Health & Wellness
Once you have gathered the Matcha personnel explored in my previous article, you can start experimenting with how you would prefer to make your matcha. I’ll give you the basic guide on what I follow when making my matcha, but feel free to adjust anything within this guide to your liking!
Staying active while juggling academics can be challenging, but fortunately, the area around USC offers a variety of fitness classes that cater to different workout preferences. Whether you’re into high-intensity interval training or prefer the mind-body balance of yoga, there’s a class for everyone. Check out some of my favorites!
When they say “unlimited,” I really take it as “unlimited.” Once, I hopped through all three dining halls in the span of an hour, which you may equate to “big back tendencies,” but jokes on you, there were just flies in certain establishments that I could not ignore. If you like seeking college advice from the greats of TikTok and Reddit like I do, you probably have been reassured that the possibility of the “freshman 15” is combatted by all the walking you will do around campus.
I’m very particular about my matcha, which should be a concern if you’re a matcha addict like me, who is also trying to stay on a budget. Last year I spent a bunch of money going to cafes or Dulce runs just so I could have my weekly matcha, but now I can have it every day by making it at home!
Every waking second, it seems as if the line between social media and e-commerce blurs. Especially for college students who may be experiencing a newfound sense of freedom through new income streams, the desire to try new products heightens. Which seems a lot like the Europeans during the early modern period. Around the period of the Renaissance, Europeans gained increasingly curious about routes to Asia for spices, porcelain, and other commodities that they did not have back home.
Here are all of the Friendsgiving recipes, from appetizers to desserts, that will make your gathering deliciously unforgettable. Most importantly, Friendsgiving isn't just about the perfect dish; it's about spending time with all of your close friends.
For people who are gluten-free like me, it can be tough to find items that meet our dietary needs year-round. By the time the fall season rolls around, the store shelves are filled with seasonal items that we can’t eat, and we’re left out of the fun. Thankfully, Trader Joe’s has been hard at work to make sure both you and me can enjoy the sweeter, spice filled side of autumn, at no cost to our digestive systems.
To the untrained eye, college appears to be a foreign world teeming with unknown life. Amongst outsiders, the subject of a stereotypical USC student conjures images of a child in a family of Trojans who holds a certain amount of wealth. But upon closer inspection, you’ll find that the school’s environment contains many people who exist outside of the norm. In recent years, 25% of admitted students were first-generation and 22% of undergraduates are defined as low income.
The coziness of fall is upon us, and with it an abundance of fall recipes to bake or cook. As someone who just got her own kitchen a little over a year ago, learning the balance between making dishes that are nutritious and ones that aren’t too difficult to make has been a journey. Also, I love to bake, and finding times to bake as a busy double major has also been a challenge. This year, I have found a few recipes that give off the coziness of fall without too many steps (or dishes)!
We have all probably had one too many near-miss scooter encounters. Speaking from personal experience, I have almost been hit by a scooter on or around campus when minding my own business numerous times. So I am here to highlight the importance of pedestrian safety.
If you wake up scatterbrained and anxious about the day ahead, a daily “reset” ritual can really help you organize and center yourself. As a person who lives alone, sometimes holding myself accountable can be really hard. I try to keep my apartment clean and organized, but every now and then, I slip up and suddenly clothes are scattered everywhere, my sink is full of dishes, and I have an enormous pile of laundry waiting for me. Creating a daily reset routine has helped me feel less overwhelmed and keeps me organized both mentally and physically.
Sometimes cooking in college can feel overwhelming, especially if you share a kitchen, or maybe don’t have a kitchen in your dorm at all. However, there are many simple and healthy recipes that you can make, and some only require a microwave. Particularly, Trader Joe’s has some great microwavable meal options! Here are some meal ideas from my kitchen including favorite recipes from my mom.
As you snooze your seven alarms before your 9 a.m. class, throw on your clothes, grab your laptop charger, dash out the door into a lecture, and find yourself stuck in an endless cycle of eat, sleep, school repeat, let’s remember to take care of our health. It can be difficult when you’re on a time crunch to feed yourself (trust me, I went last semester only eating half a Barbell’s protein bar before my hour commute to work or my morning classes). So, here are some quick breakfast ideas that can be thrown together in under five minutes that will replenish your energy to start off your day happy and healthy.
When I started at USC, I anticipated stressing over homework, homesickness, and an adjustment period to my newfound independence. I didn’t anticipate, but soon learned, that new environments and major life changes are known to aggravate Tourette’s Syndrome.
The demanding combination of attaining a degree, maintaining a social life, and growing as a student can be extremely difficult. We, in turn, tend to sacrifice parts of our daily lives in order to meet the vast rigor of college, and a lot of the time, it is our daily meals and nutritional intake that get deprioritized.
