p e e sl the
[Issue 3 Volume 64]
issu
e
content / contributors
playlist, 5 teas for relaxing p. 16
the sleep revolution p. 10
editor’s note p. 4
count sheep or sleep p. 14
empezar
sleep deprivation polls p. 6
you SNOOZE, you WIN p. 8 hypocrisy and happiness p. 5
simplify your complicated life p. 15
dreams on demand p. 12
s
let’s get to know each other p. 25
dysfunction-flavoured spice latte p. 21 7 ways to make your room look great and stay that way p. 18
being thankful in ALL things p. 23
fin
chronicles of a texan in canada p. 20
devotional p. 17
thank you. merci. gracias. 多謝. p. 24
thanks... i guess p. 22
becoming a zombie 101 p. 26
layout & cover design by jacqui mccarty
editor’s note Chances are you’ve stayed up all night at least once
Thanksgiving at Burman is such a novelty. We get
in the past 7 weeks of school so far. I know a lot of
a chance to eat turkey and spend time feverishly
us would love to return to the days of a fixed bed-
catching up on homework missed in time for those
time and enforced afternoon naps. I know many
dreaded midterms. But while the snow drifts down
nights my storybook has been a Greek textbook.
the driveway we get a chance to reflect and offer
Then I remember all the resisting and fussing I
gratitude for our ginormous blessings and privileg-
did as a kid and yearning for independence… well
es. What I appreciated the most about Thanksgiving
this is it! But there literally aren’t enough hours
this year was you guys! You make my Burman Ex-
in a day to get everything that needs to get done
perience rich and rewarding. As a hopeful graduat-
and sometimes we got to sacrifice a little… right?!
ing student in April (fingers and toes crossed with
Sacrificing a little sleep turns into sacrificing a lot
prayers to sweet baby Jesus) everything seemed new
when you realize the devastating long-term effects
and nostalgic as it was one last time I get to make
that sleep deprivation can have on you physical-
these memories. It’s a bittersweet experience but
ly, mentally, and emotionally. This Chronicle is-
such a rewarding one, I get to remind myself to slow
sue deals with the very detrimental effects of sleep
down… breathe and appreciate my crazy chaotic
deprivation but let me be honest, I am guilty… so
university life. I pray you may find moments each
guilty. So not only will we explore what happens
day to reflect and incorporate an attitude of grati-
to your body when you skip sleep but not to fear!
tude. Gratitude is more than just a feeling, it’s a con-
We have suggestions of how to regain your beloved
scious choice to see life through a lens of abundance
sleep patterns. In the words of contemporary phi-
rather than lack. ‘What if you woke up tomorrow
losopher Kendrick Lamar, “we gon' be alright”.
with only the things you were grateful for today?’
- Ash
HYPOCRISY &
HAPPINESS
Dear reader, I implore you not to read this article! Or maybe you should, because after reading this article, every time you see me you will now be able to have the pleasure of identifying a hypocrite. Yes, I shouldn’t be writing for this issue because sleep has been calling me regularly for the past… well…. lifetime, and I’ve been occasionally “remembering” to respond with “I’ve been so busy (watching a new TV show or reading “all the things” on the internet) but we should get together sometime. Would the weekend—next year—work for you?” Occasionally a 1:30 AM TEDTalk-binge startles me awake—er, asleep—with startling revelations about the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, but the lure of another TEDTalk one click away usually has a soporific effect on my conscience, a stimulating effect on my pleasure centres.
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sarah wallace When Austen and Aristotle Staged an Intervention
So pleasure is what it’s all about, right? You can get pleasure from identifying my hypocrisy in writing this article and I get pleasure from clicking the next link, turning the next page, or even from the A on that paper “brewed” in a whole box of black tea and turned in at 8:00 AM. But if it were really all about pleasure this article would say, “What Jeremy Bentham taught me about sleep,” which wouldn’t be alliterative and would also mean taking advice from a mummified head. (I dare you, Google it.) Instead, when Jane Austen and Aristotle decided to interfere in my habits, they went deep. The first time Austen tried her delicate hand at awakening me to my sleep problem was through a critical study of Emma, which declared that the eponymous heroine fears "the reality of being left with her own mind.”1 I realized that my identification with Emma was not just due to our mutual tendency to only practice the piano once a month before we have to play publicly, but also derived from wanting to distract myself from the epic circus of worry and self-reproach that cavorts through my brain whenever I go to bed “on time” and can’t fall asleep quickly.
Emsley, Sarah. Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues 131. See the Nichomachean Ethics. Yes, all ten books. Sense and Sensibility chapter 19. See Dr. Lauren Hale’s TEDx talk on sleep deprivation and socio-economic factors: http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Sleep-deprivation-disparities-i
Aristotle was even more roundabout as he first persuaded me that happiness should crown the well-lived life and (thousands… and thousands… and thousands… of words later) that the pleasure that is most “whole and complete” for itself at any time is the pleasure of contemplation.2 So, yes, in sleep “the visions of my head upon my bed,” as Nebuchadnezzar would say, are the highest activity, so the well-lived life is the sleeping one… Or… not. Rather, sitting on my bed reading Thomas Aquinas a couple weeks ago, I realized that “know[ing] [my] own happiness” meant cutting down on extracurricular activities, class-load (and Buzzfeed quizzes) so I could be more rested to dialogue with dead people (like Austen, Aristotle and Aquinas)… and a few live ones.3 Reader, I’m not trying to persuade you that knowing your happiness will involve quite as much dwelling with the dead, nor am I denying that I have socio-economic privileges that allow me to take a little more time for sleep and contemplation.4 However, with my “prophetic soul” I can be pretty certain that more sleep would increase your happiness too and that next time you see me looking droopy-eyed you should enjoy the pleasure of “mentioning” this article.
