On Tuesday, the government of India announced that within the next six months millions of cheap laptops will be made available for students across the country. The eruption of media excitement around the educational and economic benefits of this scheme seem to have erased any concern or question of the (eventual) environmental impact of mass-waste, but also the potential health risks. If India keeps her promise, the country’s young will soon join the millions of other hunchbacks of the digital age.

Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) are useful indicators of societal transformation. A hundred years ago, we would have been complaining about “railway spine” or “writer’s cramp” (which some of us still get). But now, with the dawn of a technological age that involves pocket-sized gadgets, new RSIs have emerged, including everything from the “Blackberry thumb,” to the “mouse wrist” and the “iPod finger.”

Perhaps the most prevalent ‘digi-age’ condition is the laptop slouch, or bad computer posture, which I have perfected as a result of years of university life. The design of laptops is largely to blame for the growing number of slouching students. Ergonomic experts say that the distance between the laptop screen and keyboard is not big enough, causing your head to tilt and your neck to angle. Over time, all this awkward positioning can lead to serious health concerns, including spine strain, joint degeneration, nerve damage in the neck, arms, and fingers, as well as an early dowager’s hump (a rounding at the base of the neck).

The thought of celebrating my 25th birthday as Quasimodo is frightening. If I learned anything from that Disney movie, it was that a hump means having to take up a career as a bell ringer. That’s not my cup of tea, so this week, I vowed to work on getting rid of my bad posture.

Improved posture can be achieved in a variety of ways – some more expensive than others. Ergonomic chairs, for example, can be purchased for close to 1000 dollars. Other support contraptions do not come cheap either. ShouldersBack, a vest-like shoulder support, costs over 30 pounds and, judging from the pictures on the site, is best used when riding horses, playing golf, reading and massaging people in your bra…no questions asked. A more recent posture-improving invention is Ergoskin, “an orthopedic underwear that has ergonomic bio-feedback to promote a positive posture.” In other words, try slouching while wearing these undies and you’ll be buzzing with electrical impulses! Sexy.

Like most students, I require an affordable posture plan, which doesn’t include six easy payments of $99.99 for an ergonomic chair or being electrocuted while writing my term paper. Below are the tips I found to be most useful.

Simple office rules

:

1. Relax shoulders (make sure you are not reaching forward to the keyboard or mouse)

2. Support lower back with a back rest (I used a pillow)

3. Face head forward with most frequently viewed item at eye level

4. Relax, stretch, take breaks (this also helps to mentally recharge a strained brain)

For more on assessing your work station, visit the University of Western Ontario’s human resources website on office ergonomics.

Also, although most chairs are designed for you to sit at 90 degrees, Scottish and Canadian researchers announced several years ago that the best sitting position is actually 135 degrees. So, get out your protractors and lean back, way back.

Remember to be careful though. When applying all the tips at once, I ended up creating an innovative and awkward yoga pose. To prevent frustration, be patient and incorporate these rules into your sitting routine slowly.

Posture improving exercises:

1. The push-up (wall push ups and ‘girly’ push ups serve the same purpose)

2. The side bridge

Other exercise ideas aimed to improve posture can be accessed online. For visual learners Women’s Health magazine offers a helpful picture gallery.

My personal journey from pretzel to person is just beginning. But, with some careful attention to ergonomic office rules and a few strength exercises, I hope to avoid the bell toll – at least for a few years. 

Two weeks ago, I was convinced I had appendicitis. It was a stomach ache. Last week, I thought I had breast cancer. It was a swollen lymph node.

No doubt the internet is a useful tool for finding health information. But, as I have demonstrated, it’s not always wise to apply the knowledge you learn online. Individuals who tend to make unfounded diagnoses based on literature available on the Web are called cyberchondriacs. And, although it is not an official part of our lexicon yet, with the seemingly infinite growth of internet jargon, the term cyberchondria may soon earn a space between cyber-cafe and cyber-crime in the dictionary.

A study of cyberchondria, conducted by two researchers from Microsoft, was published in November 2008. It is one of the first studies to document the anxieties among those who use the internet for symptom-searching.

