Lifestyle – Page 12 of 26

6Nov

By Laura StoodleyNo Comments

Lifestyle

Naps: The Natural Pick-Me-Up

I am a huge advocate for naps. Usually, you can find me waking up from my early evening nap and preparing for a night out, or less favourably and more commonly, settling in to grind down on a night full of homework. Lately, I’ve been wondering - are these naps helping me or just helping me procrastinate? Unsurprisingly, napping has a number of benefits including reducing fatigue, increasing alertness, and improving mood. In addition, as bad sleep can increase the amount of stress hormones and negatively affect the immune system, a quick nap can reverse the hormonal impact that comes with a night of bad sleep. Although, napping only benefits you if used properly (think great power, great responsibility). Lucky for you, I’m here to give you a brief guide to how to most effectively nap. ...

31Oct

By Chloe BuckNo Comments

Lifestyle

Halloween, What it’s really about?

Autumn is a time that many people enjoy: the beautiful autumnal views, the return of jumper weather, bonfire night and of course, Halloween. Halloween is usually a time for people to dress up in horrendous outfits (some terrifying, others not so much) and provides an excuse to have parties. However, as much fun as dressing up is, what is Halloween actually about? Halloween falls between Autumn and Winter, the time between life and death, the time when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest. Halloween is thought to have originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. To commemorate such an event, the Druids would build sacred bonfires. People would gather to make sacrifices to the Celtic Deities, burning crops and animals. The Celts wore costumes, which mostly consis...

29Oct

By Hefina EverardNo Comments

Lifestyle

Get Up, Get Out

Suitcases are all unpacked. Room decorations all hung up. Snazzy new stationary at the ready. University has officially started. With the rush of deadlines, excessive partying and sleepless nights, this academic year will fly by. However, it’s important to remember to let yourself have fun. A big thing about university life is experiencing the unexperienced, taking yourself out of your comfort zone and trying something new. You are guiding your own path at university, allowing yourself to take control of your own future. Some may find this daunting, while others may love the feeling of freedom. The most important thing at this stage of our lives is to accept and embrace change; whether it be through our own doing or something completely uncontrolled. Change can be an extremely positi...

27Oct

By Stephanie BagnallNo Comments

Lifestyle

Disconnect To Reconnect

No one can deny that we, on the whole, are a social media obsessed generation. The average person has five social media accounts and spends an average of 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day, according to the latest quarterly report from Global Web Index (GWI). After finding out about these staggering statistics, I decided to take a break from social media and delete all my apps for a month. These are some things that I learnt. My levels of procrastination decreased wonderfully and it was incredible. I was doing double the work in half the time. I felt amazing. Mostly because this all meant that I had more time to do what I loved with the extra minutes that I had left over. I was painting more, writing more and feeling much more satisfied and content knowing that I...

Five Apps that are More Productive than Binging Netflix

26Sep

By Emma HalahanNo Comments

Lifestyle

Five Apps that are More Productive than Binging Netflix

Netflix is the procrastination tool of choice for many of us and it’s not hard to see why. A seemingly endless supply of the world's favourite TV shows is an appealing premise, but for those of you wondering how else to kill the boredom in a slightly more productive manner, here are the top picks. 1) Mapswipe Mapswipe is one of those mindless but addictive tasks. Across the world, Medicine Sans Frontiers is looking to digitally map parts of the world which we currently haven’t. You simply help them along their way by telling them whether the tile you’re presented with has any structures, major roads or rivers on it. One day, if the area is struck by a crisis, your contribution to the mapping project will tell aid workers where human populations are, as well as what roads th...

Making Your Relationship Survive the University Test

21Sep

By Shannon GrayNo Comments

Lifestyle

Making Your Relationship Survive the University Test

I was 17 years old and had just started my final year of sixth form when I began my first real relationship. We were an inseparable, strong and loving couple. Despite our devoted appearance, the one question that seemed to keep cropping up from friends and family was “Do you think you’ll break up when you go to University?”. It felt insulting. Shocking, even. And yet it wasn’t until I arrived at University, miles away from my partner, that I began to understand that it wasn’t actually an insult at all. I began to see relationships triple the length of mine fall to pieces within weeks, and relationships half the length of mine strengthen at full force. This was the milestone that separated the dedicated from the convenient. And one year after successfully passing the University test, I’d...

19Sep

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Lifestyle

5 Things to do Before you Graduate

Whether you’re a fresh-faced first year or a weary postgraduate, graduation seems a long way off. However, soon enough, the end of your university career comes around and you wonder where it’s all gone. Here are a few things you MUST do before you disappear into adult life: 1. Walk around the whole of Virginia Water Lake. Within half an hour of campus is Virginia Water Lake, part of Windsor Great Park. Living so close to a great spot of natural beauty, it would be awful to miss out on seeing the whole of the lake - it is 4.5 miles to do the circuit and there’s also a coffee shop where you can reward yourself with a well-earned snack. 2. Try out a society and a sports club. Royal Holloway has over 100 sports and societies, some of which are quite unique. You might hate sports but you ...

7Jun

By Victoria ChapmanNo Comments

Lifestyle

The Politics Of Social Media

Victoria Chapman discusses how social media is used to engage people in current affairs and why it has become such an influence on modern day politics. A day doesn't go by where you don’t see a disgruntled socialist complaining about Theresa May’s cutbacks, or a Conservative supporter making yet another statement about Labour’s debt and denial. And whether you’re into politics or not, you have to agree it makes for an interesting debate on Facebook. But how exactly does social media have such an impact over politics? Everyone’s on social media now; politics can be accessed through every technological medium, allowing it to reach out to everyone rather than the select few. Anyone can get involved in a discussion or movement on Facebook, Twitter, you name it. Even Instagram had users ...

5Jun

By Victoria ChapmanNo Comments

Lifestyle

Instagram: The New Catwalk?

Victoria Chapman discusses how Instagram is becoming more influential within the fashion industry than the catwalk. Ever found yourself aimlessly scrolling through Instagram and wanting that cute outfit you saw on a model? You're not alone; Instagram makes the inaccessible accessible. It’s a social trend that’s reconstructing the fashion industry into a new virtual catwalk. Instagram boasts 600 million monthly users, with 400 million of those using the app every single day. The app gives its users a ‘visual voice’, allowing them to express themselves through photos of their clothes, face, hair, makeup, food, places, you get the idea. Instagram is becoming more popular, influencing fashion especially, with clothing brands publicising their products across the world to millions of peop...

29Mar

By No Comments

Lifestyle

London Fashion Week Festival

Chloe Hill summarises Fashion Week festival, located at The Store Studios, 180 The Strand, London. This year’s location is a different, more rustic setting compared to its previous home The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. The new simple architecture transforms the atmosphere into a relaxed one, making it the perfect cultural hub to stage hundreds of designers, talks and shopping experiences. In the world of fashion, these weeks are the most exciting and anticipated of the year. People from all over the world congregate to watch the innovative designs unravel before their eyes. For years, I was under the impression that the event was kept firmly behind locked doors. For LFW itself, this is true. However, for the weekend festival, tickets are available both on the door and online. The s...