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SLEEP POLL RESULTS
There were 98 participants in the survey. 30.61% were freshmen and 28.57% were seniors.
62% of respondents received 6 hours or less of sleep each night in the last month.
There is a 47% slight chance that these respondents would fall asleep during the day unintentionally.
60 of the respondents do not consume coffee while 33 have 1-2 cups daily.
49% of the respondent have never skipped class to sleep.
17% of the overall respondents had low time management skills while 18% noted that they had anxiety and or insomnia.
78% are not concretely sure of the correlation between their sleep patterns and their academic success.
72% of the respondents indicated that they still felt tired and unrested in the morning.
• On average, bio majors got 5 hours of sleep. Of the 22 respondents, the majority of them do not consume coffee. However, they still had indicated that school (assignments, homework, paper, quizzes, and group projects) is the main cause of the amount of sleep they received. • Education had the most respondents with 24 surveys. They had 5.8 hours of sleep on average. Majority of the education majors noted that they feeling tired and unrested in the morning. • Religious Studies major respondents were 15% of the whole. Majority of Religious studies majors get 7 hours of sleep on average. 50% of the Religious studies majors who responded have never skipped class to sleep. • Of the 8 Psychology majors who responded, 6 were seniors. The psychology majors’ average sleeping time was 6 hours. • 93% of the respondents like to sleep in their bed :)
codrina baston
YOU SNOOZE, YOU WIN Sleep. It’s a seemingly mundane and useless activity that we spend about a third of our life doing, an average of 26 years.1 It seems impractical to spend so much time doing nothing! Even Thomas Edison said “Sleep is a criminal waste of time, inherited from our cave days”2 and that's coming from the man that invented electricity so we could have light at night. However obvious it may seem to you that sleep is of the utmost importance, it is only recently that research has shown exactly how sleep plays its crucial role in bodily function and optimum cognitive performance. Hold on to your hats non-science people, we're about to get technical. Simply put, sleep is a restorative function for the mind.3 The lymphatic system, which functions to filter blood and wastes from interstitial fluid in tissues throughout the body, is not found within the brain. Lost already? Think of that cleaning lady your mom has fantasized about hiring for years. She can clean every inch of your house, from the basement to the attic, EXCEPT for the kitchen. That's right, the most heavily used, most spill-induced room in the house is off-limits to your imaginary maid. The lymphatic system has a vascular system similar to your veins and arteries that extends throughout your entire body to clean up, except for the most important, most constantly used organ, your brain. Instead, we have cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a colourless liquid that bathes the brain and spinal cord, plays an essential role in nutrient circulation and waste filtration in the brain.4 In this delightful metaphor, I'm afraid you, the reader, will be the CSF. Only YOU are capable of cleaning the kitchen JUST the way your mom likes. The CSF bathes the brain and cleans out the metabolic waste from all the neuron-firing of the day but can only do it WHILE YOU ARE SLEEPING. So not only are you the only one that can clean the kitchen, the only time you can do it is at night. When you are asleep, the brain cells shrink in a way that allows the CSF to flood in between the cells and remove all the gunk in the same way that every night, you will be cleaning the day's food waste from the kitchen. Are things starting to make a little more sense?
Let's talk about sleep deprivation. Problems arise when we are consistently cutting time from our cleaning period. How is the kitchen supposed to get cleaned if you keep giving yourself less and less time to do it? Certain tasks will always get left out and your mom will be less than pleased with the result. We all know the terrible zombie-like fog after pulling an all-nighter or sleeping for only a few hours; grumpiness, grogginess, irritability, forgetfulness, and lack of concentration. To underscore the importance of sleep, studies have shown that 17 hours without sleep leads to symptoms of memory loss and decreased performance similar to symptoms equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (21 hours can have an equivalent performance to a 0.08% blood alcohol level)!!!5 The negative effects of sleep deprivation are endless. Mood changes, stress, anger, impulsivity and a higher predisposition to drug use and smoking are common outcomes. Weight gain people! It's not just about the superficial effect of a couple of pounds (trust me, you look great) but weight put on by stress can be extremely dangerous for your heart health. There is a 50% increase in obesity in individuals sleeping five hours or less every night3. Sleep loss gives rise to the release of the hormone ghrelin which is known as the hunger hormone and leads to those midnight munchies. This hormone increases the body’s craving for carbohydrates and particularly, refined sugars.3 That’s right, no one staying up late is ever hit with a craving for broccoli. Tired individuals are highly stressed and sustained stress associated with sleep loss can be extremely detrimental to the body by suppressing immunity, leading to higher susceptibility to infections, cardiovascular disease from increased blood pressure and even contributing to development of type 2 diabetes. So you might think that you’re are increasing your productivity by staying up another hour
