Author: Tara Vartanian

Tara Vartanian is an Osteopathic Medical Student at Western University, expected to graduate 2018. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Communications and spent 2 years at UCLA, conducting research in the creation of novel medical devices through the Bioengineering Department. She fully embraces the additional skills her school teaches in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, with a special attention on the structure and function of the body as an integrated unit. She utilizes her love for writing as a way to not only express herself, but also as a chance to protray medicine in a variety of different perspectives. Among others, she values an open-mind, positive attitude, and courage to pursue one's passions in life.

Categories
General Lifestyle

Coffee

Coffee. A 6-letter word that I am sure soothes the souls of many medical students around the world, including my own. That dark, rich color. That tempting, invigorating smell. I honestly can’t imagine my mornings without that cup of coffee. A full cup of homemade Starbucks coffee with a dash of almond milk and some sort of sweet pastry- the ideal morning routine that gets me going. However, ever since my first day of medical school, it doesn’t just stop at that morning cup. There’s a lunchtime Starbucks run, maybe one after class at 5, and don’t forget those evening teas, which average around 40 mg of caffeine per 8 fluid ounces! Come on, how else do my professors expect me to keep up with my daily studies?!

An article written in Medical News Today, entitled “Coffee drinking habits may influence risk of mild cognitive impairment”, discusses a study that has opened my eyes to just how much of an influence our coffee drinking habits could have on us! Drinking coffee, an act we think is going to wake us up so we can study and retain more, is in fact doing the COMPLETE opposite. It is not exactly the act of drinking coffee that is detrimental to us, but the pattern in which we are doing so. The article presents a study presented in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, following the drinking habits of people between the ages of 65 and 85. The results they discovered are truly amazing! As quoted by the article’s author, Honor Whiteman, the results of the study revealed that “cognitively normal participants whose coffee consumption increased over time were also around 1.5 times more likely to develop MCI than those whose coffee consumption remained stable – no more or less than one cup of coffee each day”. Furthermore, “participants who consistently drank a moderate amount of coffee – defined as one or two cups daily – were at lower risk of MCI compared with those who never or rarely consumed coffee”. Who knew changing the AMOUNT of caffeine one drinks over time could have such a major effect on one’s memory and cognitive abilities?

It is very interesting to me that if you just keep a consistent, stable, predictable amount of intake, coffee has not shown to be detrimental for the body. This just goes to show that too much of anything is simply not good for you. Even though the pool of subjects was older in this study, there is definite potential that the correlation found could apply to the younger population. Once we near that final exam, and we start upping our intake to two, then three, then four cups a day, that is when the damage might ensue. This is the point I wanted to highlight. Trust me, I understand at that moment, at 1:00am in the middle of the night, you feel like that warm, steaming cup of coffee is the only thing keeping you from having a meltdown and simply giving up. However, I just want to call to your attention the possibility that the change in our coffee drinking patterns could actually be hindering our cognitive abilities, instead of helping. Next time you go to your Mr. Coffee to make that 4th cup of the day, please step back, and think of another alternative that could wake you up and recharge your engines. Perhaps a quick run. Maybe a phone call to an old friend or family to change your mindset. These are all possible substitutes that could work, if given the chance, AND that do not have such destructive effects.

Featured image:
cup of coffee by cactusbeetroot

Categories
General Lifestyle

Torn Between a “To Do List” and a “Social Life”

I have always been an overachiever, no doubt about it; always wanting to be one step ahead of the rest, always ahead of the game. For example, if I finished a school assignment by 7 o’clock in the evening, instead of taking the night off, I’d start on another assignment I knew was coming up. This was the motto I lived by all my life, until I finished my 1st year of medical school, that is. As a pre-med and 1st year medical student, I constantly told myself I’d fill my summer up with resume-building extracurriculars. But people kept telling me, “It is your FINAL summer off for years to come, enjoy your time!” Me?! Taking time off? Not being productive? I couldn’t even bear the thought. By midway into my 1st year, I already had research for the summer set up, in addition to potential shadowing opportunities in fields of interest to me. I factored it all into the schedule for my seemingly lengthy, but in reality limited, 6 weeks of summer: research, volunteering, shadowing, studying for boards. My plan was to complete all my research and volunteering positions throughout the days, and study a few hours for Boards at night.

Today, 2 days into my official summer vacation, I realized I had failed to factor some crucial aspects into my schedule: my family, friends, & outright sanity! I have worked too hard all year not to enjoy a few weeks of bliss. I deserve to wake up to a day filled not just with endless studies and a “To Do” list the size of my Grey’s Anatomy textbook, but rather to a day of, yes, some work and productivity, but also some well-deserved fun! Since this realization, I have altered my schedule drastically, allowing myself to live the next 6 weeks with this new mindset. On top of everything, my sister is tying the knot the last weekend of my summer, an event I underestimated in terms of the time and effort it would take to plan for. These happy times with family and friends will be memories I will cherish forever. Ok, so you can’t exactly add “planned sister’s wedding and hung out with friends and family” to your resume, but one cannot compare the value of building those precious memories with a completed “To Do” list. I know I will regret it down the line if I don’t allocate some time during the summer for my loved ones.

Of course, I am filling my schedule with productive, career-building endeavors; however, I am not overwhelming my life with these plans. I plan to enjoy my time and to experience exciting pursuits with my loved ones. I am extremely satisfied with the decision I’ve made: the decision to have a summer I can remember for the rest of my life, yes, but one that also includes a realistic amount of academic accomplishments.. I mean, after all, how much of my Boards studying am I REALLY going to remember? Five percent, if I’m lucky. And at the end of it all, I know one person who will be the MOST thankful and excited about my decision: my loving sister. I can spend some quality time with her, helping make the happiest time of her life one to cherish forever. For those of you who wish to fill your summers with career-building activities (a.k.a. my fellow overachievers), below I have listed some things that were on my list to achieve this summer. I hope they spark some inspiring ideas and fuel motivation that may have dwindled if you are anywhere close to the state of mind I am in after a year of hard work! Good luck to you all!

  • Volunteer at a Hospital around your area, or school’s area, or where you plan to apply for residency. It is never too early to get your foot in the door and start forming connections with program directors in residency programs you will be applying to in a couple of years! You can even find individual doctors in departments of interest to email and ask if you can shadow.
  • Volunteer for a humanitarian project. I am personally volunteering for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles, California. Any small gesture to give back to our community, preferably using the knowledge we have learned thus far, would be more than enough. A little help from a lot of people combined turns out to be surprisingly impactful!
  • Do research at your school. By finding a project at your school, you will be able to continue the research throughout the following year if the project extends past the summer. This shows longitudinal dedication, without adding an unmanageable workload on top of your coursework.
  • Light Boards studying. Key word: LIGHT. We are probably not going to remember much for the Boards from this summer. Maybe look over some drugs and bugs. Maybe Pathoma or Kaplan videos, focusing on topics that particularly confused you during your 1st year or that you were never able to grasp.
  • Pursue your hobby, and do it in a way that is applicable to medicine. Residency programs do look for a well-rounded applicant, after all. For example, I thoroughly enjoy writing, and now blog for the MSPress. This allows me to relish in my hobby, while giving me a solid accomplishment to add to my resume. For those of who might like to paint, paint a medical scene!

There are many many more, these were just a few. Above all, remember to always update your resume (you will regret it if your achievements pile up and you forget the details), and remember to enjoy life!

Featured image:
100! ;D by Abdulrahman AlZe3bi.