The Microsoft researchers found that the ranking of Web search results prejudices one’s self-diagnosis. For instance, if you type “stiff neck” into a Google search, the first website that pops up provides information on meningitis. It is not to say that everyone with a stiff neck who reads this will walk around consumed by the belief that they have meningitis. But, for a few, it will lead to more research on this medical condition and escalated anxiety.

The prevalence of cyberchondria has not been documented. But, there has been some research on the frequency of general online self diagnosis. A recent poll of 2000 adults in the UK found that 38 percent reported having used the Web to self diagnose. Among college and university students I suspect the rate is much higher. With hectic schedules and the skills to conduct online searches, students may favour ‘clicking’ to find answers to their health questions in order to avoid wait times at clinics.

For the general population, online self-diagnosis can be helpful; but, for cyberchondriacs, a simple search of flu symptoms may quickly lead to a fear of having Chron’s disease. One online article, written by Trisha Torrey, a newspaper columnist and self-proclaimed ‘patient advocate,’ says cyberchondria occurs among people “with little background in understanding the body or its systems.” Yet, a similar phenomenon of self-misdiagnosis occurs among medical students, who are presumably very well educated on the mysterious workings of the human body.

Medical school syndrome, or medicalstudentitis, is the term used to describe the phenomenon among medical students to contract phantom illnesses. Described by one neurologist as early as 1908, medical school syndrome is “no joke.” An article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says “imagined health problems can cause real anxiety.”

And, just as the anxiety experienced by medical students is real, the worry felt by cyberchondriacs is a valid mental health concern. Rebecca Robinson, who has suffered from anxiety for the last 14 years and cyberchondria for the last four, describes her experiences in an article that was published by The Guardian in late December. She states: “Every day, the same thoughts race through my mind: ‘Will it be my last?’ ‘Is my heart beating OK’ ‘What does that ache mean?’ ‘It must be something bad, mustn’t it?’ As soon as I wake up, I’m exhausted by all the scenarios that plague me.”

Unlike Rebecca Robinson, I do not wake up and question if today ‘will be my last.’ But, I have been led to worry that I may have had appendicitis and breast cancer based on information I found on the internet. Cyberchondriacs who are suffering from serious anxiety though, should visit a doctor for their diagnosis, develop a support network to deal with obsessive tendencies, and try their best to limit their internet health searches. Sticking to reliable sources for health information is also important. The blog Confessions of a Quackbuster lists some unreliable health websites to avoid.

Like many others who are health conscious and have access to the internet, I probably suffer from a mild form of cyberchondria – which is, ironically, a self-diagnosis based on a Web search.

According to Reuters, recession diets are one of the top food trends for 2009. And just like caterpillar eyebrows and skinny-jeans, the recession diet is a trend not worth hopping on the bandwagon for.

Simply put, a recession diet means consuming ‘cheap’ foods. With the economy heading south for longer than just the winter, people are finding ways to cut back at the grocery store. The problem with this phenomenon is that cheap foods also tend to be higher in calories and lower in nutrients. I can certainly attest to this: an organic head of lettuce cost me close to four dollars! With prices like this, we have confirmation that the rabbit really was silly; Trix are for kids.

The director of the Nutrition Sciences Program at the University of Washington in Seattle was recently quoted as saying “obesity is a toxic result of a failing economic environment.” I certainly hope people won’t blame their love handles on the shrinking dollar, but the link between one’s economic status and health is undeniable.

And, for college and university students, the recession diet is not a trend, but a lifestyle.

Some students are literally eating the same thing day in and day out. Stories of buying discount wraps to last for a week of meals, or eating relish from a jar with scissors (apparently the spoons were dirty) are not unheard of. But under the ‘rugged’ exterior of your off-gassing sweet pickled friend, is an unhealthy interior.

The health risks associated with poor student diets (at least those living away from home) became evident in 2003. A male student from Canada, who was attending an American college, developed scurvy. The boy’s mother is now the co-author of the book Good To Go: A Practical Guide to Adulthood, which offers tips on everything from boiling water to unclogging a toilet.