or two but think about how much you'll be set back if you catch the flu when it starts going around! While stress-related weight gain, and risks to your cardiovascular health might not affect you while you are young and in university, the habits you make now, in your burgeoning adult lives, STICK. And that is why these consequences are worth a second look and a careful consideration of your habits. Unsurprisingly, your mental health can take a real hit if you aren’t sleeping enough. Already struggling with anxiety and depression? Guess what! Lack of sleep makes those monsters a whole lot worse and can lead to paranoia and suicidal thoughts. And even those that don’t struggle with debilitating symptoms of anxiety and depression can start developing them if sleep becomes a rarity. Your brain is being bombarded with images, messages, formulas, concepts, principles, and theories every day in university. Care for it, give it a break, make it a priority. Finally, I’d like to make one small, miniscule suggestion. STOP BRAGGING ABOUT YOUR LACK OF SLEEP AND GLORIFYING YOUR CAFFEINE ADDICTION. I know memes and comics depicting our supposedly sad, debt-ridden, zombie-like circumstances may seem funny and relatable but they are manufacturing a culture that does not have to exist. You think it’s funny and cool to be living well below your optimum functioning level? It’s not really. It’s actually kind of sad. And sometimes, this kind of mindset can lead to an almost peer-pressure to be miserable and sleep-deprived and constantly bemoaning your life. And I’m not demonizing coffee or memes, I just want to point out that you don’t have to be what the media portrays you to be. If you relate every now and then, no problem, we all have those days (UHM EXAM WEEK, ANYONE?!). But don’t give in to the stereotype and don’t perpetuate it by one-upping your friends’ coffee consumption or lack of sleep the night before a test. Support and encourage each other to be your best selves, not only emotionally and spiritually as is always encouraged, but physically as well. You can’t argue with science on this one, when it comes to sleep, you snooze, you WIN. Just think about how great you’ll feel when you’re rested and your concentration, attention, decision making, creativity, social skills, and health are at an optimum level!
Get snoozing Burmanites!
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www.reference.com/science/many-years-life-spend-sleeping-8f04fc7719fa8eb3# www.blog.ted.com/the-neuroscience-of-sleep-russell-foster-at-tedglobal-2013/ 3 www.ted.com/talks/jeff_iliff_one_more_reason_to_get_a_good_night_s_sleep 4 www.nationalmssociety.org/Symptoms-Diagnosis/Diagnosing-Tools /Cerebrospinal-Fluid-(CSF) 5 www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/articles/whatissleep.shtml 1 2
THE SLEEP Zahara McGann
The phrase “to fall asleep” is one great way to describe how you succumb to sleep but it was quite literal in Arianna Huffington’s case. Yes, you read that correctly, Huffington as in the founder of Huffington post. In 2008 she encountered an event that changed her life and others, forever. Midway through the year she fainted on
Although this tour was only done at specific University/College Campuses around the states, I reached out to someone who was very prominent in the fitness world in Alberta and Lacombe that could help our Burman students and shed some light on the subject, Candace Sayler. Candace is a Certified Fitness Trainer on campus,
her work desk, which resulted in a broken cheekbone, five stitches on her right and ultimately began the journey of her rediscovering the value of sleep. Together with doctors and scientist, she worked to help spread awareness on a very evident problem, A Sleep Deprivation Crisis. Throughout the research done by the Huffington Post on sleep, there was recognition of a report on the most sleep-deprived population in America—college students. The alarming results of the report done by the American Psychological Association in 2014 was taken on Millennials, Generation Xers, Baby Boomers and the Mature. It came up with the fact that Millennials were the most stressed generation.1 This prompted Arianna to start the Sleep Revolution College Tour earlier this year, to “reframe the conversation around sleep, highlight sleep’s benefits (and lack of side effects), and spotlight sleep’s power as the ultimate performance enhancer”, and promote her book, The Sleep Revolution.
and a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. To understand the context of sleep, I inquired her knowledge on how sleep affected her clients and her family and friends. To start, she agreed with current studies on sleep, which proved that the average person needed an average of seven to ten hours of un-interrupted sleep. She used the analogy of an individual driving. “Once you turn the choke or carbonator down, the car doesn’t have enough fuel to continue. Likewise, sleep helps create clarity of mind. Sleep is the only time when the body can fully repair and heal itself. In this way, quality studying can be done when an individual is able to get adequate amounts of sleep.” Was this the same case with everyone? Candace elaborated on her and her husband’s take on studying. Her husband was an individual that during university was able to study all night and sleep throughout the day, while she was a person who would study earlier then wake up to study again before going to her quizzes/tests. Both she and her husband were able to. For instance, one client talked to her about the claim that Donald Trump survives on only 4-5 hours of sleep. “I believe he does exactly that, he survives,” she replied.
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RE VOL UTION So her tip to helping get to sleep? Stick to a schedule. “When people’s daily plans are scattered they find more time to procrastinate. And to compensate for lost time, more people begin to use stimulants including highly caffeinated energy drinks and coffee, which can lead to insomnia and added anxiety creeping in. By adding a bit of exercise to your pre-sleep routine, you add endorphins that help settle your brain, and help you shut it down.” When it comes down to it, all the research done by Arianna or Candace might not completely change your mind on the ways you need to sleep, but it does help keep you aware of tiny ways to help prevent any major damage to yourself in the future. Next time, opt for water instead of a Tim’s Latte, or take a jog up and down the stairs at your dorm. Evidently it’s all down to you. Will you choose to join the Sleep Revolution?
sleep helps create clarity of mind. Sleep is the only time when the body can fully repair and heal itself.
