Blissful For the Brain

Dark Chocolate: Great choice for a quick energy boost and a bit of a memory boost. Whether you need a quick sugar rush before a test or between classes, dark chocolate has your back.

Just be mindful of the sugar content—choose dark chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage for the most benefits. 

Energizing for the Eyes

Sunflower Seeds: Excellent for eye health thanks to their high Vitamin E content. An ounce of sunflower seeds provides about half the recommended daily intake of Vitamin E—now that’s eye-opening! They’re also a great snack for when you’re on the go. 

Healing for the Heart

Yogurt: Yogurt, whether it’s Chobani, Go-Gurt or Activia, is a true love for your heart. Packed with probiotics, yogurt can help reduce the risk of heart disease. It is also beneficial for gut health. Opt for low-sugar or plain varieties to keep it heart-healthy.

Beneficial for the Bones 

Prunes: After a long trek up the Hill, your bones might feel like they’re trudging through the desert. To strengthen your bones, consider snacking on prunes. They’re surprisingly good for bone health due to their high content of vitamins and minerals. They also make for a sweet and satisfying snack. 

Amazing for Antioxidants

Nuts: Packed with antioxidants and fiber, nuts are great for overall health. Walnuts and almonds are particularly good for maintaining heart health and reducing inflammation. Just 7 grams of fiber can decrease your stroke risk by 7%—that’s significant! 

A Recent Research

Doritos and Food Dyes: A recent study found that a food dye in Doritos, Yellow No. 5, can make mouse skin translucent. It hints at potential benefits for the medical community through visual assistance in viewing veins for blood draw and providing hopes for early cancer detection. While this is a fun fact, it’s always a good idea to enjoy processed foods in moderation. The potential medical benefits of food dyes are still being researched, so keeping a balanced diet is key.

Enjoy your snacks and meals, and good luck with your lab work and tests!

Commentary Writer Vidhi Parekh can be reached at vidhi.parekh134@topper.wku.edu.

However, there are also some noises that can help you maintain hyper-focus, relax and turn off those thoughts, depending on your situation. 

White noise, brown noise and pink noises are just a few out of a long list. Here are some of the benefits of each type of noise. 

White noise

White noise sounds like a radio tuned into an unused channel. Some people compare it to the hum of a traditional fan. Regardless of how one may describe it, white noise has been effective in improving sleep quality. The buzzing sound of a radio can actually take us into a trance of focus and peace. 

How does this work?

Essentially, white noise helps us obtain environmental comfort that may not be found under certain circumstances like ongoing construction and the chatter of students on their way to class. This type of noise can be used for taking a nap or getting some deep sleep. 

Moreover, white noise covers the frequencies of sound across the spectrum. Think of it loosely in terms of wavelength. The white color covers all wavelengths of light. Similarly, white noise covers all frequencies of sound. 

Changes in sound frequency can cause you to wake up. Luckily, any change in frequency sound while you are sleeping will be blanketed by the white noise. Hence, you can continue getting sleep without waking up. 

Of course, make sure your alarm is louder than your white noise player because it may be difficult to acknowledge the alarm amidst the all-frequency encompassing white noise. 

Pink noise

Another type of noise is pink noise. This has been proven to show positive improvement in work performance. This entails a higher efficiency in doing a task. Pink noise sounds approximately like a medium rainfall or the gush of a close by river stream.

Brown noise

Brown noise sounds soothing and relaxing, much like sitting in an airplane where you can hear the plane fly. It has a much deeper sound than pink and white noise.

Brown noise is also gaining popularity among people suffering from ADHD. It has the potential to turn off your endless thoughts by helping you drown out the background noise. 

It is important to note that participants of one study did report disturbance, specifically from brown noise. Hence, be careful from listening to the colorful noises at uncomfortable levels of volume. It is important to maintain balance in everything that you do.

Another thing to note is that the descriptions of the sound will vary from person to person, but essentially, at some level, they all sound like a running fan or rushing stream of water, with subtle differences in frequency. 

At the end of the day, no research is available to prove that a specific type of sound is better than the rest because each frequency can stimulate the brain in different ways. Hence, choose the sound that gives you the most comfort.

I hope this helps you get more restful sleep or even a new way to focus during your next study session. 

Vidhi Parekh: Commentary writer Vidhi Parekh can be reached at vidhi.parekh134@topper.wku.edu.

The universities are gearing up for their 2022 Blood Battle competition, which gathers donated blood for the American Red Cross.

The battle will run Monday, Sept. 26 through Wednesday, Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Blood can be given in the Preston Health and Activity Center. All blood types are accepted.

