Body and Mind: Maintaining Good Health in Grad School

After fighting off my second cold in the last three weeks, I felt it would be appropriate to post a few thoughts about maintaining good health in grad school (not that I'm a great example of this right now). It's pretty obvious that if you feel like crap physically, you're not going to be at your best mentally. Since you need to keep your "A" game on in grad school, it's important to take care of your body. You don't want to have to suffer at the bench with a runny nose and sore throat, or endure hours at the computer with a headache and nagging cough if you can help it. Even worse, if you're TAing, then you might find yourself having to lead discussion sections/recitations while sick. There isn't really anything worse than that--well, actually there is one thing. Giving a talk while sick is the worst of the worst. On top of feeling the normal pre-talk jitters, you feel like absolute crap. You have to stand in front of a group of people, project your voice, and hope that you don't pass out mid-sentence.

The last time I gave a talk while sick I was honest about it and asked the audience's patience if my voice was hoarse. I even asked them to quietly leave the room without disturbing me if I happened to collapse while speaking so that at least I could get an uninterupted nap. At the end of that talk, some jerk asked me a detailed question about the statistical analysis of my data. In a not-so-professional moment, I simply told him that my head really hurt and to take a little pity on me and not expect an answer from me on that particular day.

So, anyway, here are my top tips for staying well in grad school. You've probably learned most of these things as undergrads, but at the very least I can remind you of the basics:

1. Sleep. Sleep well and sleep often. Most people I know who are consistently sick operate on less than 5 hours of sleep each night. I average between 7.5 and 8 hours each night and it allows me to make it through the day with no stimulants (I'm one of the few grad students who can get by without coffee or colas). In addition to keeping you healthy, sleep is great for refreshing your mind and coming up with new ideas. Many famous inventors used short naps as a tool to get new ideas. In my own experience, I've dreamt about my work many times and I've even had a few of these dreams yield real-life working solutions to the questions that had me stumped. I know that 8 hours seems like a huge chunk of the 24 hours you get each day, but I don't think there is any single better use of it than sleeping. Guard it, protect it, and it will do you well.
2. Nutrition. When I was a kid, they taught us about the 4 food groups. Now, they teach the food pyramid (I think). Personally, I don't worry too much about these programs and instead follow two simple rules: eat variety, and take it easy on fatty foods. I eat fruits and vegetables every day. I eat meat (usually poultry) about every other day. I suffer a weakness for sweets and ice cream, but mostly I try to eat a balance of starches, dairy, proteins, fruits and vegetables.
3. Vitamins. I don't have any solid proof that they do anything good for me, but I consider them as insurance for the times when I'm less diligent about eating properly.
   
4. Germs. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right? If you can keep the germs away then you won't have to worry about getting sick at all. So, what does this mean to you? Wash your hands often (especially after taking public transportation or using a public computer or a common piece of lab equipment). In my lab, we use microscopes a lot. I've seen people sneeze while on the scope and not even wash their hands before putting their hands back on the scope. Needless to say, I used a Kimwipe+EtOH on the scope before I next used it. Also, if you're sick and you can afford to stay home (your advisor is understanding and you don't have anything pressing going on) then stay home! Don't bring your germs into the lab and make everyone else sick. You're not going to make friends by getting the whole lab sick.
5. Exercise. I'm going to be writing a separate post on this a little later, but for now I'll just say that you've got make time in your schedule for exercise at least 3 or 4 times a week. The benefits of exercise are both physical and mental.

So, I hope that this post finds you feeling well and that you can use this information to help stay healthy while in grad school!