Works Cited Williams, Abigail. “The Sleep Revolution Is Taking Colleges By Storm.” The Huffington Post. Sleep Number, 18 Mar. 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. Arianna Huffington: How to Succeed? Get More Sleep. Perf. Arianna Huffington. TED. TEDWoman, Dec. 2010. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. Reddy, Sumathi. “Why Seven Hours of Sleep Might Be Better Than Eight.” Wall Street Journal. N.p., 21 July 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. Colvin, Geoff. “Do Successful CEOs Sleep Less Than Everyone Else?” Fortune. N.p., 18 Nov. 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. Stress by Generation. Rep. American Psychological Association, 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. 1 2
DREAM on DEMAND Dreams are some of the craziest things that we ever experience especially since, in reality, we’re just resting away in our beds at night. But something more cool than jumping off a cliff with a baby, is the idea that you can control your dreams. Well, maybe not more cool than that, but the concept of being able to control your dreams is a pretty fantastical idea to most. Lucid dreaming is a term used to describe this phenomenon of being able to influence the events within your dream, done through the awareness that you are dreaming. In theory you could use it to dream however you want to, but the mechanics behind it are slightly more complicated. Before modern research, lucid dreaming was considered to be more of a myth than something that could actually occur. After all, how could one be asleep, and know that they are sleeping without technically being awake? Researchers hypothesize that lucid dreaming occurs primarily in the frontal lobe as the “frontal cortex activity correlates with self-consciousness, working memory, and attention” (Mota, Resende, Mota-Rolim, Copelli, & Ribeiro, 2016). This leads many to believe that this can only occur in a stage of sleep where the brain is most awake. The term REM sleep has been tossed around more commonly than before in this time of sleep deprivation, mainly because REM sleep does not occur if deep sleep cannot be achieved. REM sleep is responsible for vivid dreaming, and the brain activity is shown to be similar to that of a person who is awake, making it the most probable time a lucid dream would occur. LaBerge, Levitan, and Dement in 1986, conducted a study involving 12 participants who confirmed that the participants had 76 lucid dreams, through observing signals such as clenching fists. The problem with this study was that it was still difficult to understand how the applicants could respond if they were asleep, as sleep is understood to be a state where a person is unaware of the outside world. (LaBerge, 1990)
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Perhaps one of the most fascinating studies is about the increased amount of lucid dreaming among video gamers. According to a study done in 2006, they showed how “dreams and video games both represent alternate realities,” (Hsu, 2010); this study also found that lucid dreamers and gamers shared high spatial awareness. Occurrences of lucid dreams are frequent in gamers, however they noted a few things about how the gamers experienced the dreams. “It found that lucid dreams were common, but that the gamers never had dream control over anything beyond their dream selves… The gamers also frequently flipped between a first person view from within the body and a third person view of themselves from outside, except never with the calm detachment of a distant witness.” (Hsu, 2010) Lucid dreaming still baffles, even with more research on the subject, but many psychologists hope to eventually use the skill to help patients to even overcome nightmares, while others find it fun simply because they can control their dreams. So how can you become a lucid dreamer? According to Wiki How there are several tricks you can try, but for now here is a simple trick that you can use to become a creator of dreams: Write down your dreams. Each time you dream, write it down so that you learn to identify the odd occurrences which separate dreams from reality such as sudden changes in location or unrealistic activities. Using this knowledge when you start to dream, you will begin to identify within your dream that you are dreaming. Hopefully soon you will be able to have your own personal Inception movie, with you and your friends as the staring cast members.
ambra greaves
References (n.d.). Hsu, J. (2010, May 25). Video Gamers Can Control Dreams, Study Suggests. Retrieved from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/6521-videogamers-control-dreams-study-suggests.html LaBerge, S. (1990). Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep. Retrieved from Lucidity: http://www.lucidity. com/SleepAndCognition.html Mota, N. B., Resende, A., Mota-Rolim, S. A., Copelli, M., & Ribeiro, S. (2016, March 9). Psychosis and the Control of Lucid Dreaming. Retrieved from Frontiers: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00294/full WikiHow. (n.d.). How to Lucid Dream. Retrieved from WikiHow: http://www.wikihow.com/Lucid-Dream Wikipedia. (2016, October 2). Rapid Eye Movement Sleep. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep
COUNT SHEEP OR SLEEP
Sleep is merely a dream for busy university students but enough of it is essential for the body to function properly throughout the day. Insomnia, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is a “prolonged and usually abnormal inability to get enough sleep.” Also known as sleep deprivation, this inability to get a good night’s rest can hinder one’s efforts when juggling assignments coming from every teacher, talking part in extracurricular activities and balancing a social life. Students battling to fall asleep or stay sleeping even after a physically, mentally or emotionally tasking day could very well be sleep deprived.
s h e n d a c h i mw a s o
If you are suffering from sleepless nights, try these following tips: 1. Avoid taking long naps during the day—this ruins your sleep cycle making it harder to fall asleep at night. If you take a nap, make sure it is only 15-20 minutes.
2. Avoid watching something before going to bed—this suppresses melatonin, and shows often stimulate your mind rather than relaxing it.