Putting anything in a vending machine instantly makes it more interesting, so the new gold vending machine sitting outside of Trader Joe’s up against the elevator bank immediately caught my eye. Actually a revival of a project started in 2019, the USC Pharmacy and USC Student Health have installed a “wellness-to-go” vending machine in the USC Village to give students 24/7 access to over the counter medication.
While people often make lofty New Years resolutions that quickly fall by the wayside, there’s also more sustainable adjustments we can make to kickstart the new year. Here’s a guide to making quick, affordable, and healthy recipes to support your wellness year-round from the comfort of your dorm microwave or apartment kitchen.
Sometimes school can get overwhelming, especially with end of the year projects and finals coming around the corner. One method that I use to help me decompress is meditation.
As National Men’s Health Awareness month comes to a close, you may be asking: Miguel, if November is over, why are you writing about this now? Despite the helpfulness of having a month dedicated to men’s health topics, we should be talking about these challenges year-round - especially when it comes to mental health. In American culture and many other cultures worldwide, vulnerability about men’s mental health and open conversations about solutions are seen as taboo. The perception of manhood and masculinity in many cultures, even in the face of health issues, can end up boxing men into black and white categories like emotionally weak (negative) vs. unwaveringly strong (the goal) – which can come at a cost.
As the spooky season of Halloween and the rumble of football season come to a close, a much scarier and daunting season looms over us – finals season. Amid the stress and late-night cramming, the changing climate outdoors can further challenge our well being. Through the hustle and bustle of the end of the semester, it is really easy to lose sight of our health and put our bodies under an excessive amount of stress. To make sure you don’t get sick at this critical time, I’ve compiled a few simple tips to help you prevent getting sick and staying healthy this final season!
High school health class often serves as a crucible for adolescent hormones, as teens find themselves seated alongside one another, grappling with notions of sex, intimacy, and relationships. My own upbringing in a deeply Catholic environment meant that my teacher approached the subject with caution, emphasizing that sex was to be approached with solemnity and reserved for a context of maturity or marriage. It was framed as a sacred act, laden with moral implications.
Ahhh… that time of year strikes again. You’re balancing flu season, football tailgates, DoorDash fees, and, of course, all your classes that seem to have midterms that land in a two-day period. Although you can’t change your unfortunate testing schedule, here are some ways to live, laugh, and love through this nail-biting, anxiety-inducing, and heart rate spiking few weeks.
There’s turbulence in all aspects of the college years as your foundation of as ever changing person – from friends to classes to academic esteem – is always shifting. It’s confusing, upsetting, and wild, but it’s also a part of growing.
After a long day of school and homework, it’s time to unwind and go to sleep. You’d think that after a day of looking at our laptops, we’d want to unwind and read a book or journal – but no. In fact, about 90% of 18-29 year olds sleep with their phones near them, while 95% of people use their phone just before going to bed. I used to be one of those people.
I’ve always wanted to live alone. Don’t get me wrong, housemates and the experience of living with friends is a crucial part of the college experience. From living in a small, shared room in a college dorm to a big party house, I’ve lived just about every way a college student can. I loved every bit of it too. However, I am a person who loves her own space and the freedom of living on her own schedule. Because of that, I decided to live alone in a studio apartment for my senior year.
Getting around campus can frequently feel overwhelming with people walking and riding bikes, scooters, and skateboards. Last Wednesday, September 13th, USC Safety and DPS held an event to promote pedestrian, bicycle, scooter, and skateboard safety in which bike bells were given out after completing a short quiz. Here are some easy tips from Wednesday’s USC Safety event if you weren’t able to make it for everyone to feel safer while getting around campus.
Heading into my senior year of college, I’ve finally learned the embrace that college is hard. Whether it’s a tough class or just homesickness and general overwhelm, there’s always a new challenge to work through. I guess that’s what growing up is all about. But, over time, I’ve learned one of the best ways to treat those low moments is finding small ways to make your life a little better every day.
Starting college offered the chance to start over in a way that absolutely thrilled me, but in 2020, as I was preparing to start that chapter, I also got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Navigating my new diagnosis during a pivotal time of my life left me with a lot of whys and hows. Chronic illness was poised to take over my life and conspired to ruin my college experience.
While my freshman year took place entirely online, I know what it’s like to start a new school with no friends. It can be daunting to walk up to people and start a conversation without knowing how they’ll respond.
The start of the new year feels like a blank slate or the perfect opportunity to rewrite the script of our lives. For years, I embraced the spirit of the New Years’ resolution, partly because it was a popular grade school post-recess activity and partly because I genuinely enjoyed believing I would be a different person in the next calendar year. My lists would look a little different every year but would still be brimming with the same ambitious flavor.