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How Hydration Could Be The Key To College Success
I’ve always gotten good sleep. For some reason, getting less than 8 hours a night has an extreme effect on my emotional stability. This is a quality that has separated me from my classmates more and more the older I’ve gotten.
They all seem to live in a way that honors that saying about college life, “social life, grades, sleep: pick two.”
Isolation is the death of mental health, and grades are the sole purpose of being a student, so I never judged their choice, even seeing the tiredness they all seemed to drag behind them all day. This was just something I could never sympathize with until I quit caffeine.
It wasn’t the anxiety that made me stop. It wasn’t the jitteriness or the threat of heart problems either. It was the cost. Three-fifty or so, for a Monster, times around 30 days was more than 90 dollars out of the four to six hundred I earned every month.
I slowly cut my caffeine back. This meant the withdrawal headaches were never a problem. It ended up being the drowsiness that really struggled me.
My healthy sleep schedule made sure that every other person my age and I had the exact same barrier to fighting this constant exhaustion: I could not get more sleep.
I wondered for a long time: how do you stop being so constantly tired without sleeping more or drinking caffeine?
Hydration isn’t the only answer. There’s diet changes, regular exercise, measures to prevent burnout and, temptingly, caffeine. I remember what it was like to drink my way through my school work, locked in a study carrel. Eventually the tiredness just seemed to seep up alongside the energy drinks or coffee, with enough time. I’m willing to bet that any college students reading this have lived with that tiredness for years.
No, hydration isn’t the only answer. But it’s one of the cheapest and probably the easiest.
It’s common knowledge that dehydration fatigues you. A 2019 literature review (a paper that seeks to summarize the findings of a large body of studies in a certain study area) tied dehydration to, “greater fatigue and lower alertness.”
Harvard Health Online even listed “tiredness or fatigue” as a symptom in an article about dehydration.
Dr. Tamara Clapper’s thoughts on the subject align with this. The doctor of nursing practice at UWF summarized the short term benefits of proper hydration as, among others, “improved energy, (and) fewer headaches.” Hydration is a topic that is deeply understood in nursing practice because it can mean the difference between life and death in an ICU.
The effects will expand the longer that an individual remains consistently hydrated. “Over time,” Clapper noted. “Benefits may expand to healthier skin, smoother digestion, better physical performance, and improved mental clarity.”
England’s National Health Service website advises that the average person has 6-8 glasses of water a day. So, if someone is awake for 16 hours a day, that is a tall (15 mL) glass of water every 2-2 ½ hours.
The fact that it’s healthy to drink enough water has been taught since grade school. So it begs the question: why don’t college students drink enough water?
My classmate, and close friend, River sees it as a consequence of their college schedule.
“sometimes, i get so busy i forget to do anything but what i’m working on,” texted River. “and that includes drinking water.”
People like River face one of the biggest barriers to hydration: simply remembering to do it. For people with this problem it can be fairly easy to drink more water simply by making sure that they have a glass or two with every meal. No matter how busy your schedule is, you’re going to eat.
It can also help to eat fruits and vegetables with your meals because, according to UCLA Health, foods like strawberry, lettuce, and celery are highly water based: a very helpful thing given the fact that the body gets a significant amount of its daily water intake from the foods you eat, according to the same article.
When interviewed, my college friend Sean lamented that he also didn’t hydrate enough. He explained that he likes his water ice cold and that it is too much of a nuisance to have to keep getting ice.
I then asked him what he thought it would take for him to be consistently hydrated.
“I would need to consistently bring my water bottle everywhere with me, have a good system for keeping the water cold, and find some decent non-sucralose having drink flavor mixes,” said Sean. “I know that if the water is cold, and/or it tastes good I’m more likely to stay hydrated.”
The first of these common causes are relatively easy to deal with. Insulated water bottles, though pricey, will tend to be able to keep water cold for hours, if not the entire day. Amazon has several insulated bottles for under 20 dollars. For the price of a meal you get a water bottle that will last for years.
The use of drink mixes is not as unhealthy as you might expect according to GoodRx. The main downsides tend to be the high sugar content, a problem that is overcome by a quick browse on Amazon for drink mixes with no artificial sweeteners. A few seconds of searching yielded mixes for as low as $ 2.50.
