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Show AggieLife Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Page 7 College life may have consequences on health By APRIL ASHLAND staff writer Student health is a lot more complicated than just the common cold. Lucas Odahlen, associate doctor of Aggie County Chiropractic, said he sees students mostly for headaches and back pain. He said students get back problems from various things, such as having bad posture and wearing heavy backpacks. He said one way to help the headaches and back pain is to drink lots of water. "Most people and a lot of students are living on soda and junk food," Odahlen said. "Students should drink lots of water, about 1 ounce per pound of body weight, or at least two liters of water." Odahlen said drinking water, eating lots of fresh food and exercising are easy ways to be and feel healthier, as well as getting chiropractic care. "We often use something called the Pettibon System — most people have lost the curvature in their spine, which puts a lot of pressure on your spinal column, and the Pettibon System helps to give you back that curvature," he said. "The pressure on your spinal column can cause digestive problems, as well as headaches and back pain. So getting the proper chiropractic care for your back is also important." Jim Davis, director of the Student Health and Wellness Center, said he and the other doctors see a variety of issues. "Not only do we see things like colds and sinus infections, but we also see students who are having problems with depression, ADD and more," Davis said. Every summer Davis does a presentation for the parents of students coming to SOAR, and he said the center has just finished compiling information for his presentation about what kinds of things the doctors at the center see most. He said the top five things they see are upper respiratory infections, behavioral health, injuries mostly to extremities, physical exams and warts. Every other Wednesday are wart days, Davis said. The doctors use liquid nitrogen to get rid of them, and Davis said they see lots of patients with warts. Wellness differs from health, and Davis said wellness itself is vital. "Most students are doing it on their own for the first time, and we consider wellness to be really, really important," Davis said. The first step to being well is to get a check up. Davis said basic problems have to be handled first, in order to get healthy. He said things like asthma and diabetes need to be under control before students can work on staying healthy. Davis said students need to get adequate sleep. Adequate sleep for a college student means, on average, seven to eight hours of sleep, according to the center's Web site, http://www.usu.edu/health/healthtopics . Some students need more, some need less. Davis said sleep disruption is becoming more common on campus, and the center is seeing more students who are sleep deprived on a daily basis. Eating well and drinking lots of water are important, Davis said, as well as exercise and avoidance of unhealthy substances. "Substances that are bad for you can be as simple as high doses of caffeine," Davis said. "Exercise can be walking or something more. Fit bodies are much more resistant to illness and disease." The Student Health and Wellness Center doctors have strong backgrounds in things such as depression and anxiety, Davis said, and can take care of simple problems. Anything too complex they refer to psychiatrist Brian Merrill who works there two days a week, as well as at the Counseling and Psychological Service Center. "We have strong ties with the counseling center," Davis said. "We work hand in hand with them and people who need more than we can give them alone." The Student Health and Wellness Center offers many services other than just for physical injuries and sickness. Davis said the center is a resource many students don't realize they have. "We asked focus groups how to make the center more useful, in order to better serve the students," he said. "The most common response we got was, 'I don't know what you do, so I can't tell you how to do it better.— Davis said there is a large marketing gap in what students think about the center and what it offers. He said the staff want to provide a top-rate service, but students need to understand what they do. The center is a place to start with tough questions, and if students don't know where else to go. "Illness, injury, can't get along with my roommate, was sexually assaulted, fell off my bike, can't concentrate in studying, they can all start here at the wellness center," he said. The center has doctors, dietitians, physical therapists, X-ray doctors, even a pharmacy. Davis said he thinks the center does student health better than any other place in Logan, because the staff understands students better. He said they understand that students have lots of tests and Los Angeles Times There's a new element officially in town and its name is copernicium, after the 16th-century Polish scientist Nicholas Copernicus. It is element 112 and its symbol is Cn. Copernicium, a heavier relative of zinc, cadmium and mercury, was first seen in 1996 by researchers at the Society for Heavy Ions Research in Darmstadt, Germany, after they bombarded a lead target with zinc ions. It took the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, which regulates nomenclature, nearly 14 years to resolve disputes between the Germans and American researchers over who was first to produce the new element, but the agency reported in the March issue of the journal Pure and Applied Chemistry that the Germans had priority and are thus entitled to propose a name. Physicist Sigurd Hofmann, leader of the German team, said in a statement that the researchers' intent was to "salute an influential scientist who didn't receive any accolades in his own lifetime, and highlight the link between astronomy and the field of nuclear chemistry." — april.ashland@aggiemail.usu.edu photo by TODD JONES Periodic table gets new resident By THOMAS H. MAUGH II homework and stress. "We're here to help you succeed," Davis said. "We're just waiting for you to come and tell us what you need." Copernicus was the first scientist to conclude that the planets of the solar system revolve around the sun rather than the Earth. The new name follows in the recent tradition of naming synthetic elements after famous scientists. Others include: Element 111, roentgenium, named after German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen, who discovered X-rays. Element 109, meitnerium, named after Austrian born Swedish physicist Lise Meitner, who worked on the team that discovered nuclear fission. Element 107, bohrium, named after Danish physicist Niels Bohr, who made fundamental contributions to the understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics. Element 106, seaborgium, named after American physicist Glenn Seaborg, who pioneered the discovery of artificially produced elements. Element 110 is named darmstadtium after the city where it was discovered, while 108 is named hassium from the Latin name for the German state of Hesse, where Darmstadt is located. The IUPAC has not yet resolved competing claims over the discovery of elements 113 through 118. Don't forget ... Watching your wallet Found every Wednesday aggietownsquare.com Street Speak What would you say or do if the bathroom door lock was broken and someone came in? — Cody Jessop, senior, biology ,-,4 — Luke Lancaster, junior, entrepreneurship Au% _ "'I didn't push the help button." ( 44 "'Only two cheeks fit in here." _ "That never happens to me because I block the door with my foot everytime Igo." "'Hey, what's up?" „ 1 — Nikki Miner, junior, exercise science !h.. _ , —JC Hardy, sophomore, undeclared , I, Information and photos by STEVE SELLERS 45 NORTH MAIN, LOGAN UTAH (435) 753-4870 |