Grace Lartey, a professor in the WKU Department of Public Health and the coordinator of the undergraduate public health program, is helping to oversee the battle.

“Without it, we were going to be in short supply of blood,” Lartey said. “In 2020, in the midst of COVID, we did not have the competition because many students were not on campus, but we were able to raise enough to get us going […] This year, with COVID and now that we have the vaccines and we know how to handle it, and that we have students back, the competition is back on track.”

The winner will be determined by which school collects the most units of blood by the end of the event.

“We will have that 12 months of bragging rights that we believe we have worked so hard for, and we really need everyone to rally around us to make this happen,” Lartey said. “[…] The overall goal is to make sure the blood bank has enough supplies for one immediate area, and also for the country. Because blood is life – we have a lot of people who depend on blood to be able to survive.”

According to the American Red Cross, donated blood can be used to help those who are in accidents and assist with surgeries, childbirth, chronic anemia, blood disorders, cancer treatments and more.

Lartey hopes those who have never donated blood will see the battle as an opportunity to “get out of their comfort zones.”

“Competition is good because it brings the best out of people,” Lartey said. “Everyone wants to be a winner. So, being a winner means you are going to do everything possible to stay at the top; so it’s a friendly competition, but it helps us to get more units of blood per event.”

In order to schedule an appointment, visit RedCrossBlood.org or download the Blood Donor App, then enter sponsor code “WKU”.

News reporter Damon Stone can be reached at damon.stone314@topper.wku.edu.

Ninety rural and partially rural counties in Kentucky are currently deemed “medically underserved areas,” according to the Health Resources & Services Administration.

According to Emily Pride, a health careers and education specialist for the AHEC, the two main goals of the club are education and community service.

Pride said the organization works to create connections between communities through health care, such as continuing clinical education and providing pipeline programs for high school and undergraduate programs.

“This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all people who want to be doctors that practice in a rural area, it can be people who want to be social workers, nurses, speech language pathologists, any type of health care career, as well as those who are just interested in the health care of those communities,” Pride said. “Kentucky is a historically underserved state when it comes to medical care, dental care and mental health care, and so this club is basically designed to educate students on the different issues faced in rural communities and how we can expand upon those issues.”

The club is structured so that every meeting will focus on a different topic featuring different guest speakers from various community organizations. The speaker for October will be from the Barren River Area Safe Space, a local domestic violence shelter.

Hannah Jones, president and founder of the club, noticed health disparities in the places she’s lived, inspiring her to start it in the first place.

“I started the club because I live in both Monroe County and Barren County, so I’ve noticed a huge disparity between rural America and urban America,” Jones said. “ […] My family would have to drive an hour to get adequate medical care, while those in Bowling Green just have to go down the road, maybe a ten minute drive at max, to get to their physicians.”

According to Jones, the primary issue that rural Americans face when it comes to health care is a higher underinsured populace and access to fewer physicians, with most of them not having a full-time doctorate.

Those living in these areas do not have the same access to specialized care.

“The main focus of the club is creating health care professionals in dental, and pre-med, pharma, professions like that [that] are going to want to practice in rural America so that we can try to answer the shortages of doctors, physicians and dentists in these areas,” Jones said. 

Anyone interested in joining the club can contact Pride at emily.pride@wku.edu.

Reporter Damon Stone can be reached at damon.stone314@topper.wku.edu. 

Elliot started to slip into a dark place after the event. She said she knew she needed help when she started to push people away. 

“When I realized I started to push my best friend away, she got concerned,” Elliot said.  “It’s like, ‘I got to come out of this’.” 

She started journaling to help herself, and then started searching for local tornado support groups. She found LifeSkills by calling 211, the number for Essential Community Services, and was connected with Bowling Green native Tyler Heckman. 

The pair got to talking and formed Project Recovery together.

Project Recovery is a support group for those affected by Bowling Green’s December tornadoes, continuing to support victims by providing crisis counseling and meetings twice a month.  

Heckman, manager of the program, wanted to help his hometown community. The program is more than just a support group – it also provides in-home counseling to those who need it, attempting to break mental health stigmas by reaching people where they are.

The program is funded by a federal grant that is being distributed locally. Project Recovery started in May and will continue onwards if there is a need or if funding remains available. 

LifeSkills is the parent organization for Project Recovery and if funding is lost, people will still be able to receive help from LifeSkills.  

Project Recovery helps people through all stages of recovering from a traumatic experience. Heckman said people will hit different places in the trauma recovery process, practical and psychological, at different times.

 “A lot of that is tied to the practical situation,” Heckman said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize how many are still in temporary housing right now.”