3. Listen to an audio or listen to soft soothing music. 4. EXERCISE! Regular exercise improves the symptoms of insomnia. Even a light 10 minute walk improves your sleep quality.
5. Avoid eating heavy meals and drinking a lot of liquids before bed time. 6. Clear your mind before falling asleep. Overstimulation makes it harder to fall asleep. Take deep breaths, and visualize a peaceful place.
7. Avoid taking a hot shower/bath right before bed. Your body needs to cool down in order to sleep, so take a cool or a warm shower.
If you wake up during the night: 1. Avoid going on your phone, laptop or turning on the light. 2. Relax your mind, and don’t do anything that is stimulating
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I. Know your priorities. Simplicity is about making the time for things that allow you to feel like you’re really, truly, living life. It’s about the things that without them, you would not be. What are 5 things that are important to you? II. Stop overcommitting. No one human can do it all. Know your limits. It’s better to do three things in one day exceptionally well than to get ten mediocre jobs done. Never, ever, feel like you have to do something out of obligation. Guess what? Contrary to popular belief, the world will keep turning if you aren’t there to save it. Which of the current obligations that you have right now line up with the five things you listed above that are important to you? Which ones are you doing to please someone else? III. Get rid of clutter. Physical clutter has a huge impact on the way you feel when you are in your room. Your living space should be somewhere that allows you to be at peace and recharge. Give your space a detox every couple of months. P.S. Apply this to human beings as well. IV. Avoid being productive 24/7. It is impossible to go for that long. You aren’t a machine. Even machines crash after being used for a long period of time. Avoid the crash by giving yourself at least two hours a day to recharge. V. Remember that your mind is a sacred garden. Your mental space is the essence of who you are! Your mind deserves just as much time and care as you put into your schoolwork. Practice taking a few minutes to be mindful of the things happening around you. Be aware of the colors, the fragrances, the people who make you feel alive, and anything else in the world that makes you feel like you’re doing more than just surviving.
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HOW TO SIMPLIFY YOUR COMPLICATED LIFE
rechelle-lee smith
Sleeping at Last
A P l a y l i s t t o H e l p Yo u F a l l A s l e e p
Here we have it folks! The ultimate playlist to help you unwind after a busy day or to put on as you tuck yourself into your comfortable bed. These are some of my favorite songs for when I need to let all my worries go. You can find this playlist on our Burman Chronicle 8tracks account if you’re interested! Follow us, press play and we’ll help serenade you to sleep.
https://8tracks.com/thecucchronicle/sleeping-at-last-1 1. Ameri Can I – Young Collective 2. Rest – The Ember Days 3. Mountain Hike – The Art We Breathe 4. Flume – Bon Iver 5. To Build A Home – The Cinematic Orchestra 6. Homesick – Sleeping at Last 7. Finger Painting – The Ember Days 8. Wandering – Gungor 9. This Will Be Our Home – John Lucas 10. Outro – M83 11. If I go, I’m goin – Gregory Alan Isakov 12. Falling, Catching – Agnes Obel 13. Blue Bucket of Gold – Sufjan Stevens
Top Five Teas that Promote Sleep
1. Chamomile: Chamomile by far is one of the best teas to promote sleepiness and relaxation. Chamomile is also
believed to contain natural sedative effects that can help to calm your mind and help prepare your body for sleep. In 2009, a clinical study was released that found that those who drank Chamomile tea before bed experienced better sleep and reduced feelings of anxiety. They also found that chamomile could be an effective alternative treatment for those who suffer from insomnia.
2. Valerian Root: Valerian Root is a herbal remedy that is commonly used to help promote sleep. One study con-
ducted found that Valerian Root was effective at helping to promote a better night’s sleep and came with no side effects. To experience the best benefits, Valerian Root tea needs to be had nightly on a regular basis.
3. Lavender: Lavender tea is great for calming anxiety and helping to prepare the body for sleep. It also helps to promote feelings of sleepiness and is often best used in conjunction with chamomile flowers or valerian root. Lavender tea is also frequently used as a natural remedy for insomnia. For best results, it is recommended to steep lavender tea for 15 minutes before drinking.
4. Lemon Balm: there is some research that suggests Lemon Balm tea is a natural sedative and can help you to feel tired. One study also found that when combined with Valerian Root, Lemon Balm tea helped both children and menopausal women to sleep through the night without disruption. Lemon Balm tea also has anti-anxiety properties and can help to create overall feelings of relaxation.
5. St. John’s Wort: St. John’s Wort is a herb that is most commonly used for depression, but there is research that
suggests it can also be a beneficial sleep aid. In numerous studies, St. John’s Wort tea was found to stimulate the GABA receptor, which is the receptor responsible for releasing sleep chemicals in the brain. The herb was also found to help reduce anxiety and stress for insomniacs.
