Saving a Life The Easy Way

The last few posts have been really boring and merely entailed me banging on about my not very exciting life as a mad, clumsy student with no money.

Because of this, I thought it was time to go back to writing something a little more serious, and today I've chosen to write a bit about blood donation. Right now, NHS Blood Donation are running a brand new appeal called 100K in 100 days, in which they're attempting to recruit 100, 000 new donor registrants from 7 November 2012 to 14 February 2013.

The whole scheme is being backed by cast members of Hollyoaks, to highlight the severe need for young blood donors across the UK. The number of young donors aged between 17-24 registering in the last 10 years has been falling steadily, with a 20% decrease in the last decade, and a 50% drop in the last year compared to 2011.

My story with blood donation started when I was about 10 years old. At the time, NHS Blood Donation had just launched a brand new campaign and they were promoting all over the country. Television and radio adverts, leaflets through your door, leaflets given to you on the street; it was everywhere. I had heard of 'Give Blood' before, but had never considered actually becoming a future blood donor until this point. The moment I read through the leaflet which came through the letterbox that day, I made the decision that as soon as I was old enough, I would become a blood donor.

Before I knew it, my 17th birthday came whizzing round the corner and I was eligible, but started to panic. There was no getting out of it without making an idiot of myself, not without it looking awful. So I convinced myself to get the first one out the way. Then at least I'd have done it, and could consider whether to continue afterwards.

And I did it. It was scary, but the NHS staff members were so relaxed, friendly and easy to talk to that, for half the time, I barely even acknowledged why I was there in the first place. I was also lucky enough to have a friend with me who had done it many times before and she, too, was anxious because she has a phobia of blood. She uses donation as a way of overcoming this fear, so I knew that if she can do it, then I could too. Putting it into perspective, I remembered that those who depend on blood donation are suffering far more than me.

Registering for blood donation could be one of the best things you do this year. I cannot stress enough how easy it is to sign up, go along to a session for an hour or so every 4 months and offer someone the best possible gift you could ever give them. The feeling you get afterwards is indescribable, and you can only ever experience it by actually doing it yourself.

Donation sessions are run all over the country throughout the year, so why not go along to one and see for yourself? First, be sure to check the guidelines to ensure that you're eligible: http://www.blood.co.uk/can-i-give-blood/

If you have any queries or questions, visit http://www.blood.co.uk/, 'Like' the NHS Blood donation Facebook page, or follow @GiveBloodNHS on twitter.

Giving blood is so amazing and it saves so many lives. Do your bit and register today!

The Anguish of All-Nighters

Featured in a copy of Christ Church's student newspaper UNIfied. Have a look at previous editions at http://ccsu.co.uk/UNIfied.

All-nighters are quite often a customary aspect of the student lifestyle.  You have a deadline looming, but you haven’t even started writing yet and to be honest, watching back to back episodes of Friends sounds far more appealing.

It doesn’t matter how many times you convince yourself that this time you will be organised and prepared, refusing to leave everything to the very last minute; you will probably still find yourself being drawn to other, more interesting things. And as a result, pulling an all-nighter is the only solution you believe you are left with, knowing that in a few precious hours you will be expected to hand in an important piece of work you are meant to have taken time and consideration over.

The thing is, I’m not even criticising you for it, because I’ve been there. In fact, I think we all have. It’s common knowledge in the student world that chatting to your mates on Facebook or Skype is a far more engaging activity than writing an assignment about Wuthering Heights. But procrastination can be poisonous, as more often than not you may find yourself moping into lectures powered with 4 hours sleep or less because you had a deadline and your time management skills had let you down.

We all know that sleep deprivation isn’t good for us, but having a frequent lack of sleep for the three to four years that you’re at University can be seriously damaging to your health.

Studies conducted by professors of sleep medicine have shown that there are clear links between sleep deprivation and the onset of neuropsychiatric disorders, like bipolar depression and anxiety. If you keep forcing your body to stay awake when it’s in severe need of a good rest, your blood pressure can be significantly affected, which in turn increases your susceptibility of cancer and heart disease.

You might even find yourself showing symptoms not just in the long-term; namely, short-term euphoria has been revealed in research at Harvard and Berkeley to be a condition which comes from sleep deprivation.

Here comes the science part: from missing a night’s sleep, the neutral circuit that controls pleasure and reward in your brain (something called the mesolimbic pathway) is stimulated in a process driven by a chemical called dopamine. If your dopamine levels are high, you receive a boost in positivity, motivation, even sex drive. And even though that sounds great, what comes next is not so wonderful.

Because not only is this boost extremely brief, this rush in dopamine also results in impulsive behaviour and addiction. The sections of your brain which control planning and evaluating shut down when they’re deprived of sleep, which means you’re more likely to become careless and happier about taking risks. When your brain is forced to operate in a different state regularly, it can permanently alter itself. So if the ‘mesolimbic pathway’ is continuously over-stimulated by lack of sleep, you could end up with permanent brain damage.

The moral of the story? Organisation of assignments, essays and exams is not only crucial to achieving great results, but crucial in keeping you healthy in body and mind. So every once in a while, switch off the TV, sign out of Facebook, sit down and actually study. If not for the sake of your work, at least for the sake of your health.