Healthy UNH Blogger: Rebecca Lastra
Home Town: New Milford, CT
Major: Secondary Math Education
Graduation Year: 2013
What do you do to make a Healthy UNH: Inform my family and friends how to make better food selections and why.
Favorite Dining Hall: Stillings
Favorite Book: Harry Potter!
Brand Name Frenzy
By: Rebecca Lastra
Throughout our lives, we have been trained that purchasing any product with a respectable name attached to it deems it more effective than any generic product. Primarily through media and word of mouth, we have defined that labeled brands are better products and they usually cost significantly more. Sometimes it is worth the extra couple of bucks, but other times it is completely irrelevant. One product that most Americans get hung up on, is if they should buy a generic or brand named drug.
Read moreTagged In: Health Cost, Healthy UNH, Rebecca Lastra, UNH
Coffee Confusion
By: Rebecca Lastra
Ever since I was young, I had the common assumption that “coffee stunts your growth” drilled into my head. As I got older, I watched my parents drink multiple cups of coffee before heading off to work and I eventually found myself relying on the drink either in the morning or pulling an all-nighter to study for an exam. With that being said, there has been a constant debate for decades if coffee is actually harmful to your health and Health Magazine tries to get to the bottom of it.
Read moreTagged In: Health, Healthy UNH, Nutrition, Rebecca Lastra, UNH
What Lies Beneath the Sweat
By: Rebecca Lastra
After an intense workout session, it’s human nature to toss our damp, sweaty clothes into a gym bag and eventually take care of them when it’s time to do a load of laundry. However, the one vital step that most people don’t take care of is the bag that carries all the germs. Health magazine recently published an article that examined the perfect environment we are creating for bacteria to thrive in.
Read moreTagged In: Fitness, Health, Healthy UNH, Rebecca Lastra, UNH
Showing Stress Who's Boss
By: Rebecca Lastra
Everyone has felt that anxious feeling starting in the pit of our stomachs and ultimately convincing us that we simply do not have enough time. This reoccurring emotion has a name and it’s called stress. As defined by dictionary.com, stress is the pressure or tension exerted on a particular object. When your body becomes to feel stressed, it reacts by preparing either to “fight or flee” the situation. When this is activated, adrenaline and norepinephrine are released to focus attention on the task at hand.
Read moreTagged In: Health, Healthy UNH, Mental Health, Rebecca Lastra, Stress