DEVOTIONAL // ANGELICA CORNEJO
“Cast all your anxiety upon Him, for He cares for you.” In the summer of 2013, I had the chance to travel alone to my homeland for the very first time, El Salvador. Like every Hispanic parent does when you’re going back to visit family, they take advantage of your trip and load you with luggage filled with gifts our first world country has to offer. Along with any other pet peeve, dealing with baggage that is not mine has to be on my list as one of the top three. So what does this have to do with me, you might be asking. Well, in life sometimes we find ourselves struggling to know how to deal with our personal baggage. What baggage are you trying to handle on your own? Anxiety, stress, uncertainty, fear, a difficult situation of some sort. Whatever it is that is afflicting your heart, let me tell you I’ve also been there, but so has Jesus. There is no one who comprehends and truly understands your situation more than the Lord. In the moments where you find yourself feeling restless or overwhelmed by the circumstances you’re faced with, in the times where you find yourself having nowhere or no one to turn to, I want to remind you of 1 Peter 5:7 where God literally invites us to: “cast all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you.”
1 PETER 5:7
Psalm 68:19 says, “praise be to our God who daily bears our burdens.” So if you’re wondering if He cares about what you’re dealing with, the answer is yes. In fact, the Lord wants you to confide in Him with your worries, your struggles, and your problems. The only thing we are called to do is to simply trust and to confide in the Lord. God gives us many promises of peace and spiritual rest, which are ours to claim. Philippians 4:6-7 reinforces this promise of peace to you saying: “do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This promise has been written especially for you. If there is anything that’s on your heart, any baggage that is weighing you down, place it in God’s hands and let it go. Try Him and I can guarantee you that in Him you will find the rest you’ve been searching for. All my love, Angelica
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7 Ways to Make Your Room Look Great and Stay That Way
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Ta l i a S m i t h
one PURGE YOUR CLOSET! Our closets are filled with clothes that can fit into three categories: 1. Things we wear on a regular basis 2. Clothes we tell ourselves we’ll wear one day 3. Clothes we never wear, know we’ll never wear, and yet we keep them just because. Every time I went through my wardrobe this summer, I’d set some rules for myself: If I hesitated on article of clothing regarding if I’d wear it or not, I’d put in the bag, if I saw an article of clothing I haven’t worn in the last six months, I put it in the bag, and if I was keeping an article of clothing for sentimental reasons only, I would put it in the bag. Needless to say, I got rid of a lot, but I was able to get money back in return for bagging my clothes by taking them to a consignment clothing store in Red Deer called Plato’s closet that will buy any of your lightly used and recently trending clothes, from you. I got $64 for 20 articles of clothing! Now, I know it’s hard to part with things, like your camp t-shirt from your first year of working at summer camp, the dress you wore so many times and grew tired of but you keep telling yourself you’ll wear, or those super comfortable pants that have a hole in the butt or the crotch that you keep saying you’ll fix because they’re your favourite pair, but sometimes you have to let things go; the less clothes you have, the cleaner your room will likely stay.
two PUT THINGS AWAY ONCE! This is a rule I have been trying to keep in the habit of because it will help keep your room clean. Say you’re in hurry to change after class so you can go out with some friends, so you throw your previously worn clothes onto your bed and floor, throw on some other clothes, and run off to meet your friends; when you come back from your outing though, there are your clothes, strewn across the room, and you’re too tired to pick them up, so you leave them there and the next thing you know, it’s three days later and your floor has now become your closet, or what I like to call a “floordrobe”. So that’s where the rule “Put things away once” comes in! If you’re changing your clothes, and they’re not dirty, take the extra three seconds to hang them back up, or put them in your drawer. It will save you more time in the long run because you won’t have to stress about cleaning your whole room. Plus, if you’ve stripped your closet down to what you actually wear, this will be a sinch. Just put things away once, that’s it.
three THROW OUT OLD CARDS AND PAPERS! If any of you are like me, you like holding onto cards from friends and family as well as papers that have something on it that you think you’ll research or look up one day. These things pile up. These things create clutter. If you haven’t even LOOKED at the things that are written on those papers, GET RID OF IT. If a card has nothing but a person’s name in it, get rid of it! I promise you people aren’t going to hunt you down and ask if you still have that card from three years ago that they gave you for easter. If there are cards that you’d like to keep, see step three for some ideas on how to keep them without creating clutter. Be sure to keep any government documents or bills, because those are important, just use an old shoe box to store them in, but recycle the rest (there’s a recycling centre across the railroad tracks here in Lacombe)!
Alright, let’s be honest. You probably brought more things to university than you actually need, right? Those articles of clothing you either feel obligated to keep because your grandma bought it for you, or something you bought that you thought you’d wear to something fancy so you don’t want to part with it because what if a fancy things comes up… Then there are all of your high school yearbooks, graduation cards, old journals, posters that won’t fit on your wall, those organizer things that you can put in your closet that actually take up more space than save, or video games you don’t EVER play but you hold onto because you might one day, or those cool clothing tags, glass soda bottles, etc., etc., etc.. Let’s face it, you have a lot of things that you don’t need and a lot of those things are creating clutter in your room and taking up valuable space that you can’t really afford to give up (the dorm rooms aren’t exactly spacious). I have created a list of ways to help de-clutter your room, help it look great, and how to create the illusion that your space is always clean. I hope that these tips help you in creating a clean, clutter free room that will make you feel good. Stay golden you perfect marigolds!
SIX FOUR HANG THE SENTIMENTAL BITS! If you have cards that you want to hang onto, pictures of you with your friends, cool art prints you’ve bought or someone has given you, or postcards someone brought you back from their summer vacation, hang them up! I know you’ve all seen it on pinterest, tumblr, instagram and facebook, but the yarn and clothespin idea never fails. You can keep those cards and photos without them creating clutter AND make your room look cozy and put together.
