BANZA February 2016 Issue | Page 86

MAKE YOURSELF THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN YOUR LIFE We all long for love- to be loved, as well as to give love. However, we often forget that the root of any love comes from within and we are therefore required to love ourselves before we are capable of both receiving love from, and giving love to others. It is like learning a new language- you are unable to communicate in the language until you have first learnt it yourself. How do you learn this language? You start by treating yourself with love. What exactly does this mean? It means learning what your body needs to fuel it, to rest it, to push it, to take care of it, and you actively pursue these things on a daily basis. The three broad categories through which this can be done is: sleep- to rest you, exercise- too energise you, and nutrition- to sustain you. Getting enough sleep in a night is often overlooked, as soon as work or social activities come up, sleep is generally the first to fall. However, this is incredibly bad for one’s health. According to the Sleep Foundation, most young adults need between 8-10 hours of sleep in order to function optimally. Although this varies between individuals, this is far from the average amount of sleep received in University life. The negative effects of a lack of sleep can be seen in things such as an inability to concentrate and remember information, increased weight gain due to overeating to compensate for a lack of energy, and can also aggravate skin disorders such as acne.