In my last post I mentioned that some of the most valuable things I learned this semester were taught outside of the classroom. And while I facetiously sketched out some pointers involving leisure wear and public drunkenness, and endorsed the delicious Korean instant noodle snack Chapagetti (an act for which I await compensation from Nong Shim Co., Ltd.), a few equally important points were overlooked.

Most of them have to do with health. I never worried about physical means of survival until I left home and became responsible for them. By the time midterms arrived I was subsisting on ramen, cheap table wine, and chocolate covered almonds from the Beanery. My sleeping habits were roughly nocturnal and my personal hygiene was the minimum necessary in order to remain a member of society. Doubtless many before me made similar mistakes and doubtless many after will as well. But in the interests of shrinking the second group, it would be worthwhile to go over a few points, some techniques I've learned over the past four months. These may seem obvious to established students, or people who have moved beyond the academic life; but if any university freshbloods out there are wondering how to maintain a steady existence during their first year at school, hopefully this will be of help.

If it's a little late in the year to bring these up, that's only because it took the first semester for me to learn them. In the interests of space I've split this list into two parts. The first deals with some very basic concepts; the second contains some less obvious suggestions, and will follow in a second post. Maybe they will help my fellow students make resolutions for the New Year. At the very least, they might make second term less hectic than the first. So, without further ado, I present some tips to help new university students uphold physical and mental stability in 2010.

1. Eat well.

A couple of weeks ago I got to try Domino's new bread bowl pasta: Noodles, served in a vessel made of dough. It's like the company had a surplus of white flour and oil, and decided to get rid of it by feeding it to people. The only reason I got to sample this gastronomic delight was that my friend had extra points on his university meal card, points which can be used not just to purchase food from his residential cafeteria, but from just about any carb-monger with delivery service to UBC.

Just because you can eat something doesn't mean you should. This is easy to forget, especially if your school's meal plan extends to fast food and take-out. It may be fun only to eat foods whose principal ingredients are salt and cardiac arrest, but eventually it will catch up to you - and not just in terms of waistline expansion. It can hurt your academic aspirations as well. After all, food affects how your brain works. Maintaining some semblance of a balanced diet keeps the cogs turning and decreases your chances of crashing half way through a pop quiz.

If you have access to a kitchen, you may want to consider cooking your own food rather than subscribing to a school meal program. In addition to allowing you more control over what you eat, it can be an opportunity to improve your cooking and budget management skills. And if that sounds like the most boring thing ever, keep this in mind: Romantic partners of any gender or sexual orientation love a significant other who can cook. The path to anyone's heart is through their stomach, so long as you can find the right recipe. That being said, sites like Super Cook can help you put together a meal based on what ingredients you already have - ideal for those situations where you've already blown the dinner budget on apperitifs.

2. Exercise

Often, in the past, I would see people running down the street wearing shorts and listening to their iPods, and wondered why they didn't just take the bus to get wherever they were going. Eventually somebody explained the situation to me. I now realize those people were "joggers," and what they were doing is called "exercise." Will the human species ever cease to baffle?

This novel technique - which involves physically exerting oneself without being paid to do so - is gaining popularity. Indeed, regular exercise has been linked with improved mental health, not to mention the physical benefits of using your body for what it was designed to do. Most university campuses are rife with activities - ranging from ultimate Frisbee to yoga - that are available at greatly reduced fees for registered students. Since availability and cost are more or less taken care of, the only thing preventing you from getting active is your own disgusting laziness.

3. Sleep

At some point during exams this year, I managed to stay fully conscious for 36 hours. While there's a certain sick pride in proving to yourself that you can break free of a regular sleep schedule and go to bed when you want and on your own terms, the experience is anything but liberating. If you force yourself to stay awake for long enough, you eventually realize you cannot get to sleep.

There isn't any need to go into depth here - I think the benefits of a regular sleep cycle are widely recognized enough that it's not necessary to defend them. It should be emphasized, though: Sleep matters. Don't be tempted to make the same mistake I did. There is nothing to do at 3 AM when everybody else is in bed and you are unable to keep your eyes closed. In fact, the isolation may drive you a little mad...

...Which leads into my next point and the second half of this list, with more tips on how to make the next semester of university endurable.

My love of lecture recordings is finally confirmed legitimate by scientists.

The findings of a study reported in the New Scientist last month concluded that students who use podcasted lecture recordings while taking notes score higher on exams than their class-attending peers.

The study, conducted at the State University of New York in Fredonia, compared student scores on an exam that covered the material of a single lecture. Researchers had half the class attend the lecture in person. While the other half was told to download an audio recoding in sync with images of the prof's PowerPoint slides. One week later, students were quizzed on what they'd learned. The results were surprising.

On average, the in-class students scored a mediocre 62% while the podcast students scored a reasonable 71%.

Psychologist Dr. Dani McKinney, who led the study, explains the major benefit of a podcast is the ability to pause, rewind and listen to recordings multiple times. This enables students to contemplate the difficult parts of a lecture. She also adds that the disparity disappears if the podcasters do not take notes.*

Dr. McKinney's study looked at the benefits of a single podcast, for one lecture. At the University of Lethbridge, Dr. Marlo Steed is experimenting with podcasts over an entire semester. Dr. Steed researches the intersects between technology and education. This semester, after always uploading some course components online, he went fully online.  His-fourth year seminar on Internet and Education has no class time. Instead, notes are posted to the course website along with video recordings of lectures.

Part of Dr. Steed's motivation stems from a 2001 study at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As he explains, that study showed when video is paired with audio or text, "the potential exists for establishing stronger cognitive connections for memory and comprehension."

Dr. Steed isn't sure yet whether his experiment had success. He won't have all the data until the end of classes in April. But he did collect some tentative data on the percentage of students who were using one of his podcasts. The result? 60%. It seems  no matter what service a professor provides, be it office hours or tutorials, about half  the class won't use it.

As Dr. Steed notes, podcasting is unlikely to replace the need for classrooms. Yet,  combined with engaging material, concise notes and effective study habits, recordings are a powerful tool. In the meantime, students don't have to wait for their profs to upload material to iTunesU. Instead, you can a purchase a $50 recorder and do-it-yourself. Besides, with an hour of class costing around $121, it's nice to have a permanent record of your studies.

1 Based on:  $4,750 tuition (books and lodging extra) / divided by 26 weeks of class / divided by 15 hours of class per week = $12.00 per hour.

 *Editor: See more tips in the University 101 section of GlobeCampus, under the 'Once you get there' section.