Nicotine addictions amongst college students is at an all time high. But the most common question is how vaping sales have remained such an issue among younger individuals since their rise in popularity in 2016.
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Nicotine addiction in teens at all-time high
Nicotine addictions amongst college students is at an all time high. But the most common question is how vaping sales have remained such an issue among younger individuals since their rise in popularity in 2016.
Friday, April 29, 2022
Which CPU is Best 4 U: a guide to the benefits of building a custom PC
“I spent about eleven hundred dollars total on all of my parts. I got all of my parts over a span of about two months and I actually built it all in a span of about 3 hours when I finally got all of my parts.” Said Jacob Daley, a sophomore computer science major at Georgia Southern who built his own PC.
What started out as a hobby for technology enthusiasts has grown into a massive industry, and now a custom pc is almost an industry standard in some places. On the surface, the appeal for a custom PC is the same as the appeal for anything custom made; the user has the choice to prioritize what they want while not having to sacrifice any features in the process. The process goes deeper than that though. The average cost of building a custom PC can range anywhere from $800 to $2000 according to CliffyB, a PC building guide website. The opportunity to include nearly any features you want in your custom computer is one of the main benefits to building a PC. There are different features one can choose for the different functions they want their PC to do. Someone who is more of a gamer might choose different parts for their PC than someone who is going to use it for video editing, and ultimately that is the main appeal for building your own personal computer.
On the surface, one would see the cost of building a PC and be immediately turned off, but the benefits the user would have after completing the build would ultimately make the price worth it. Being able to mix and match parts and pieces to fulfill individual needs and goals is something you would not be able to find with a pre-built PC. This is why those who use desktop computers are starting to make the switch.
Sleep deprivation in college students is a common, concerning issue
Consistently being able to get the necessary eight hours of sleep every night can be quite difficult, especially for college students. Whether partying, studying or cramming assignments, students often sacrifice sleep without considering the implications that come with it.
Sleep deprivation is increasingly common, affecting approximately one-third of adults in the United States, according to Sleep Foundation. Over half of all college students get less than seven hours of sleep each night, according to Harvard Summer School. Consistent sleep deprivation of this sort impacts a person’s cognitive abilities and mood, and also contributes to drowsiness during the day.
Lifepoint Medical nurse practitioner Hannah Wilker noted that sleep disorders such as insomnia can be developed as a result of consistent sleep deprivation. To combat this, she described the importance of sleep hygiene, which involves limiting stimuli that keep a person’s mind active. “Avoiding using your phone prior to sleeping, avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon and keeping your bedroom dark and cool, things like that are good sleep hygiene,” said Wilker.
Pulling an all-nighter can be considered a staple in the life of a college student. The impact that periods of acute sleep deprivation such as this can have on a person are drastic, but generally ignored. Students prioritize powering through an assignment or having fun with friends in those cases because they are unaware of how much an all-nighter affects them.
Staying awake for 24 hours straight can have the same cognitive impairment effects as a blood alcohol content of 0.1%, higher than the legal limit of 0.08%, according to the CDC. Cognitive impairment to that extent can be dangerous for driving and diminishes reaction time.
Sleep deprivation can also serve as an obstacle by causing students to miss out on certain aspects of every-day life. “This semester with my 8 a.m.’s, I have slept through a lot of those,” said Becca Lerzo, junior at Georgia Southern University. “Then sometimes if I take naps, I’ll only want to sleep for 30 minutes, but it’ll end up being like three hours.”
Allowing sleep deprivation to reach that extent is harmful to a student’s grades, social life and overall health. Beyond just the immediate impacts, consistent lack of sleep can have lingering effects that can be felt for an extended period afterward.
Reed Johnson has been out of college for over a year and still feels the impact of his poor sleeping habits. “I did all-nighters in college and it was bad on my body, and I still have not really recovered to this day,” Johnson said. While Johnson already suffers from sleep apnea, his habits of neglecting sleep altogether took a toll and would leave him feeling continuously exhausted.
It is unrealistic to expect college students not to have relatively poor sleeping habits due to the nature of being in college to begin with, but it is important that students understand what they are doing to their body with continuous neglect of sleep. Impaired cognition as a result of an all-nighter could lead to lower quality work being done, negating the purpose of staying up all night in the first place.
Balancing the negative effects is what it comes down to for students. Being able to keep a good sleep schedule that is relatively consistent while also partaking in other usual college activities should be the ultimate goal.
Breathe in, breathe out: Climate change’s effect on human respiratory health
The doom and gloom predictions of climate change may be a distant threat in the minds of many, but for those with respiratory issues, it is a very real problem.
Climate change has occurred naturally long before humans were around, but since the time of the Industrial Revolution, humanity has been a driving force behind these shifts in temperature and weather patterns, according to the United Nations.
Used for most of the world’s energy, industrial and transportation needs, fossil fuels, when burned, release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into Earth’s atmosphere. These emissions trap the heat of the sun, raising temperatures globally.
What this looks like is earlier and longer warm seasons and more frequent extreme heat events, which can lead to complications for everyone, especially people with respiratory illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Alan Harvey, professor of biology at Georgia Southern University, said that more carbon dioxide and longer-lasting warm periods will increase the amount of pollen in the air due to greater plant growth during those times.
While this just means a runny nose for most, a greater pollen count can trigger asthma attacks and cause more people with respiratory illnesses to be hospitalized, according to the CDC. In fact, medical costs related to pollen exceed $3 billion every year.
“If you’re starting just a couple of days earlier every year, and pollen levels are 5% higher than they were the last year, that accumulates pretty drastically over the course of a couple decades,” said Harvey.
Furthermore, when extreme heat events occur, there is a higher concentration of pollutants in the air, which can exacerbate asthma and lead to airway inflammation, according to a team of researchers at the University of Maryland and Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Lissa Leege, a biology professor at GSU, said that a lot of these respiratory problems come from tropospheric ozone, a pollutant formed when nitrous oxides from vehicle exhaust combine with heat and sunlight.
This ground-level ozone can diminish lung function and could lead to 1,000 to 4,300 additional premature deaths in the United States by 2050 if no action is taken, according to the CDC.
An additional concern with rising temperatures is drought, especially because of the increased frequency of wildfires in dry areas, according to the CDC.
On top of the loss of life and property damage that could occur if a fire breaks out, wildfire smoke contains particulate matter, greenhouse gases and ozone precursors that not only affect the area but locations downwind of the fire. This can increase hospitalizations and medical visits, as well as the dispensing of medicine for asthma, bronchitis, COPD and other respiratory infections.
Another consequence of climate change is rising sea levels, which happens as glaciers and ice sheets melt and water volume expands as it warms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In coastal communities, this can cause “sunny-day flooding,” in which water seeps into homes and other structures leading to problems such as mold growth, said Leege.
Mold can worsen respiratory issues for those allergic if touched or inhaled, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
While respiratory issues are not the only concern, the effects of climate change have already impacted many who do suffer from them, and this will continue to get worse if no change is made.
However, Leege was adamant that the fight against climate change is not lost if people can band together, though she added that it is now more an issue of adapting to current conditions than fixing the damage that has been done.
This includes planting trees, building sand dunes, which are natural barriers from rising tides, and trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Concerns over avian flu spread as bald eagles are being infected in Georgia
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Freedom the bald eagle, Georgia Southern's mascot. Photo By: Kaz Thomas |