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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2002)
Health Education offerings Wednesdays 4:00-5:30 p.m. Oct 50"-NO* 13“ University Health center, Cafeteria call 346-2794 to sign up. Learn basic skills to prepare quick, nutri tious & delicious meals! If you feel you have no time, money or creativity, then this is the workshop for you. Class is limit ed to seven students, cost Is $15. Quitting tobacco is the healthiest move you can make! Pick up a “quit ktr from a Health Center practitioner or from the Health Ed Office. Tuesday, Nov.4 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. university Health center Medical Library Gather information & resources to help you quit for good. Aids such as the patch, zyband, gum and behavior strategies will be discussed. A Breast Cancer Awareness Fashion Show Mon. Oct 28 7pm EMU Ballroom Tuesdays, Oct 22, Nov. 5 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Hearth center Cafeteria American Heart Association Course. Register at 546-2770. Every Tuesday 9:30 -11:30 a.n. UO Health Center, Health Education Office Simply drop by, no appointment uecessaryTo register for or to learn more about these workshops, check out the Uni versity Health Center's Web site at http://healthed.uoregon.edu. You can also call or stop by the Peer Health Education Office on the first floor of the University Health Center. Fall 2002 Wednesdays 3:00-5:00 P.M. OCt 9: Vegie cooldng/cliolestrol Oct 23: Breast Cancer NOV 6: Diabetes NOV 20: Tobacco Diabetes What to know, What to do By Emily Garling If you were on the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and you made it to the million dollar question, could you answer this: What exactly is diabetes? Just in case that opportu nity ever comes up, or you simply want to understand this increasingly common disorder, read on. There are two types of diabetes, re ferred to as Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes is most commonly diagnosed in children or young adults and occurs when the cells in the pancreas either no longer produce insulin or do not make enough insulin. According to Maiyjean Jacobson, registered nurse and diabetes educator at the UO Health Center, here at the UO, 85 % of the students with diabetes have this form of the disease. Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, generally develops later in life and occurs when the pan creas doesn’t make enough insulin and/or the cells in the body cannot use the insulin properly. Whereas Type 1 diabetes is usually a result of genetic ir regularity, Type 2 diabetes can be a re sult of outside risk factors, such as obe sity, and not getting enough exercise. College life can be stressful and compromise your health. Maintain ing positive habits now can keep you healthy today and help prevent dis eases in the future. Here are some tips for staying healthy during college and preventing development of type 2 dia betes. 1. Follow a meal plan. Even with classes scattered throughout the day and being at the library all night, it is still important to eat at regular inter vals to keep your blood glucose level steady and insulin production in a de sirable range. This will also help you maintain an ideal body weight. Kris ten Olmos, the Registered Dietitian at the UO Health Center, can help you to develop a meal plan that fits into your lifestyle. She can be reached at 346-2794 2. Exercise regularly. Aerobic and strength building exercises are great for anyone. In addition to helping you maintain a healthy weight, exercise will give you more energy for those late night study sessions. 3. Limit your alcohol intake. Drinking too much alcohol can result in hypoglycemia (lowblood glucose levels) and be veiy harmful to every organ in the body. 4. Take a snack. Packing a nutri ent dense snack like an apple and some cheese to class or the library can often help prevent large fluctuations in blood sugar levels. 5. Visit the Health Center. You can have your blood glucose level checked for free on Tuesday morn ings from 9:30 to 11:30 in the Health Education Office. Also, the Health Center has a diabetes education team consisting of a registered dietitian, a pharmacist, and several doctors and nurses who can provide diabetic stu dents with the best possible care while here at school. 6. Don’t stress the small stuff, re lax and enjoy college while you’re here! You’ll want to look back at all the good times that you had. Wondering about Nursing? Talk to the experts at your Health Center By Claudia Le Are you curious about the field of nursing? Have you ever wondered what the differences are between a Physician Assistant and a Nurse Practitioner? Like many other Pre Nursing students at UO, I am still on the quest to find out if Nursing Practi tioner (NP) is the right profession for me. To help me gain more insights about this profession, I interviewed Wendy Lang and Anne Mattson, two of the 5 NPs that work at the Univer sity Health Center. I asked Anne what she thought was the most important thing to look for when searching for the right nursing school. In her opinion, “students should look at the school and see if their standards reflect your standard and ex pectations ofyourself.” She recom mended that students get a lot of clinical time while in nursing school because it will prepare you for the working world. I asked Wendy how she knew that she wanted to become a nurse. She stated, “It is hard to know until you get some experience working with peo ple- either volunteering or working in clinics or hospitals. It helps if you real ly enjoy people