Student Counselling - free workshops

Student Counselling is running a number of free student group workshops in the coming weeks. 

1.   Coping with Stress                               – Mon, February 3rd , from 5pm-7pm

2.   Finding Optimism on the Blue Days   – Mon, February 3rd , from 5pm–7pm

3.   Troubled by Procrastination               – Tues, February 4th , from 6pm–8pm

For bookings and any queries please contact paula.crowley@nuigalway.ie

Free food and fun at the Muscailt launch party! Your all invited :-)

You are all invite to the launch party of NUI Galway’s Múscailt spring festival which takes place on Monday 27th January at 5pm in The Cube.  There will be food and fun. Tell all your friends!

(PS. The lovely painting for the festival invite and brochure is by the wonderful artist Marina Wild)

Healthy Eating & Mental Health – free workshop

Mona and Rob Wise (http://www.wisewords.ie/) will be demonstrating cooking skills as well as sharing practical tips on nutrition and mental health, budgeting and shopping for food, and eating with others.

The event will take place on Wednesday 29 January at 7.30 pm at Ros Geal Residence, 19 University Rd (next to Tesco Express across from NUIG).

Happy Eating!

 

Here’s another food article you may find useful:

Debate about benefits and risks of fruit drinks and smoothies.

 

To keep up to date follow Risky Bizzness on @RBizzness

MUSIC & HEARING LOSS – free test of MP3 & portable music players.

Many students may not be aware that they are listening to music at damaging levels on MP3 or portable music players.

One way of checking whether you are listening at a safe level or not is by testing your sound level through a sound head.

The Keepthesound campaign  will be attending the NUI Galway Health Fair to test the sound level you are listening to your music at.

They will connect your music source to the sound head and 30 seconds later you will see the result.

The Health Fair takes place in the Bailey Allen Hall , on Wednesday 5^th February from 11am – 5pm

To keep up to date follow Risky Bizzness on @RBizzness

Music & Hearing Loss- protect your ears & keep the sound

The Keepthesound campaign  website explains that a combination of three different factors could result in hearing loss after listening to music:

• The duration of time listening
• Closeness to the source of the sound
• How loud the music is played

No matter how loud the music is turned up when you listen to it, the basic rule is that the longer you listen, the more you stress the muscles in the inner ear. Fatigue of the ear may result in a temporary threshold shift, limiting the amount of quiet sounds that you can hear. MP3 players are more likely to cause hearing loss than older portable music devices. They provide high-quality sound at very high volumes, and users tend to listen longer than ever before.

Tips for Protecting Your Hearing:

• Take regular breaks from your headphones to give your ears a rest, the risk of damage increases with length of exposure.
• Turn down the volume a notch - even a small reduction in volume can make a big difference to the risk of damage to your hearing.
• Avoid using the volume to drown out background noise, for example the sound of the train or traffic (find out about additions to in-ear headphones that help with this problem).
• If your MP3 player has a ’smart volume’ feature, use it so you have control of the volume you are listening at.
• Remember - if you have ringing in your ears or dull hearing after listening to your MP3 or personal stereo, it is a serious warning that the music was loud enough to damage your hearing.

To keep up to date follow Risky Bizzness on @RBizzness

 

All the latest from Go Ask Alice

Here are the latest Q & As from Go Ask Alice (see below) Topics covered below include ‘Marijuana and Ritalin’, ‘Orgasms and making babies?’, ‘Itchy legs?’ and lots more…

The latest Go Ask Alice book is available in the Wellness Centre at the back of The Hub - drop in any time for a read.

Remember, if you have problems or worries you feel you would like to talk about confidentially, contact Cindy Dring, Health Promotion Officer for NUI Galway at 091-492048. Alternatively e-mail her at cindy.dring@nuigalway.ie or just drop in to Aras Ni Eimhigh.

New and updated Q&As for the week of January 17, 2014

Best protein toppings for my salad?

Marijuana and Ritalin
Orgasms and making babies?
Fainting and low pain tolerance
Are epsom salts a safe laxative?

Theme of the Week

Lettuce Turnip the Beet

New and updated Q&As for the week of January 10, 2014

Sexual attraction and menstrual cycles

Boosting my booty
How do I know when I'm no longer hungry?
Hookah pipes - More or less harmful than cigarettes?
Itchy legs?

Theme of the Week

Pain Relief 

Copyright (C) 2014 Columbia University All rights reserved.

Debate about benefits and risks of fruit drinks and smoothies

A debate is now emerging amongst researchers over fruit drinks and smoothies. Are they beneficial or are they a risk? Should they be included as one of your five a day portions of fresh fruit and vegetables? Below is a summary of some of the debate. Please feel free to add your comment to this article. Its always good to know what other people think.

 

Dr Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health in the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford was recently quoted by the Sunday Times and later The Guardian as saying: "Fruit juice isn't the same as intact fruit and it has got as much sugar as many classical sugar drinks. It is also absorbed very fast so by the time it gets to your stomach your body doesn't know whether it's Coca-Cola or orange juice, frankly.’ Read full article at Fruit juice should not be part of your five a day, says government adviser

 

A previous article in The Guardian highlighted research in Singapore that showed that people who eat whole fruit have a reduced risk of developing the obesity-linked type 2 diabetes, whereas those who drank fruit juice were at increased risk. See Full article at:Smoothies and fruit juices are a new risk to health, US scientists warn

At the moment in Ireland the safefood campaign still lists smoothies as being one of the five portions of fresh fruit and veg. It should also be noted that despite the ongoing debate, safefood provides very positive advice on healthy eating. Of particular interest to students is the safefood fact sheet that shows the sugar content of everyday drinks including smoothies and fruit drinks. Whilst the chart is aimed at parents of young children it is worth everybody checking it out. See: Drinks Guide 

What the debate over smoothies and fruit drinks highlights is that the best food to eat is that which is nearest to its natural state. For more healthy advice about food check out:

Food Is FunMyths about food, weight and body image 

The Mediterranean Diet

Energy drinks will have a negative impact on your exams and studies 

If you are worried about food and body image a good website to check out is ProYouth 

To keep up to date follow Risky Bizzness on @RBizzness