Getting tired of heading out to the gym every day? Is your one-on-one time with the iPod and treadmill getting lonelier and more boring with each work out session? There is a way you can still get exercise and have fun at the same time!

If you enjoy having company while exercising, yet don’t relish the idea of sharing intimate conversations between labored breaths and wiping sweat with a towel, it is time you considered dancing. Dancing is an ideal social and athletic pastime.

One of the most intriguing benefits of dancing is the positive effect it has on the brain. Through learning new steps and coordinating with a partner, your mind is sharpened, thus improving mental alertness and lowering the risk of dementia.

Dancing greatly reduces stress. The fun, catchy tunes, the break from studying, and the friendly atmosphere, all contribute to a relaxing, enjoyable evening. In lowering stress, the healthy affects of lower blood pressure are also attained.

And don’t worry about being too exhausted to carry on with the rest of your day. As with most exercise, but especially when considering the exciting realm of dance, energy is increased and endorphins are raised. Yes, it’s true. Dancing can make you a happier person.

Not only is dancing beneficial to your mental and emotional health, it is incredibly healthy for your body. Just because you’re having fun does not mean you’re not burning away those calories. Oftentimes, dancing can produce more weight loss and toned muscles than other traditional forms of exercise. It certainly strengthens your heart and legs, reducing the risk of cardiac disease and broken bones.

Dancing can benefit you; body, soul, and mind. Take advantage of the many opportunities we have here at Tech to try it out. Salsa, swing, and belly dancing are just a few of the options that are offered. A healthy body and a positive outlook are just a foxtrot away.

Remember when our parents used to scold us for blasting Spice Girls or Hanson from the boom box in our rooms? “You’ll go deaf someday!” they would say. And we would just shrug it off, considering their advice as another of the crazy things that adults said that had no logical backing.

Well, the other day as I was running on the treadmill I was, of course, also blasting my iPod, attempting to drown out all other sounds and thoughts and get myself completely motivated for the miles ahead. When I stepped off the treadmill and went to speak to a friend however, I found that suddenly I could hardly hear what they were saying, and was unsure how loudly I should answer, being unaware of the volume of my own voice.

I am sure this temporary loss of hearing sounds familiar to many of you. The tiny little buds that fit so snugly into our ears are just perfect for blasting our troubles and hearing away. In fact, Apple has a warning against permanent hearing loss that comes with each iPod. However, who really reads through the little instruction book that comes with everything they buy? After all, everyone else is using them. It must be safe.

Do not get me wrong. It’s not just Apple’s iPods here that I’m bashing. In fact all forms of loud volume, especially when brought so close to the ear as by a headphone, are potentially damaging. Hearing loss occurs when the small hairs in the inner ear are exposed to loud sounds repeatedly. For a while, as in my treadmill incident, the hair cells will recover and operate again as normal. However, after repeated exposure to sound (especially 80dB or above) your hair cells become less sensitive and eventually die, thus dulling your hearing.

I know none of us look forward to being that old grandparent that never understands what the kids are saying; even after having them constantly repeat themselves. At the rate that our society of personal-music-device-listeners is going, these damages to hearing could start taking effect much earlier. Sure, crank up the volume for a couple minutes to your favorite song. But try, in general, keeping the sound a little lower as you jam across the Drill field. Who knows, you might even hear that friend that tries to say hi, and enjoy a conversation instead of speeding by in your own little world.

Studying for finals brings visions of coffee cups and chocolate-covered espresso beans as much as it does chemical compounds and calculus problems. As we stay up late studying, we pump our body with the ‘necessary’ caffeine to keep us going. When we start to feel the crash, and the material isn’t mastered yet, what else is there to do, but grab another Venti and start chugging?

I want to offer you a better alternative to coffee. Chances are your system is feeling the results right now of too much coffee and sugar. The gross feeling of overload induces a desire to cleanse and refresh the system and no other drink is quite as suitable for that as hot tea.

One of the major benefits of tea is the antioxidants it contains, even higher in content than some fruits or vegetables.