I eat ascorbic acid pills like candy, so I can proudly say I will never get scurvy, a condition that arises only after one to three months without (or very little) vitamin C. But smart, healthy shopping does not come easy to me. On days spent pouring spoiled milk down the sink, or hunched over the refrigerator scouting for ‘that weird smell,’ I think of my mother – a visionary grocery shopper, meal planner, and gourmet chef. One day, I hope to achieve greatness in cooking, as my mother has done for so many years. But in order to get there, I must first learn the basics: shopping for affordable and healthy foods.

The amount of online advice on this topic is overwhelming. StudentCook is one UK website that sticks out from the rest. It is particularly well-managed. When it comes to learning how to shop cheaply, they suggest:

• choosing seasonal fruits and vegetables
• shopping at local markets
• only buying what you are going to eat
• avoid shopping when you are hungry
• bringing a calculator to the store and adding up as you go

StudentCook also suggests you stretch your shopping budget by:

• planning meals
• cooking double or triple and freezing the left over
• allocating a small amount of money each week for perishable items
• waiting until the afternoon to go shopping for bargains
movie tron

I can’t see myself ever (and I mean ever) using a calculator (even if it were the one on my cell phone) in a grocery aisle. That’s taking nerdy-ness too far. But, they do raise some very valid points. Buying local food can make a huge difference in the overall cost of your shopping bill. I can also vouch that there can be great bargains later in the day. In my case, it involved six gooey, sticky, perfectly gigantic cinnamon buns for three dollars during an 11 p.m. grocery run – obviously not the complex carbohydrate I should have been looking for.

Another great site for students is Beyondbakedbeans, which has numerous articles on eating healthy, staying on budget, as well as easy recipe ideas.

With hard economic times ahead, perhaps all budgeting Canadians can benefit from these tips aimed at student shoppers. It is my hope that the trend of the recession diet will not be widespread, but that we remain wise enough to keep our health ‘in the black.’ The first step for me is to make a food budget that I can honestly stick to.

Researchers at Durham University monitored caffeine consumption of 200 students and found that those who consume the equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee a day were three times more likely to hallucinate than those who consumed the equivalent of only one cup.

You may be thinking – who drinks seven cups of coffee a day? I do. I am addicted to coffee. On any typical day, I drink a pot of coffee in the morning and follow it up by a mid-day triple-shot Americano. Coffee is undoubtedly one of the most popular drinks across our nation. Statistics Canada ranks coffee as the third most-commonly consumed beverage for women ages 19 to 30. For men in this age range, it is soft drinks. And, for people over 50, coffee ranks only second to water as the most consumed beverage.

Even for those who don’t drink coffee – you may think you have your caffeine consumption under control. You gloat about how ‘you’re not addicted’ or that you choose tea because ‘it’s better for you.’ But the list of foods and beverages that contain caffeine continues to grow, which means it’s not just coffee drinkers who are at risk for hearing voices.

Health Canada recommends that adults consume a maximum 400mg of caffeine a day. Here’s a look at the caffeine levels in some popular beverages and foods:

In October, 2008 Time examined the trend among American companies to add “extreme amounts of caffeine” in an increasing number of products, including some brands of oatmeal, potato chips, jelly beans, and toiletries. The website for Sturm Foods, which makes Morning Spark Natural Energy instant oatmeal, says the breakfast food contains “about as much caffeine as a cup of coffee.” What defines a cup is left up to consumers (who can choose from Tall, Grande, and Venti) to decide.

When considering the amount of caffeine that is safe for you to ingest, it is important to consider your weight and height. What may be safe for one, may not be for another. Energyfiend.com offers individuals a spot to test how much of their favourite caffeinated beverage they can consume before it kills them. The site is run by ‘hobbyists’ and self-proclaimed ‘caffeine fiends,’ so you may want to be a little cautious. If they tell you that drinking 76 cups of coffee will kill you, maybe try cutting back after 25. 