and medicine and are not just economically motivated. ” The common question most pre nursing students are faced with is whether to pursue physician’s assis tant (PA) school or become a NP. Both Wendy and Anne agreed that being a NP gives you more autonomy. A NP has their own license to prac tice independently, whereas a PA is connected to a medical doctor. Wendy added that a NP can inde pendently operate their own clinic, do their own hilling and receive reim bursements. Nursing can he a rewarding experi ence if you like to help people and there are many different areas in mus ing to focus on. Students interested in the musing fields can contact any of the musing staff at the UO Health Center and ask to set up an informa tional interview. Call Sharon Har bert, Assistant Director of Nursing at 346-2760 for more information. Anxious About Anxiety? by Erica Tucker A man finds it difficult to attend a party because he’s self-conscious and feels that people are watching from every direction. Another per son sits infront of the telephone and agonizes because she’s afraid to pick up the receiver and make a call to someone she doesn’t know. Many of us can remember times when we felt uncomfortable being hie center of attention, but this brief shyness is not a psyco logical disorder. Social Anxiety (previously termed Social Phobia) exceeds normal shyness when it leads to excessive social avoid ance, occupational/academic im pairment, and/ or significant dis tress. So why do people have this disorder, how common is it, and can it be cured? Following are a list of common questions and answers about So cial Anxiety chosen from a book called The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D. You can find this book and others on anxiety in the Peer Health Library located in the Uni versity Health Center. What exactly is social anxiety? Social anxiety is a persistent and unrealistic fear ofbeing ob served and evaluated by others. These feared situations are avoid ed or endured with intense dis tress. What are the symptoms? Behavioral symptoms include: gaze aversion, avoidance of social situations, and slumping of the shoulders. Cognitive symptoms include: fear of evaluation, humil iation, and embarrassment. Physi cal symptoms include: blushing, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, tremor, panicky feelings, in creased heart rate, andblocked speech. How is it diagnosed? Unlike some other psychologi cal disorders, social anxiety is not well understoodby the general public or some medical profes sionals. In fact, people with social anxiety are misdiagnosed almost 90 % of the time. Because few so cially anxious people have heard of their own problem, they think they are the only ones in the world who have these terrible symptoms and fail to seek help. When the idea is brought up, doctors use a set of questions focusing on fears and anxieties surrounding social situations to help determine the diagnosis. I’ve never heard of social anxi ety, so it must not be very com mon. Social anxiety disorder is a lot more common than you think. It is actually the most prevalent of any anxiety disorder and is the third most common psychiatric disorder following depression and alcohol abuse. Social anxiety af fects 15 million Americans in any given year and occurs in women twice as often as men. What causes social anxiety? Some research implicates a small structure in the brain called the amygdala in the symptoms of social anxiety. It is believed that this structure is a central site in the brain that controls fear re sponses. Others have evidence to suggest that social anxiety can be inherited. And of course there is research investigating the envi ronment’s influence on the devel opment of social anxiety. This dis order typically begins in childhood or early adolescence and rarely develops after age 25. Can social anxiety be treated? Yes! Medications include anti depressants such as selective sero tonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and monoamine oxidase in hibitors (MAOIs). Psychotherapy involves helping patients gradual ly become more comfortable with situations that frighten them. Social anxiety is serious and has debilitating effects on those who suffer from it every day. If you feel you have symptoms of so cial anxiety or would like any fur ther information about diagno sis/or treatment, there are resources available for you on campus. Check out the Peer Health Education Office in the Health Center for articles, pam phlets and books like Women & Anxiety. You can also call the UO Health Center at 346-2770 to set up an appointment with a psychi atrist or other medical practition er. The UO Counseling Center, 346- 3227, offers free drop in con sultations and counseling. Other Resources: http://www.socialanxietyinsti tute.org/examples.html http://degnanco.com/anxiety/wh o.html http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/fcl 22.htm Fall 2002 Contributing Writers and Peer Health Educators Peer Health Educators and Contributing Writers: Katie Collins Jessica Hougen, Emily Garling, Sariantra Kali, Claudia Le, Sarah Parrish, Cass Skinner, Erica Tucker, Rebecca Wagner, Carrie Zogoros. Editor & Photographer: Annie Dochnahl WcllNow is published each term, except summer, for UO students by the Health Education Department of the Health Center, 13th and Agate Streets, University of Oregon, http://healthcenter.uoregon.edu Best Dressed Breast Breast Cancer Awareness Fashion Show Monday, oct 28th 7 pm EMU Ballroom Free and open to the public Learn about breast cancer risk and prevention thru beautiful and funky fashion.