Antioxidants protect our body from damaging free radicals such as sun, stress, and pollution. Studies have also shown that the polyphenols in tea to reduce cancer, blood disease, and high cholesterol.

If you’re still looking for a slight energy boost, tea contains a little less than half the caffeine that coffee does, giving you a spring in your step without the draining highs and lows of espresso.

Trying to decide which tea to try?

Black teas often contain more caffeine than other types. My personal suggestion for that 7:45 final: get moving with TAZO Awake tea.

Herbal teas may have less health benefits than other teas, but during this time of stress and worry, the soothing taste and calming effects are just as helpful. Add some honey (also lauded for its many healthy qualities) to produce a delicious, yet low-calorie treat for a cold day.

Green tea is arguably the most laden with health promoting attributes. It has the most of a certain kind of antioxidant called catechin that acts as an antibiotic in the body and has been found to reduce many types of disease.

White tea (incredibly delicious, I might add) has the highest level of antioxidants than any other tea. It comes in many fruity flavors, such as White Blueberry, and has a mild, smooth taste.

While you may find yourself too busy to brew tea, try to buy hot, or at least freshly brewed iced tea, as these forms have greater antioxidant properties than bottled teas.

So try out something new and refresh your system with some hot, healthy tea! Even a Starbucks fanatic can find fun and flavorful teas served up by their local barrista. The passion tea is a big favorite. Check it out, give teas a try, and let them brighten your day and relax your nerves!

Right now we are caught in the middle of two very close, very exciting breaks. Health-wise, one of our biggest concerns may be, and probably should be, the negative eating habits that come with the joyous holidays.

For this hiatus between pumpkin pies and Christmas cookies, I want to share a few basic tips on ways to eat healthier and shed a few pounds, while not going completely cold turkey (no pun intended) on your favorite foods.

Some of these rules-of-thumb may seem trite and completely obvious, but it is surprising how many people do not realize what a few simple changes can do, or do not wish to stray from their comfortable habits.

For instance, bread. The best breads will contain the whole of the grain (the endosperm and bran), thus giving your body much needed fiber. White bread, on the other hand, is almost completely void of health benefits. Going somewhere in the middle is a good compromise. The browner and nuttier the bread looks, the better for you. You’d be surprised how great and much better than white some of the whole grain breads taste and when made into a sandwich who could tell the difference?

The same goes for dairy. When picking milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, or butter, take a few moments to choose a healthy option. Look for fat-free, low-fat, or light labels when purchasing these dairy products. No one says you have switch immediately to drink the ‘white water’ commonly referred to as skim milk, but then again, with cereal or in coffee, it may not make a tremendous difference. Again, to compromise, stick with 1% instead of the more fattening 2% and whole choices. Depending on how much of a Starbucks addict you are, learning to say “ Tall non-fat mocha, no whip” could over time produce significant decrease in calories.

Finally, be wise with what you add to your food. In American society, most of our food is prepared with plenty of salt and butter already. Before you whip out that shaker and bottle of ketchup, taste your food and decide whether it really needs more fat and high blood-pressure inducing additives. A lot of times the dressing on salads or the sugar in canned fruits takes away in large portions, the benefits we think we are gaining from ‘eating healthy’.

As always, remember that you do not have to, and should not, fully deprive yourself to become a better eater. Simply start with a few, slight changes to your diet, and in no time these healthy habits will be so second nature that you won’t even notice.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, visions of turkey and pumpkin pie are dancing in our heads and we are preparing to partake in the best feast of the year.

As a young college student however, there is good cause for weight gain worries. Studies show that thanks to heaping servings of potatoes, cranberry sauce, and sugary yams, college students take on an average of 1.1 pounds over break.

Overweight or obese subjects gained even more, averaging slightly over two pounds of extra weight. This difference in obese students could possibly be attributed to pre-set unhealthy eating habits, such as excessive eating and snacking. The binging on Thanksgiving Day and the following days of turkey and stuffing leftovers is a tradition that most typical Americans indulge in. The downfall is eating past the point of saturation or fullness and then often spending the rest of the day watching football games or napping.