Despite the negative implications of too much coffee (known as caffeine intoxication), there has been growing research that indicates drinking coffee has a number of health benefits. For example, the prevention of oral cancers, Alzheimer’s disease among the middle-aged, protection against heart disease, and the reduction in the risk of liver cancer have all been associated with coffee consumption.

The recent findings from Durham University that indicate coffee consumption may cause hallucinations is still speculative. Simon Jones and Charles Fernyhough, the lead researchers of the study, state that the hallucinations may be due to the fact that a larger amount of cortisol (a stress hormone) is released when people ingest caffeine. In other words, only individuals under a great deal of stress (also more likely to consume caffeine at greater levels) may be at an increased risk of experiencing hallucinations from drinking a lot of coffee.

Until there is more research on this, I plan to continue drinking coffee. Without it, I would be a lot less productive, and probably wouldn’t have picked up on the error on B.B.C.’s website that explores the very study that has been the focus of this blog. You’ll note, at the beginning of the article, the writer refers to the lead researcher by his correct name: Simon Jones. But, by mid-way through, he is referred to as Mr. James. Maybe if the writer and editors had been drinking more coffee they would have picked up on this.

In September, I purchased a six month gym pass for $187.35. I’ve been twice.

But at least I am not alone. Last year, Morry Patoka, president of H.I.T. Fit gym in Toronto, estimated that as many as 60 percent of Canadians who sign fitness contracts stop going.

What was my reason? Unfortunately, I can’t use the excuse of inconvenience. The entrance to the gym is six blocks from my back door. The day I bought the pass, I felt inspired by the prospect of a healthier body and had images of me hitting the treadmill four times a week. Nearly five months later, my muscles have atrophied, my daily cardio routine involves climbing the university stairs, and my obliques are strengthened using an innovative laptop-to-desk “lift and twist” technique.

A new study published in the journal BMC Public Health shines some light on this phenomenon. According to their findings, confidence is key when it comes to getting regular physical activity.

Using information from over 5,000 cross-country phone interviews, the study examined physical activity levels based on factors, like gender, age, and economic status. Self-efficacy (or confidence in your ability) and intention were found to be the top factors responsible for physical activity levels among Canadians.

Simply put, if you are confident you can engage in physical activity, and you intend to engage in it, you will engage in it!

Students (and homemakers) were found to have lower physical activity levels than people in other areas of endeavour and the lowest self-efficacy levels were found among women and younger people. The researchers attributed perceived barriers, such as personal responsibilities or environmental factors, like accessibility and safety of exercise facilities, to the lower confidence levels among these two groups.

Frequent exercise is linked to a wide range of health benefits. The Mayo Clinic lists weight management, sleep aid, and an improved sex life as some of the perks of exercise. For students, exercise is especially important for regulating high stress levels and maintaining overall brain health.

So, if it is a lack of confidence that is keeping you away from physical activity, try telling yourself that you can do it. This adage has allowed for the success of the fictional figure the Little Engine that Could, and modern-day hero Barack Obama. If “yes we can” inspired millions of Americans to vote, then perhaps “yes I can” can inspire Canadians to get off the couch.

If you’re interested in improving your physical activity self-efficacy, have a look at articles by fitness columnist Phil Delaire, who has compiled a list of mistakes people commonly make at the gym and offers a photo-gallery of tips for keeping your exercise routine fresh. Or, check out Top 42 Exercise Hacks on Zenhabits, a blog that features posts on ways to incorporate Zen teachings into your life.

Remember, exercise can be easy and does not have to involve spending money on a gym pass. For those who take the bus, try getting off a few stops early. Use your coffee break to go for a short walk. Do bicep curls with your milk jug. Lunge from your bed to the shower in the morning. Whatever you choose to do, exercise your confidence!

That is one response from the 10 question quiz “What Kind of Drink Are You?” available on BrainFall.com, a website that was launched by four Berkeley students in 2007. YouThink.com is another website that offers answers to some of life’s more relevant questions, like: “What kind of Chapstick are you?” or “Which famous Serial Killer are you?”. I took the quiz, “What kind of Drinker are you?” and agreed with their findings: I spend most of my time sober.

