....
Lies!
My circadian rhythm is way off right now. [Circadian rhythm -an internal biological clock that regulates a variety of biological processes according to an approximate 24-hour period (www.emedicinehealth.com), or the time that is your regular bed time and the time when you naturally wake up.) I should be going to sleep around ten and waking up at around eight am every day, ready to go about my day, but instead I am forcing myself to be awake until two a.m. and then sleeping until nearly noon! Let's face it: everyone needs sleep and a good nap in the middle of the day feels so good. But the flip side of it is something I see around campus and prevalent in college students: The abuse of Adderall.
Adderall is a medicine used by ADHD patients and is a psycho-stimulant. In a nutshell that means that it increases energy, alertness, can improve mood, etc. It's like cocaine or methamphetamine (www.webmd.com). But a few weeks ago I witnessed the abuse of Adderall as a drug - one that kept someone I know up all night, making it impossible for him to sleep and exhausting him the next day, leaving him feeling sick. This isn't the first person I have witnessed in the aftermath of Adderall abuse - and they do not think it is a big deal at all. After all, it was freely given to them, and the psycho-stimulant made it possible for them to stay up all night and have fun with their "friends", or study all night, or be extremely focused. Personally, if I wanted a psycho-stimulant, caffeine is available - and legal!
I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not agree with experimenting with drugs. I am a firm believer that those who use drugs and believe it is "no big deal" are only leaving room in their lives for bigger drugs to come into play and handing the remote control to their lives over to drugs, and away from themselves. I like having the remote control to my life, and want to keep it that way.
I also am a firm believer in not condemning those who have made the choice to use drugs. I think that the best way to guide a person back to what is legal is to lead by example. Therefore, I do not use drugs and do not encourage it, and will never agree with someone that drugs are okay, but I will be supportive in finding help if someone comes to me with a drug problem.
Back to my own circadian rhythm though: I need to start getting back into the habit of waking up early. So tomorrow when my alarm goes off in the morning... I am going to wake up. I hope. :) I'll let you know!
There is a lot that I want to write about: the new health-care bill, this news bit I found on cnn.com, and my lack of reading (!!!) that I need to catch up on... as well as some interesting life bits that have been going on at work/home. But all that must wait because (gasp!) it's half past midnight and if I want to wake up and regulate my rhythm, I have to sleep first.
Adderall is a medicine used by ADHD patients and is a psycho-stimulant. In a nutshell that means that it increases energy, alertness, can improve mood, etc. It's like cocaine or methamphetamine (www.webmd.com). But a few weeks ago I witnessed the abuse of Adderall as a drug - one that kept someone I know up all night, making it impossible for him to sleep and exhausting him the next day, leaving him feeling sick. This isn't the first person I have witnessed in the aftermath of Adderall abuse - and they do not think it is a big deal at all. After all, it was freely given to them, and the psycho-stimulant made it possible for them to stay up all night and have fun with their "friends", or study all night, or be extremely focused. Personally, if I wanted a psycho-stimulant, caffeine is available - and legal!
I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not agree with experimenting with drugs. I am a firm believer that those who use drugs and believe it is "no big deal" are only leaving room in their lives for bigger drugs to come into play and handing the remote control to their lives over to drugs, and away from themselves. I like having the remote control to my life, and want to keep it that way.
I also am a firm believer in not condemning those who have made the choice to use drugs. I think that the best way to guide a person back to what is legal is to lead by example. Therefore, I do not use drugs and do not encourage it, and will never agree with someone that drugs are okay, but I will be supportive in finding help if someone comes to me with a drug problem.
Back to my own circadian rhythm though: I need to start getting back into the habit of waking up early. So tomorrow when my alarm goes off in the morning... I am going to wake up. I hope. :) I'll let you know!
There is a lot that I want to write about: the new health-care bill, this news bit I found on cnn.com, and my lack of reading (!!!) that I need to catch up on... as well as some interesting life bits that have been going on at work/home. But all that must wait because (gasp!) it's half past midnight and if I want to wake up and regulate my rhythm, I have to sleep first.
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