To the Editor:

Once 9 p.m. hits here on SUNY Potsdam’s campus, you can witness a storm of people flooding the Union Dining Hall for the very popular “late night” food selections.

There are wings, pizza, double bacon cheeseburgers, mozzarella sticks, and so much more. Being a student, I love all the food. I’ll drool over a side of greasy fries with everyone else.

However, on the more nutritional side of things, it’s probably best to limit these late night snacking to a minimum rather than every night occurrence.

College students are so easily susceptible to weight gain, and there are many reasons for this. For one thing, stress plays a huge role in a person's diet, and where’s a better place to find stress than on a college campus?

The Harvard Health Publications stated that, “The hormones stress unleashes, and the effects of high-fat sugary ‘comfort food’ push people toward overeating.” When stressed, people tend to eat more.

College students are notorious for late night study sessions, and cramming all the last minute information and facts into their heads. Late at night, stress levels are out of control, and people are led to food. With the food areas being open so late it makes food accessibility much easier.

Another cause for overeating is this little system we all have in our body called the Circadian System. The Circadian system has been described as our body's internal clock. This system was more in effect way back when food was a scarcity for humans.

When humans had to make those foods and calories last for a while. That’s not really the case anymore for most people in today’s world. When the body signals it needs food, it won’t be craving a salad. It’s going to want something high in calories and fats. Being on a college campus all that food is very much accessible at all hours of the day and night.

I believe the biggest pathway to weight gain for college students is due to a lack of nutritional education. What needs to be changed is allowing students to actually see how many calories they are about to consume. The biggest area of improvement is to show students how much is truly too much.

With just the number of calories next to each item on the menu, it could lead to some healthier choices right away. Having a healthy lifestyle goes far beyond just eating right, but changing your diet is a great step towards a healthier life.

Of course all this junk food is loved from almost all students. We could never get rid of it, but we must teach each other how to limit these splurges in junk food to a minimum, life is all about moderations.

Danielle Tefft

SUNY Potsdam student