There are a few simple ways to avoid adding those extra pounds. First of all, stop eating when it’s really not that enjoyable anymore. There will always be more later, and while the pressure to overindulge from others around you is tempting, no one should feel obliged to engage in unhealthy activities.

Secondly, get off that couch! A walk may not be your first thought or desire after the Thanksgiving meal, but it’s a great time to continue those good conversations with relatives and friends while burning off the extra calories. Also, Turkey Trots are becoming increasingly popular and are a great way to collectively work against the heavy effects of Thanksgiving feasting. These walk/run events are held around the country and can probably be found in a city near you or even organized by your neighborhood or local YMCA.

Finally, do not starve yourself or ‘save up’ room before the main Thanksgiving meal. This is a common misconception that many people believe will help balance out the extra food they are eating that day. This practice, however, does not help you maintain a steady weight by not eating in the first part of the day in order to equal out what you eat in the evening. On the contrary, it will only cause a massive increase in eating, even past a point of hunger, and lead to weight gain and uncomfortable stomachaches. Not eating for an extended period of time also causes the stomach to shrink, so if your goal is to not eat for breakfast and lunch and thus eat as much as possible in huge portions for dinner, you will not succeed. In order to make the most of your Thanksgiving meal, have a healthy, filling breakfast and substantial lunch. Your stomach will be at its normal status then, ready to eat a good portion of enjoyable food.

Take courage. Not all the participants in the study gained noticeable amounts of weight. And a good amount were back to their pre-Thanksgiving scale readings by January. The most important thing is to make sure you are not overdoing it, and that you keep healthy eating and fitness as a priority even over the holidays. A seemingly imperceptible gain of a pound or two, if maintained, can really add up over a lifetime of holiday seasons.

So join your local turkey trot, have healthy meals prior to dinner, and walk it off afterwards. There is no need to deprive yourself. With a few healthy tips, you can have an enjoyable Thanksgiving without the negative consequences of added weight.

A common trend is beginning to show itself especially among college students. We use energy drinks on a common basis to keep us going during late night studying, and we partake in alcohol on the weekends to have fun and relax after our long weeks. A natural idea then, would seem to be the mixture of alcohol and energy drinks.

There are many different forms of this combination notion. Among the more popular ones are Jager bombs (Jagermeister and Red Bull), Red Bull energy drink and vodka, and the marketed alcoholic energy drink Sparks. While these might seem like a great idea at first, there are numerous worries and warnings surfacing about the effects of such combinations.

Firstly, and most obviously, energy drinks are a stimulant, whereas alcohol is a depressant. The mixture of these two opposites can be confusing to the body as well as to one’s common sense. This combination concept doesn’t just mess with sober minds however; it is incredibly dangerous in drunken thinking when consumed as well.

The person under the influence of alcohol is caused by an energy drink to underestimate the amount of booze they have consumed and the actual impaired level that they are operating on. They may assume that they are more in control of their movements and thought processes than they actually are and attempt dangerous activities like driving. Since the energy drink tends to cause the partier to consume even more alcohol, a sufficiently worse-than-normal hangover the next day is a likely result.

This hangover effect is also increased because of the extra dehydration. The combination of these alcoholic and energy-inducing drinks doubles the harmful side effects. The diuretic traits of caffeine as well as the effects of alcohol create a major dehydration problem. Both caffeine from energy drinks and alcohol cause the heart to pump faster and work harder, creating potential cardiac problems as well.

Overall, if you do continue to choose to indulge in these mixed concoctions, do so wisely. Only one or two energy + alcohol drinks are recommended in one night due to the immense danger that has been associated with their marriage. Drinking caffeine and alcohol in order to appreciate the effects of the alcohol longer and be able to party more are unwise and not wholly accurate or safe reasons. As always, enjoy yourself, but not so irresponsibly that you aren’t able to enjoy yourself again in the future.