…]
4 tips for a better night’s sleep
Ever wake up feeling tired after getting over eight hours of sleep? You’re not alone. For an activity that we have been doing since we were born, sleeping—at least, sleeping effectively—is not always easy. There are a variety of factors and processes that can make it difficult for students to[Read More…]