Coffee, tea, and flavored water are also advisable alternatives according to Silver Cross Hospital. In general, it seems that drinks made up of flavoring dissolved in water are going to be the best alternatives for hydration.
This is my last piece of advice, so I’ll use a story.
On a three hour or so trip home from helping my boyfriend clean his room, (if you’d seen it, you’d understand why the task took two people.We actually didn’t even finish.) I noticed that I was swerving a bit and became aware of a deep fatigue that I’d felt, for miles, without realizing it.
It didn’t go away even as I took sips from the monster that I allow on longer trips. Eventually, I had a drink of water, to stop the beginnings of a headache. I felt completely rejuvenated. Just a drink had broken a multi-hour fatigue that had resisted caffeine and a short power nap. I likely would not have written this article if I had not had that experience.
In around 1000 words I have explained that water is energy. I found this out because I experienced it myself. So, if you want to drink more water, try drinking some the next time you’re tired. See what happens.
Maybe you’ll feel what I felt on that car ride.
Hindu Extremist: How The Hidden Ideology Oppresses Christians in India
Over the last 20 years, as Indian authorities have passed ever-more-stringent anti-conversion laws, Christians in the world’s most populous nation have fallen victim to an increasing number of attacks by Hindu extremists.
These laws have been passed in 12 of the 28 Indian states and typically ban conversion using “misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means,” according to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Though these laws aim to bolster civil liberties, they seem to embolden attacks on christians and their property by Hindutva extremists.
Hindutva is a nationalist ideology, dating back to the 1920’s, that preaches the supremacy of the Hindu religion and seeks to make India an “overtly Hindu nation state” according to its article in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
A report by the Evangelical Fellowship of India describes an incident in June where a child’s birthday party, attended by a Pastor and several church members who were invited by the family, was interrupted by an unidentified individual who started filming the event.
After leaving, he returned with others who assaulted the Pastor and several female believers, according to eyewitnesses, before forcibly taking the Pastor to the police station and accusing him of engaging in illegal religious conversion. The pastor and several members were reportedly left with severe injuries.
The incident took place in Odisha: the first Indian state to pass an anti-conversion law.
Though physical harassment, assault, and destruction of property make up an alarming proportion of these attacks, false accusations of religious conversion are almost as commonly used against christians.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India points out that, as of July, a fifth of the 334 confirmed incidents utilized the legal system.
“Pastors are being arrested and detained, while investigations target children’s homes, Bible colleges and house churches,” said Rev. Rajnish Jacob, chairman of the Assemblies of God, North India in an Interview with Morning Star News. “Even acts of Christian charity are now viewed with suspicion as potential conversion attempts, and any third party can file complaints that put the burden of proof on us.”
These accusations carry heavy prison sentences and fines. Even claims that have little chance of conviction can force the accused into long, costly legal battles.
These attacks are increasing in frequency. According to an article by The Wire, the number of anti-christian incidents (per year) increased five-fold between 2009 and 2024.
The article points out that police corruption and support for these incidents, in certain regions, permits them to be carried out with little to no consequence.
“Most of the time, FIRs are filed against the victims of violence, while the perpetrators are allowed to go scot-free,” A.C. Michael, of the United Christian Forum, told The Wire.
FIR stands for First Information Report. In many nations, they are filed by police with victims of a crime, and are required for the police to start an investigation.
Michaels elaborated that, in many cases, these reports are not filed at all and Police simply placate victims with warnings that things will only get worse if they pursue justice.
With no First Information Report, there is essentially no documentation that a crime took place.
The attacks occur alongside the spread of a far right component of the Hindutva ideology in India that seems to have grown more extreme as time has gone on.
One of the more well known examples of this occurred in February when a far right Hindatva influencer named Aadesh Soni appeared in a widely circulated video where he urged his followers to rally 50,000 people to rape and kill members of several villages.
Though he later called the event off and denied that he had made those claims, the threat sparked international outrage and even caught the attention of genocide watch.
There have been no public statements by President Droupadi Murmu or Prime Minister
Narendra Modi about the issue in spite of reports by the UN going back to at least 2023.
