Self-care for students > Take care of yourself as well as your grades Rebecca Peterson Staff Writer L: finally April: the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and thanks to global warming, the days have been warmer than ever. To students, this change in the weather can only mean one thing: exams are coming. School stress can have an enormously destructive effect on the body, causing migraines, insomnia, anxiety, and even heart problems if left unmanaged. Obviously, if one is not sleeping well, feeling well, or pumping blood throughout their body well, they are in no shape to be performing their best on the exams that are causing the stress in the first place. Though it may be hard to see a world beyond exams and final papers, the importance of self-care at this time cannot be understated. With that in mind, here’sa short list of ways to practice self- care during this busy time. 1.Get proper sleep lam, personally, the worst, most hideous hypocrite for even writing this, but it’s true: after a certain amount of time without sleep, your brain starts to function at the same capacity as someone with more than a few shots of vodka in their system. Unless you feel confident performing with half a mickey of liquor on your stomach, you're going to want to make sure you clock in those eight hours, at least. Studies have also shown that you tend to remember material better after sleeping on it, so it’s better to study what you can in the time you have and set aside the night for sleeping. No coffee, no matter how enormous, can replace the good a night’s sleep will do you. 2. Eat well It doesn’t have to bea gourmet, five-course meal; however, when exams are on the mind, an upset stomach due to malnutrition is the last thing you want to deal with. Studying especially can lead to bad food choices—it’s not uncommon for me to demolish an entire family-sized bag of salt and vinegar chips when reviewing notes, for example, and I always regret it afterwards. Keep your study-snacks healthy and light. Different foods can help you accomplish different goals, as well. For example, if you haven't been sleeping well and need a boost of energy, fruits and proteins are the way to go. If exam stress is keeping you awake, warm soups and heavy breads can send you to sleep quickly so you can get the rest you need to perform well. 3. Take plenty of breaks It’s far too easy to get into an “all-or-nothing” attitude when it comes to studying and final papers. Often, however, this leads to procrastination and brain blockages as the tasks ahead begin to seem much more daunting than they really are. By breaking your projects, papers, and studying into easy-to-manage portions, you stand a much better chance of completing your goals. Between these chunks of work, give yourself some time off to recover. Go for a walk, watch an episode of your favourite show, take a nap—whatever you need to do. You'll feel much better about working if you have a break to look forward to, and you'll feel much better taking breaks knowing that youre getting things done. 4- Keep clean Another thing that tends to fall by the wayside during the stress of exam season is hygiene. Believe me, no one is judging— we've all had weeks where we’ve had to stuff three-day-old hair under a ball cap and mutter “good enough,” before going out to face the world. However, it’s hard to stay motivated when you're in your pyjamas and surrounded by an ever-growing pile of empty coffee mugs and snack bags. Even taking half an hour to shower and put yourself back together again can give you a whole new perspective to work with for when you get back to studying. 5- Keep in touch Isolation helps no one, and most of us need a certain amount of human contact to stay happy, healthy, and sane. Take a few minutes to text a friend, call your parental figure, or even just to hug your cat. Knowing youre not alone in this can give you the emotional drive you need to survive the next month. And remember, if youre ever feeling overwhelmed, Douglas College offers free counseling to students to help deal specifically with school and exam stress. Drink some tea, give yourself a break, and take care of yourself this exam season. You'll perform better, and feel much better, if you do. Image via yamaguchihoshiko.com WU ee mee a merce a Rem Cm lest a brigand to laugh / Mme 9 # Image via Stormcrow The Dungeon Burger > Storm Crow Alehouse sets itself apart Brittney MacDonald Life and Style Editor $ a practicing pescatarian (someone who doesn’t eat meat except for seafood) it isn’t often I say this, but I'm in love with a burger. Last February saw the opening of the Storm Crow Alehouse, the larger, more accessible sister restaurant to much beloved nerd-bar the Storm Crow Tavern. Everyone flocked to experience the welcoming as well as nostalgic ambience, and try out the themed cocktails and ridiculously-titled food. All in all, the new restaurant was met with some high praise, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. The Alehouse needed its own thing, something to set it apart from its predecessor. Enter the Dungeon Burger—a build- your-own style masterpiece that can all be decided with a few rolls of a D20. The concept is pretty simple: the waitress gives you a sheet of various instructions that list different types of buns, toppings, elite toppings, sauces, and sides, and you roll a dice to determine what will be on your burger. Now you could just select your toppings, but where’s the fun in that? Now for me, because I don’t eat meat besides fish, I didn’t hold out much hope. Most of the time vegetarian/ pescatarian friendly options for burgers at restaurants are incredibly gross. You end up munching on some sort of salty, squishy sponge while your friends all discuss how good it is to bea carnivore. It can bea lonely and sad existence to have moral standards—cue overused heavenly choir sound bite. Needless to say, | was pleasantly surprised when the sheet came and there were actually quite a few patty options I could have. The one that caught my eye was the Portobello mushroom—mostly because when I have a “burger” at home, that’s what I make myself Cut the top of a decent size Portobello mushroom, grill it, and use that between two buns—it’s delicious. So I cheated a bit, and marked that down instead of actually rolling for it. In the end I ended up witha really strange combo that included an egg, marble cheese, sriracha, ketchup, some form of greenery, and a Caesar salad—but I will tell you now, it was probably the best burger I ever ate. At the end, you're treated to another piece of fun. Depending on what you rolled for your burger’s “alignment” (it’s a D&D thing), you get a trading card featuring art by local artist Noah Stacey depicting a characterization of an epic burger of that same alignment. For me, I rolled “Lawful Good” so | ended up with the Burger Paladin—complete with horse. It’s something small, but it’s a nice little keepsake, and I always love to see it when businesses support local artists. All in all, it was a really positive experience (unlike most of my attempts at finding a go-to burger joint), one I look forward to repeating and encourage everyone to try.