But, according to a 2007 study conducted by the BC Centre for Social Responsibility (CSR), “alcohol consumption in general and binge drinking in particular are fairly common activities engaged in by post-secondary students.” Most people I know wouldn’t be surprised by that conclusion – perhaps a bit like performing research on dogs and concluding that they engage in an activity called ‘fetch.’ But their study did tap into an interesting and highly relevant debate: what exactly constitutes binge drinking?

According to the CSR study, the definition of binge drinking depends on who you are, and particularly what country you come from. In the U.K. for example, eight drinks for men and six drinks for women over the course of a single occasion constitutes binge drinking, while here in Canada, women who have four drinks in one sitting and men who have five are considered bingers.

But students in B.C. don’t necessarily agree. In an article published by The Vancouver Sun in September 2008, one U.B.C. student told reporters that five drinks seemed low.

More recently, C.B.C. took an in-depth look at alcohol consumption in Canada in a series called High Spirits. On October 21st, 2008 The National featured a story on the growing number of problem drinkers among female students between 18 and 24. They found that up to 40 percent are binging.

The pitfalls of binge drinking are widespread: having your shoe used as a toilet, waking up the next morning in a strange bed, suffering the agony of a violent hangover, the list is endless. But binge drinking can also impose a more serious cost on many students.

Binge drinking is linked to increased rates of assault and sexual harassment. A recent study has also found that regular binge drinking may be linked to long term brain damage. Over the long term, heavy drinking is also associated with liver damage, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.

Monday’s charge of 16 employees and the directors of Lake Joseph Club (north of Toronto) for allowing drunkenness on the premises and serving liquor to intoxicated individuals is a stark reminder of both the potential implications and social responsibilities that come with drinking and serving alcohol. Three of the four patrons involved in this situation later died when their car crashed along the highway. The bill for their lunch showed they had been served 31 drinks.

Binge drinking: a growing student trend that can have sobering consequences.

The anonymity of the bus fosters poor behaviour. People who are normally reasonable and considerate on ‘the outside’ can become irrational and incapable of practicing simple etiquette. And I’m not talking about which fork to use for your salad.

Last Wednesday I learned the hard way that a diminished sense of respect on public transit can wreak havoc on your health.

I took the bus to the University of British Columbia along West 16th Avenue – an unreliable service at best. On this particular morning I waited 40 minutes before the number 33 arrived. When it finally pulled up, it was well over capacity. I found myself, at the height of cold season, wedged between sniffling students, who should have stayed home nursing a hot tea and erecting a fortress of tissues around their bed. 

A minute into the ride, IT started – the first hesitant clearing of the throat from the back of the bus: a sort of signal for others to unleash a torrent of loud coughs, snorts, and sniffles in a bizarre medley of human contagion. And, as luck would have it, the student standing beside me kept sneezing with such force that he could have expelled a small bird. The most absurd part – he sneezed without bothering to cover his mouth.

I thought we learned how to sneeze in primary school. Cover, cover, cover. And, in case you are a little behind the health times, health practitioners and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention are encouraging you to stop using your hands, and start using your elbows to catch those germs.

It is estimated that up to 80 percent of infections are transmitted by your hands – probably because most people don’t wash them immediately after sneezing or coughing. Instead, they put them onto door handles and bus poles everywhere!

The elbow technique for sneezing is catching on though. Last week, kids at a school in Didsbury, Manchester were given a lesson on smart sneezing and their parents are being asked to play games with their children on Sneezesafe, a website launched by Kimberly-Clark Ltd. (which owns Kleenex).

But be aware – a sneeze isn’t always an indication that a person is sick. A recent study published by Dr. Mahmood Bhutta, an ear, nose, and throat expert from Oxford, says sneezing can be an indication that a person is sexually aroused.

Love could be just a sneeze away, but so could rheumatic fever. So fellow students (and other passengers on the bus), be courteous: learn how to use your elbows and cover your sneeze the hygienic way.