Within India, many christian organizations such as the Evangelical Fellowship of India provide aid and legal advice to victims of violence and harassment. These efforts and reports are supported by a large network of local chapters and representatives.
The anti-conversion laws recently encountered a major challenge, though.
On Monday, India’s Supreme Court rejected a high profile religious conversion case against members of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences that started in 2022.
The court cited a lack of credible evidence on the part of the accusers and recognized “serious procedural deficiencies and violations of due process” according to Persecution.org
Christian leaders within India hope that this precedent will help to curb the misuse of anti-conversion laws.
.
The Louisiana Growth Fund Invests in the States Future
Over the last 20 years, as Indian authorities have passed ever-more-stringent anti-conversion laws, Christians in the world’s most populous nation have fallen victim to an increasing number of attacks by Hindu extremists.
These laws have been passed in 12 of the 28 Indian states and typically ban conversion using “misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means,” according to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Though these laws aim to bolster civil liberties, they seem to embolden attacks on christians and their property by Hindutva extremists.
Hindutva is a nationalist ideology, dating back to the 1920’s, that preaches the supremacy of the Hindu religion and seeks to make India an “overtly Hindu nation state” according to its article in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
A report by the Evangelical Fellowship of India describes an incident in June where a child’s birthday party, attended by a Pastor and several church members who were invited by the family, was interrupted by an unidentified individual who started filming the event.
After leaving, he returned with others who assaulted the Pastor and several female believers, according to eyewitnesses, before forcibly taking the Pastor to the police station and accusing him of engaging in illegal religious conversion. The pastor and several members were reportedly left with severe injuries.
The incident took place in Odisha: the first Indian state to pass an anti-conversion law.
Though physical harassment, assault, and destruction of property make up an alarming proportion of these attacks, false accusations of religious conversion are almost as commonly used against christians.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India points out that, as of July, a fifth of the 334 confirmed incidents utilized the legal system.
“Pastors are being arrested and detained, while investigations target children’s homes, Bible colleges and house churches,” said Rev. Rajnish Jacob, chairman of the Assemblies of God, North India in an Interview with Morning Star News. “Even acts of Christian charity are now viewed with suspicion as potential conversion attempts, and any third party can file complaints that put the burden of proof on us.”
These accusations carry heavy prison sentences and fines. Even claims that have little chance of conviction can force the accused into long, costly legal battles.
These attacks are increasing in frequency. According to an article by The Wire, the number of anti-christian incidents (per year) increased five-fold between 2009 and 2024.
The article points out that police corruption and support for these incidents, in certain regions, permits them to be carried out with little to no consequence.
“Most of the time, FIRs are filed against the victims of violence, while the perpetrators are allowed to go scot-free,” A.C. Michael, of the United Christian Forum, told The Wire.
FIR stands for First Information Report. In many nations, they are filed by police with victims of a crime, and are required for the police to start an investigation.
Michaels elaborated that, in many cases, these reports are not filed at all and Police simply placate victims with warnings that things will only get worse if they pursue justice.
With no First Information Report, there is essentially no documentation that a crime took place.
The attacks occur alongside the spread of a far right component of the Hindutva ideology in India that seems to have grown more extreme as time has gone on.
One of the more well known examples of this occurred in February when a far right Hindatva influencer named Aadesh Soni appeared in a widely circulated video where he urged his followers to rally 50,000 people to rape and kill members of several villages.
Though he later called the event off and denied that he had made those claims, the threat sparked international outrage and even caught the attention of genocide watch.
There have been no public statements by President Droupadi Murmu or Prime Minister
Narendra Modi about the issue in spite of reports by the UN going back to at least 2023.
Within India, many christian organizations such as the Evangelical Fellowship of India provide aid and legal advice to victims of violence and harassment. These efforts and reports are supported by a large network of local chapters and representatives.
The anti-conversion laws recently encountered a major challenge, though.
On Monday, India’s Supreme Court rejected a high profile religious conversion case against members of the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences that started in 2022.
The court cited a lack of credible evidence on the part of the accusers and recognized “serious procedural deficiencies and violations of due process” according to Persecution.org
Christian leaders within India hope that this precedent will help to curb the misuse of anti-conversion laws.
.
Rich Fulford Writing 