FIVE BUY STORAGE CONTAINERS! As I said before, there isn’t a whole lot of space in dorm rooms and having those extra blankets for the winter months are always good to have handy. So here’s what you do: flip your bed frame so that you’re able to get the maximum amount of space under your bed, fill those storage containers with your extra blankets, winter attire, and the shoes you don’t wear on a regular basis, and slip them underneath your bed! Bam! Your space looks clean and put together.
SELL THE THING! If you bought a chair for your room or have “decor” that your family bought you that you thought you’d have space for, but found out you didn’t, head to Kijiji and sell it or take it to Value Village. The extra pocket money is nice, and should you be in a more spacious place next year, you can always find something new. If you’re not using it, LOSE IT.
SEVEN MAKE YOUR BED! I’m going to sound like your mom, but seriously, spreading out your comforter on your bed and throwing your pillows on top will make your room like ten times better and create the illusion that it’s cleaner than it actually is.
Chronicles of a Texan in Canada: Why is Thanksgiving in October? I knew that moving to Canada would mean changes… not only in the weather … but in everything that I am accustomed to. That includes the culture, the people, a new school, new friends and new adventures. I was a terrified Texan getting ready to be wrapped in sweaters, scarves, ear muffs and ready to have her first taste of Tim Hortons. Once I found out that about Thanksgiving in Canada, I instantly felt excitement and comfort in the familiar. Then I found out Thanksgiving is in October… not November. Say what now?! What’s next? Halloween in July? Christmas in January? I didn’t know what to expect, there should be a manual or warning signs to this Canada… This was going to be the first thanksgiving without my family. As the first snowflakes fell, I got a huge dose of homesickness and I couldn’t shake it off. Sabbath approached faster than I realized and I had zero plans. My day was projected to include lunch at the cafeteria and a mixture of hiding in my room rethinking all my life decisions and sulking. Alas I went to church anyway and walked right into a power outage. As everyone else was praying for an electricity intervention, I was praying for a Thanksgiving intervention. Just when all hope faded and the fear of spending Thanksgiving alone seemed it might be a reality, two wonderful girls came to my rescue. Then we got invited to Myla Trenchuk’s home, things really started to look up! As we entered, the smell of turkey spread around the room, I was filled with tears of joy. They had everything a thanksgiving at my home would have, stuffing, Caesar salad, mash potatoes, homemade pumpkin pie… everything was delicious. The best thing was the company, a family of Ferrers’, Davilas’and Trenchuks’. They welcomed me like we’ve known each other for a really long time. With four lovely girls that hugged me and grabbed my hand to play with them, I didn’t feel homesick anymore. I felt as if I made a new family and I was grateful for that. The time I got to spend surrounded by this amazing family reminded me to always be thankful even for the little things. It was a wonderful surprise to know that even though I am miles away from my family in a different country… celebrating Thanksgiving holiday in a different month! I found people that reminded about love and family. - Lily Ramirez
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dysfunction f lavoured spice latte // jef f bradburn I don’t think I believe in Canadian Thanksgiving. For a while now I’ve been wondering if it’s real at all. I mean, I just haven’t been feeling it when people bring up their plans for break, or who will visit what family. And coffee shops are just trying to make a buck on pumpkin spice lattes. It just feels… different. In America, we get an entire week off in the spirit of thankfulness. Fake plastic leaves proudly adorn every possible window. The very air smells of buttery apple pie. And furthermore, we celebrate Black Friday the day after, a time to shameless binge purchase electronics as an expression of our gratitude. So whether you believe in Canadian Thanksgiving or not, what do you think about gratitude? Does it look like the number of followers you have on Instagram? Does it look like a shiny new phone? Or the sigh of relief when the weekend comes? Is it the one day a year where you’re supposed to tell your family you’re thankful for them? Or how important good friends are? Maybe gratitude doesn’t make good pictures on social media. Maybe it is the raindrops tracing down your window like lazy traffic, which totally ruined your plans to go hiking. Or the horrendous morning breathe of your brother snoring next to you. It could be shaking sleep out of your limbs after another night of bad sleep. Or the rare moment of stillness in a busy day. Gratitude might be looking up from your phone and noticing that our world ‘aint all bad. Wherever you find yourself, may you find yourself here. In a place of remembering how lucky we are to watch leaves change their color every year. Here, a place where we don’t just need one day to tell people that they matter. Where it’s okay if your family isn’t perfect. When you can look in the mirror and be grateful for the person looking back. Eye bags and all. For me, gratitude looked like a steaming bowl of oatmeal, a camp chair, and a journal. It looked like a caravan of VWs on a rainy mountain road. A father and his three sons laughing at self-depreciating humor in the middle of a pine forest. The quiet murmur of a brook. Gratitude was the realization that it’s pretty dang incredible that we’re alive. I guess maybe in a sense I do believe in Thanksgiving. I want to at least, but mine just lasts a little longer than a day.
