VOL. 13, NO. 2
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North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, N.C.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1,1997
College students cope
with sleep deprivation
By CAMERON BATCHELOR
Exams — how do you cope with them?
Exam time can be a very stressful time for all college
students, but upper classmen seem to handle it better than
freshmen, due to experience. Upper classmen have been
through exams before and know what kind of schedule
works for them, while many freshmen are unsure, yet
many students make exams harder than they have to be.
To do well on exams, not only do students need to study
but they also need to maintain good health. Eating a well-
balanced diet, exercising, and getting enough sleep so that
they feel rested in the morning are good ways to stay
healthy.
Sleep deprivation is a large problem among college
students. Many students do not get any sleep — or very
little —for a number of days. Around exam time sleep
habits are even worse. Students stay up around the clock
trying to cram last-minute material the day or two before
the exam, which is not good for retaining information for
the student’s health.
Not getting enough sleep can have many unwanted
effects on a person. According to Nurse Stump, the biggest
problem is that the immune level drops and a person is
more likely to get sick. Other effects include blurred vi
sion, slurred speech, irritability, and confusion. These are
not the kinds of symptoms students should have to deal
with while taking an exam. It will only decrease the chances
of a good grade. But instead of getting more sleep to
"correct these problems, many students try to find other
solutions which may cause more problems than they solve.
Nurse Stump said that many students take Vivarin, No-
Dox, and other over-the-counter drugs to keep them awake.
Many students said they have tried over-the-counter drugs
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Student from Bolivia
finds ‘whole new world’
By DANIELA PINTO
“Wake up! Open your eyes!
You are in a different country!
The place is a country with a dif
ferent language, a different cul
ture, and different customs — a
diverse country.”
Being a Bolivian in the U.S.
has really been a very radical
change for me. We have had to
get used to many new things and
have had to go through the shock
of experiencing a whole new
world.
Bolivia is small, not very di
verse (as is the U.S.), and in all
aspects is considered a third world
country. It is not very technologi
cally advanced and is in the pro
cess of growing and stretching
foreign relations.
Housing is very different in
Bolivia. Most houses are tiny,
with large patios, pools, and built-
in residential areas, which is un
like the U.S. Being rich is not
what matters. What really mat
ters is just owning a house.
Housekeeping is very differ
ent too. In Bolivia almost every
body has maids, night watchmen,
gardeners, pool men, and cooks.
It is no luxury to have people
working for you 24 hours a day
for not a high salary. Usually these
people are poor and make their
living out of it.
For that reason it is very diffi
cult for us to get used to the liv
ing here, for we hardly ever did
anything at home. Our parents
raised us with the common knowl
edge of how to do our house
keeping, but maids were paid to
do it for us. We had never done
our laundries, cleaned our rooms,
or made our beds before; we al
ways had someone do it for us.
Therefore coming to college has
been challenging for us both in ,
academics, as well as in every
day living.
Young people in Bolivia don’t
usually work, as they do here,
until they have at least graduated
from college. For us summer
means party time, a time to spend
with our friends or maybe even
to travel around. We find it very
impressive to see young men and
women at the workplace. Work
ing is something Bolivians think
all should do for intellectual
growth.
Also, young ones live with
their parents and siblings for as
long as they can, arid parents are
responsible for everything they
need. This usually happens until
one gels married, but there are
cases where even after you are
married, you live with your fam
ily and are helped by them eco
nomically.
There is no such thing as ho
mosexuality back in Bolivia. Ob
viously this goes on there too,
but it is definitely unaccepted and
never made public. People are
much more conservative and
close minded about these kinds
of subjects. For example, sex is
another subject. There is little
sexual education in school and
sex talks in families are very
rarely heard, for it is something
forbidden before marriage. This,
as a consequence, makes relation
ships different from those com
monly seen in the U.S. People
(Continued on Back Page)
‘Sexual etiquette’ gives students
practical guidelines for behavior
By BETTY ANNE WHISNANT
“A college junior returned to
school after summer break. At the
end of the previous spring semes
ter, she and her boyfriend had bro
ken up and she had not seen him
since. She had not wanted their
relationship to include sexual in
tercourse.
“After their reunion on cam
pus, he wanted to renew their re
lationship, but she was ambiva
lent. They went to her room to
talk. He became aggressive, re
moving her shirt, tearing other
clothes. He forced himself on her.
She did not scream for help, but
she felt she had been raped.”
No, this did not happen at
Wesleyan, but similar incidents
have occurred here and at col
leges everywhere. When we don’t
communicate our sexual inten
tions clearly with decorum and
grace, everyone loses. He knew
what he wanted, she knew what
she didn’t want, but when all was
said and one, the encounter was
messy, ugly, and probably pro
duced a lot of unhappiness. So
cial manners were invented to
avoid social problems, so maybe
there is a need for Sexual Eti
quette.
In fact, this need has been rec
ognized by health educators, and
a small book. Sexual Etiquette 101
by Hatcher et al (Bridging the
Gap, 1993) is now available. Part
One specifically outlines the "10
Rules of Sexual Etiquette” as
written by Deborah Cates of the
College of Williain and Mary.
Other parts of the book discuss
contraception, both planned and
for emergencies, STD’s, univer
sity health services, human sexu
ality, etc.
Cates makes practical guide
lines to promote thoughtfulness
and respect come alive by using
anonymous vignettes to illustrate
the consequences, like the one
cited at the beginning of this ar
ticle. At the same time, ten rules
are a lot to remember. It seems to
me that three might be easier and
(Continued on Back Page)