Project Recovery was made to help people where they are, instead of expecting them to hit what other people may view as the “right” stages at the “right” times. 

Heckman has been very supportive of Elliot and does not allow her to downplay her successes. He describes her as a success story and credits her for helping other people even while she is growing and dealing with her own trauma.  

Heckman said the city of Bowling Green has helped the group reach victims and has allowed them to advertise their program. 

“Credit to just the city of Bowling Green, I’ve seen almost no pushback from anybody,” Heckman said. “When I ask like, ‘Can you put this out?’ Everybody’s onboard with doing their part to help.”

People can get involved with the support group by attending their public meetings at the Warren County Public Library main campus on every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Project Recovery’s next meeting is set for Sept. 29. 

News reporter B Turner can be reached at abigail.turner870@topper.wku.edu.

Oliver said the case has had no outward exposures and the situation has been handled by public health officials.

“Monkeypox is different. We do not handle those, public health handles those cases. […] But we’ve had one case that has been confirmed,” Oliver said. “The person has been quarantined. That is being handled in conjunction with public health, and they are doing well. From what I understand, no hospitalization. But they are following the quarantine guidelines.”

Per the Center for Disease Control, Kentucky has reported 34 cases of monkeypox. Oliver said this is the only case “around the university” that he has been made aware of.

Oliver also confirmed that reported COVID-19 cases have started to wane as the university reaches the three-week mark of the semester.

According to Oliver there were 171 reported cases across the first two weeks of the year, 97 during the first week and 73 during the second.

Oliver confirmed that this downward trend in cases matches data from the start of the 2020 and 2021 academic years. He also said that, in reported cases, none faced serious illness or required hospitalization, and very few quarantined students chose to quarantine on campus.

“All in all the COVID numbers are looking good,” Oliver said. “We’re staying diligent, we’re looking again as we have for any potential clusters and cases, those kinds of things. But so far […] we are not seeing that.”

Out of the 171 cases, university faculty and staff accounted for 38 of them. Oliver said this is consistent with the ratio of student to faculty and staff case numbers WKU has seen in previous years.

The current seven-day moving average for COVID-19 cases in Kentucky is 1,314 after a slight spike in cases, with a 2,888 seven-day moving average on Aug. 25. According to Oliver, the university seems to be resembling the state and national COVID-19 case trends.

“I think that all in all, we’re seeing the trends looking about the same,” Oliver said. “I think the most heartening part of it is we’re not seeing hospitalizations, here or anywhere else for that matter – very few hospitalizations, and very few serious illnesses.”

For more information about COVID-19 and monkeypox guidelines on campus, visit the WKU Healthy on the Hill website.

Content editor Alexandria Anderson can be reached at alexandria.anderson337@topper.wku.edu.

With this campaign, the month focuses on promoting safety and respect in online communities, intervening when harmful content is produced and practicing digital consent. It is working to reverse the harassment and sexual abuse that have become far too common in online spaces.

There are multiple ways to support SAAM at WKU and in Bowling Green. A variety of resources on and off campus are available to students year-round, including Hope Harbor, a non-profit center that provides services to victims of sexual assault and their families, BRASS, Inc., which offers emergency shelter and support to victims of domestic abuse and the Bowling Green Survivor’s Collective, a support network for victims of assault.

“Our mission is to provide support for survivors of sexual assault and pretty much any form of abuse,” Hannah Hudson, a senior anthropology major who is involved with the Bowling Green Survivor’s Collective, said. “A lot of our purpose is to help normalize conversations to help prevent sex violence and prevent misinformation about sexual violence. We have a lot of information services on social media.”

This organization features a lot of its online community on Instagram, @bgsurvivorscollective, and on Discord, where survivors and allies can connect with resources. There are also specific and confidential spaces for survivors to speak out, as well as minority groups that are often overlooked in the conversation about sexual assault.

1 in 5 women are reported to have experienced attempted or completed rape sometime in their lifetime. It is necessary to support and participate in the goals of SAAM with an understanding of how prevalent sexual violence is and how the movement to end sexual assault, harassment and abuse is nowhere near complete.

According to RAINN, 24.6% of female and 6.8% of male undergraduate students experience rape or sexual assault though physical force or incapacitation. This is why it is so vital that to have resources and understanding of awareness initiatives on a college campus–sexual violence affects more than 30% of college students.

SAAM is a way to find resources, seek out ways to support victims and understand facets of sexual violence that may not be commonly spoken about.

News Reporter Alexandria Anderson can be reached at alexandria.anderson337@topper.wku.edu.