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thanks... I guess? // ellecia cousins Earlier this week, I was jealous of all the students who got to go home this Thanksgiving. I thought of seeing my family, eating some good soul food, and based on the weather back home in Montreal, avoiding this freezing Alberta cold. But of course, I’m still here, in Alberta, covered in a blanket. Thanksgiving has never been one of those holidays I hold dear to my heart. None of my extended family lives in Canada, so it’s just us eating the food my mom made, having a longer than usual blessing of the food, and then going about our day or maybe watching a funny movie. But that’s ok because the whole deal with thanksgiving is to be thankful for the simple things. Some people don’t have a family but I do. Some people are homeless but I have a house (and at the moment a dorm room whose heater isn’t working). Some people haven’t eaten a full meal in years, but I have. Chances are most of us have everything we need to stay alive and smile once in a while. And that’s really what thanksgiving is about. It is about thanking God for giving us the opportunity to live and experience the marvels of this world, and for you, non-vegetarians eat some good turkey once in a while. Thanksgiving to me is really just a time to appreciate the people and blessings we forget to acknowledge every year. Thanksgiving 2017, is far away but let’s start counting our blessings from now.
photo submitted by ivah lumalang
being thankfull in ALL things // faniry ramorasata What the Thanksgiving holiday means to me is a nice break and a good opportunity to appreciate Canadian culture. My family has never been a traditional one, we don’t have big turkey dinners with that Ramorasata cranberry secret sauce, and unfortunately no pumpkin pie with a side of that sweet, sweet whipped cream. However, what I did do this Thanksgiving was contemplate and thank the good gracious Lord what I do have. This weekend instead of counting calories, I want to share with everyone a few of my abundant blessings, which are the following: 1. The opportunity to come back home and a ride to the airport from my friend, Third Acosta (who the bunnies is Jamie?); 2. Safe travel mercies and prayers that were ascending for everyone’s safety this festive season; 3. Family and friends to visit even though we are now spread out; 4. The ability to drive out and visit my dad and old stomping grounds in 100 Mile House even for a day or so; 5. Siblings presence is always a present; 6. Of course, the source of power and warmth for the fam jam from my madre; and 7. Burman University and all its perks such as volleyball and soccer to come back to because education is the best and I thank God every day for the opportunity to learn. So many in other third-world countries or even in some in Canada possibly long to be educated, a chance to grow, and a chance to change their surroundings. As Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” So as we all come back this fall break, let’s not count the snowflakes that have fallen. Let us count the days that have gone by that we are alive! Thessalonians 5:8 says, “Give thanks IN all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” It doesn’t say give thanks FOR all circumstances because yes, some things do suck Cough MIDTERMS Cough, but IN all things. Having midterms or tests means you are getting an education envied by millions around the world today. So let’s give thanks for the Lord is good and His love indeed endureth forever and ever. AMEN.
Our only family photo from since my high school graduation on the 27th of June 2015. Unfortunately, we all couldn’t be together this time around since. I got to see every single one of them this weekend though!
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thank you. merci. gracias. 多謝. // laura domke
It’s that time of the year where the waistbands in our pants stretch out to the max, and our fridges are packed full of leftovers from the meal that was so enormous only half of it was devoured by the multitude of family members packed in your home. Let’s be honest. Thanksgiving is the “test-run” before Christmas. You pull out the fancy dishware and your mom spends the whole day working in the kitchen to create the best holiday dinner yet. You invite all your immediate family as well as the extended family, and then realize you’ve just offered your home to be the boxing ring for all the family drama; but you do it because it wouldn’t be the holidays without the yelling, the gossip, and the inappropriate jokes that you’re pretty sure only your family could make. Despite the physical and emotional workload created by this holiday, we do it because we have the opportunity to, and, in reality, we’re thankful for it. To me, I feel that Thanksgiving is about being grateful for the special moments we get to share throughout the year with family, friends, and God. The year goes by so quick and so fast paced that we don’t often make the time to sit down with the ones we love and spend quality time with them. Giving someone your time and your focus is one of the best gifts. When I can sit down with someone and give them my undivided attention, it is one of the ways I show that I appreciate them and that I am thankful for them being in my life. This act of giving time as thanks to our family and friends is the same thing that we should be doing for God. All year long, God is constantly by our side, helping us out of holes we dug for ourselves and carrying us through storms we can’t walk in. He is always there for us. So why can’t we take the time to say, “Thank you,” back to God? Make sure that you take the time to not just be thankful to your friends and family, but to be thankful to the one true God who has always, and will always be there for you. Happy Thanksgiving! God Bless!
24 photo submitted by ivah lumalang
let’s get to know each other // winona alexa tanlu A five-day long weekend is a much needed break from the busy and stressful life of being a student. Instead of going home for the break, four other girls – Martine Sajous, Daisy Labro, Trisha Subido, Ella Ongyiu- and I took the opportunity to use the last couple of days of the long weekend to go on a small girl’s trip. We played the role of being tourists by exploring Banff, Lake Louise, and Canmore. A refreshing view of the snow-capped mountains along the way has eased our minds before we enter another busy school week. This change of perspective was something we had needed as the stress from all the schoolwork has been getting to us. It was nice to be able to spend the last couple of days with these girls. Being blessed by these girls’ presence is definitely something that I’m grateful for. They made waking up early, the long drive, and even the cold weather bearable and more enjoyable. From the cold walks along the streets in Banff, running to get Beavertails, cooking together, running outside of our hotel room to use the hot tub, playing in snow in Lake Louise, and running around in Canmore, it truly was a weekend filled with memories and we can all say that we learned a little bit more about each other.
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[Issue 3 Volume 64]