Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: Life

Naps: The Natural Pick-Me-Up
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. ...
Embrace your inner Buddha
Lifestyle

Embrace your inner Buddha

Embrace your inner Buddha   Many people carry the misconception that religious life is somewhere up there in the clouds and that our everyday life is too dull. Often people think that to be a spiritual being, we must ignore or neglect our everyday lives, and go into some spiritual realm in order to be accepted. Others perhaps ignore religion completely and see it as a pile of mumbo jumbo. I personally have never been one to abide by a religion or believe that there is one ‘maker’ and that is because I wanted to choose what I believed. It took me 19 years and a whole lot of ‘soul searching’ but finally the locals of Siem Reap (a Cambodian province) taught me to embrace my inner Buddha. Now I don’t mean I became a Buddhist on my travels and experienced a cliché ‘Gap Year’ ch...
Backpacking for less
Features

Backpacking for less

It’s that time of year again – the depressing March weather has got us all dreaming about our summer holidays, and prowling the low cost sites for a cheap deal. You might be looking into backpacking, that stalwart of student travel since time immemorial. People frequently backpack for months at a time, and whilst you may be thinking “that sounds much more expensive than an all-inclusive week in Kavos”, you’ll be surprised how much money it’s possible to save. Firstly, it depends on the area you want to explore. If you want to backpack around the US or in Scandinavia, your leftover student loan definitely won’t cover it. But if you’re a little imaginative, you can find much better value elsewhere. Think about exploring Eastern Europe, the Balkans, or even South East Asia – you’ll be surp...
The importance of water
Opinion

The importance of water

Amie Dredge asks why the university is not doing more to keep us hydrated Water: that little necessity in life that comprises over 70% of your body weight. We are constantly being told to drink more water, yet there are very few places on campus to get this water. The recommended daily intake of water is set at 2 litres. The proven advantages of drinking lots of water include: Better skin Decreased tiredness - Feeling tired can be a result of dehydration and the NHS recommends drinking more water if you feel frequently tired Help to lose weight - A 2015 study by the University of Birmingham reported that drinking water before meal times means you eat fewer calories because you feel fuller (http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2015/08/Abottleofwaterbeforeeachmeal260815.aspx...
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

A Love Letter to Netflix

Hey, I would say it’s been a while, but we were together an hour ago when I should have been writing an essay. This is what I need to talk to you about. I think we need to take some time apart. Over summer, it seemed too good to be true. It was a perfect romance; all onesie days and staying up all night. Hours together. Days even? Maybe I’m exaggerating. We just got each other, you know? We had the same taste, we still do. If I wanted to binge watch Desperate Housewives for a week and barely surface from my room, so did you. If I’d come back from a night out and wanted to watch a quick comedy until I fell asleep, you were there with the Pepsi and popcorn – Well, at least it felt like you were. I think some higher power had intended for us to find each other. You’re the Immaculate Co...