Category: Health & Wellness
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My Vaccinated COVID Experience (2022)
Here’s what happened every day of my COVID infection in October 2022! For reference, I’m 4x vaccinated (2-dose initial vaccination plus 2 boosters), don’t have any risk factors, and am in my late 20’s. Friday, October 14 Of course, I can never be sure, but I’m almost positive that the infection happened at the concert…
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I Developed Overactive Bladder Because of Grad School Stress
If you take away anything from this post, the message is this: Please take care of yourself. Like, actually. Mental health and physical health are more important than research. Stress can irreversibly affect your health. You wouldn’t think it’d happen to you, right? Reading that, some of you might be thinking, “okay, well this lady…
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I Lost 6 Pounds in My 1st Month of Noom: Best Things About Noom & Food Picks for Success
Introduction 2020 and 2021 did a number on a lot of us. The pandemic not only changed everything about how we interact with society outside, but it also affected us mentally. I finished my Ph.D. during the pandemic, and it was definitely a struggle to keep all aspects of my life on track when I…
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5 Years Without Alcohol: 5 Ways My Life Improved
1/1/2022 marked exactly 5 years since I quit drinking alcohol on a whim. Yep, I did most of my Ph.D. without drinking alcohol. Crazy, I know. I had my last drink on 12/31/2016, and it was a Moscow mule at a local bar during a New Year’s Eve event. At that moment, I honestly didn’t…
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Let’s Talk About Indoor Air Exchange Rates in 2022: Implications for COVID and Beyond
In grad school, I studied outdoor air pollution and how it can affect our health. Although I’m not an expert on indoor air pollution, I do think about indoor air quality a lot. I’ve always been the type of person to check outdoor air quality and enjoy a cross-breeze. Indoor air quality has been on…
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Read This Before You Buy Biotin For Your Hair, Skin, and Nails
Biotin is one of those compounds that seems to be ingrained in society’s psyche as something that helps your hair and nails grow longer and stronger, as well as improve your skin’s appearance. There are so many supplements out there that claim to do these things and contain a lot of biotin. Real talk: there’s…
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6 Proven Ways I Take My Mind Off Of Work
Academia has this really weird way of sneaking into our psyche. Trust me, I understand. I’ve been there. I still struggle with it sometimes. Taking your mind off of work to have a truly restful, rejuvenating break, or even just a weekend, can be really difficult, especially when things aren’t going well in your research.…
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7 Important Things to Know When Purchasing An Air Purifier
Air purifiers seem to have become all the rage in recent years, and for good reason. With wildfires ravaging many parts of the world, air pollution being the leading environmental cause of death worldwide,1 and indoor air pollutants having been observed to be 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor concentrations,2 it’s not surprising to…
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A Scientist’s Guide to Vegan Collagen and Collagen Peptides
Collagen as a dietary supplement has always been a hot commodity in the world of beauty and wellness. It seems like you can find collagen products in all sorts of stores, from your local grocery store to the shelves of Sephora. I’ve always found it fascinating how popular collagen is, both in skincare as well…
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What’s the Deal With Grapefruit Juice and Drugs?
Introduction Can something in grapefruits really affect how a medication works in our body? The answer is yes, yes it can. For a lot of medications, you can find a warning on the label stating that you should avoid grapefruit while you’re taking it. Basically, drugs are designed to work on patients at a certain dose…