Buzz - Student Health Services Newsletter
(Vol. 1) |
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Topic Of the Month
Sexual Responsibility
Sexual Responsibility Week is part of a national awareness campaign organized through the BACCHUS and GAMMA Peer Education Network and the American College Health Association that occurs each February. First and foremost, one must define his/her personal values with regards to engaging or not engaging in sexual activity. This event hopes to support some of the values of a sexually responsible college students, such as:
- understanding that sexuality is a natural and healthy
aspect of human life
- communicating personal thoughts and feelings to one’s
partner, and seeking to know and understand a
partner’s thoughts and feelings
- honoring and supporting a person’s choice to abstain
from sexual activities
- working to achieve consensual, healthy relationships
through honestly and openly valuing the rights and
limits of self and others
- being non-manipulative and only practicing safe and
mutually consensual sexual behaviors
Are you in a Healthy Relationship? Do you...
- Feel secure and comfortable
- Have nonviolent behavior with each other
- Resolve conflicts satisfactorily
- Enjoy the time you spend together
- Support and take interest in one another’s lives
- Have privacy in the relationship
- Trust each other and encourage other friendships
- Act sexually by choice
- Know most people in your life are happy about the
relationship
Questions about your relationship? Please stop by SCSU Counseling and Psychological Services or call 320-308-3171.
Sexual Health
10 Tips For Healthy Relationships
Studies say that people with healthy relationships are happier and less stressed. These ten tips can make your relationships healthier, no matter who they are with.
- Keep realistic expectations.
No one can be all that we might want them to be. Accept people for who they are.
- Communicate.
Communication is essential. Listen, ask questions, and share information.
- Be flexible.
Healthy relationships mean change and allow for growth.
- Take care of you.
Don’t forget to make yourself happy
- Be dependable.
Follow through with responsibilities.
- Fight fair.
Negotiate time to talk about problems Avoid criticizing and making assumptions.
- Show your warmth.
Studies say warmth is highly valued by most people in their relationships.
- Keep your life balanced.
Don’t overload on activities, but use your time at college to try new things.
- It’s a process.
It takes time to meet people and get to know them. Make ‘small talk.’ Keep trying!
- Be yourself.
Healthy relationships are made of real people, not images.
DRUG OF THE MONTH
Marijuana
Marijuana, also known as grass, reefer, and swag comes from the hemp plant, which has been cultivated for approximately 4000 years. In 1937, the United States outlawed marijuana as an illegal drug. Marijuana’s use, risks and legality are a source of debate. The main psychoactive drug in marijuana is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. Effects range from sensory distortion, increased appetite, elevated heart rate, and relaxed feelings. Pot can cause a range of reactions from pleasure to panic depending on the dose and frequency of use. Signs that someone has been smoking pot include bloodshot eyes, dilated pupils, dry mouth, sweating, confusion and talkativeness.
Not all of the effects of pot disappear when the high ends. A recent study of airline pilots showed that their flying skills were still impaired 24 hours after smoking pot, even though they were no longer high. When pot is smoked, the effects are felt within minutes, reach their peak in 10-30 minutes, and may linger for 2-3 hours. Marijuana can be detected in the body for 1 day to 5 weeks.
One hypothesis about marijuana is that it causes “amotivational syndrome.” Amotivational syndrome symptoms include confusion, declining performance and difficulty finishing tasks. The question that still remains, is whether pot causes amotivation or whether unmotivated people smoke pot as a symptom of their lack of motivation. There is really no hard core evidence.
Annually, more than 120,000 people enter drug treatment programs to help stop using pot. The best advice: don’t smoke pot and if you do, cut down.
If you are concerned about a friend’s or your drug/alcohol use, contact ADAPT program on campus at 320-308-4850.
Nutrition
This New Year, be realistic...with yourself!
For 2004, do yourself a favor and make your resolutions realistic. Resolve to do something you really can carry out.
Don’t resolve to completely give up certain foods that you enjoy or vow to achieve unrealistic levels of exercise. If you fall short of unreasonable goals, you’ll feel like you’ve failed when that’s not actually the case.
Resolve to develop an eating and exercise plan that you can follow. Assess your eating habits, including what and how much you eat. Check your list against the Food Guide Pyramid to determine where you need to make changes.
Then, make a plan that involves one small change per week: Switch from whole milk to 2 percent or add one serving of fruit or vegetables to your diet each day, gradually working up to at least five a day.
Plan and make achievable changes in your eating plan and levels of physical activity, and you’ll have a much better chance of keeping your resolutions.
Produced by ADA’s Public Relations Team
GO ASK ALICE
Dear Alice,
My girlfriend and I have begun having sex recently. The first few times we did, we used condoms. Lately, we haven’t. I always pull out before I come. Is this still safe? Is it safe to re-enter after this? Someone told me that if we don’t want to use a condom, we should use a spermicide. Is this safe by itself? I appreciate all that help. Thanks.
Dear Reader,
Safe in what way? Two issues need to be considered: sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy. Let’s take STIs first — the answer is NO! A condom will help prevent the spread of most STIs, provided you wear it the entire time you are having sex. Putting a condom on at some point after you’ve already been inside, but before you reach orgasm, is not an effective disease-prevention method. Most disease-causing microorganisms do not depend on ejaculation for transmission.
If you are concerned about pregnancy, pulling out (a.k.a., withdrawal) is not the most reliable or forgiving form of contraception. Re-inserting your penis after you’ve ejaculated (outside the vagina) is not safe either. Within the first few hours after ejaculation, there is usually some sperm left in the urethra. The amount left behind is nowhere near the amount of sperm in the typical ejaculate, but it still presents a risk.
Spermicides, used alone, have the highest failure rates of all methods of birth control — even higher than withdrawal! If pregnancy prevention is important to you, spermicide alone is not the best contraceptive for you.
As a primary means of contraception, withdrawal has several disadvantages. First, there’s the pre-ejaculate fluid (pre-cum) on which withdrawal will have no effect since it’s released well before you ejaculate. Next, and perhaps more important, is the issue of consistency and self-control. Can you be perfectly consistent at withdrawing each time you have sex?
If you haven’t already, perhaps you and your girlfriend could talk about your concerns and work toward reaching a mutual decision on what form(s) of contraception and/or safer sex you both want to use.
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