Wake up your legs! A guide to stretching in the office

By Laura Donovan

We exist in a culture of desk jobs. And when work piles up during the day, we sometimes forget to attend to basic human necessities— drinking water, eating lunch, and paying visits to the restroom, much less stretching out taut muscles.

But towards the beginning of each afternoon, I slip out of the office to perform an invisible ritual— my stretching routine. I prefer privacy, which abounds in our office space, to stretch first my arm and then my leg muscles, which haven’t really moved in five hours. I roll my neck and ankles, reach for the sky, and grab my toes, feeling a rush in my calves and burst of energy. On the rare occasions I work remotely, I stretch whilst writing articles (multitasking queen here!) and do the splits. The stretches get me energized and are a nice break from conducting research.

Oh, and did I mention? It takes five minutes. Far less time than the average cube-dweller spends on Facebook daily.

“We just aren’t really structured to be sitting for such long periods of time, and when we do that, our body just kind of goes into shutdown,” Dr. Toni Yancey, a professor in health services and co-director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity at the University of California, Los Angeles, told NPR last year.

Sitting down all day can also lead to “less desirable” levels of cholesterol, blood sugar, and triglycerides, said epidemiologist Steven Blair, who added that these effects can up a person’s chance of getting heart disease, diabetes, and a slew of other health problems. If you feel like you lead too hectic of a life to go to the gym before or after work, try sprinkling stretching regimens into your work week toboost blood flow to your muscles, relievelower back pain, potentially improve your performance in physical activities, increase flexibility, and feel semi-active during an otherwise sedentary day. As an office stretching maven and aspiring yogi, I’ve compiled some a list of ways to stretch and stay moving throughout the day.

Two 5-minute stretching sessions each day keep the numbness away

Ever develop neck pain or sore knees from sitting too long? Us too. Your body deserves more than that! After the first few hours of your working day (or even on the hour, if you can build it into your schedule), step away from your seat to stretch out your legs. Find a private room somewhere in your building (spacious stalls in the company restroom will do!) to focus on muscle care. The intense surge of energy and movement in your limbs will allow you to return to your work area in a better physical state than when you left it.

Your legs aren’t the only parts of you that need love. Remember your arms and hands, which probably spend a significant portion of time hovering a computer. You can do the Mayo Clinic’s recommended shoulder stretch and upper arm stretch in under a minute.

Typing all day can also be hard on your fingers, so when you finish stretching your legs and arms, end your quick workout with hand exercises. Put one arm atop the other and walk your fingers in the air. It’s similar to the tickling motion and will release tension all the way up your neck.

Back in grade school, did you have that one obnoxious physical education instructor who made you and your other whimpering classmates hold a stretch for 30 seconds or a minute? According to a 2008 New York Times piece, your teacher may have been more detrimental than helpful, as doing the same stretch for half a minute can have the effect of weakening your muscles. Cut down the time on your individual stretches so you can fit more exercises into your brief session.

Do stretches at your desk

Are you too dedicated to your work to take several walk/stretch breaks during the day? If you enjoy being chained to the desk, you can still do a series of arm or leg exercises from your chair. You can tilt your head, roll your neck or ankles, place one leg over the other to stretch your behind area, and even stretch out your legs in front of you. Getting in a good stretch doesn’t require abandoning your workspace.

Take a walk

If you think it’s a little weird to flee your office to stretch in secrecy for five minutes, substitute the physical activity with a brisk walk outside. Clear your mind, possibly break a sweat, and and get moving. Unk would advise, in his rap-sagacious way, to “Walk It Out.”

Use the stairs

The greatest perk of an elevator is also its downside. Thanks to this useful contraption, you don’t have to huff and puff all the way up to the ninth floor of your building. If you always avoid stairs, however, you’ll be breathless when the elevator undergoes maintenance or encounter a building that only has stairs.

To test your physical abilities and get the blood flowing to your legs, take the stairs on your walk up to work to start your day with a bang. After you go out for lunch or go on a stroll, use the stairs again. If you do this enough in a day, you may feel soreness in your derriere the following day.

By Laura Donovan

As young professionals flock to citiesto pursue their careers and career dreams, they often leave behind their parents, brothers and sisters. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, many of these folks don’t have the resources or flexible schedule to see family. Air travel during Thanksgiving has declined since the beginning of the Recession, and is now down a full 12% from its peak in 2006. It makes sense: plenty of people cannot go home for the holiday for financial reasons, lack of vacation days, or both. Last year, even Lindsay Lohan found herself unable to make it back from rehab in time. Jobless individuals are less likely to pay airline fees as well— and nearly 6.5 million members of the work force in the U.S. do not have any form of employment (meanwhile, the number of people that have entered the category of “not in the labor force” in the last six months alone is over a million). It’s dire times, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of if you can’t make it home this year.This will be my first Thanksgiving away from my northern California home. I’ve just started a new job, and braving Transportation Security Administration requirements seems stressful and traumatic enough without having to deal with the traffic of the busiest day of the year.

I spoke with some other non-travelers to get their thoughts.Our very own Isabelle Mitchell, who hails from Europe, isn’t too keen on riding solo for Thanksgiving despite the fact that she never celebrated it in the motherland. “I am from Switzerland and don’t have the vacation days or the money to go home,” Mitchell said. “I haven’t seen my mom in two years and I am not particularly looking forward to December. Being in a country that is holiday-crazy doesn’t help much…I definitely feel lonelier [around Thanksgiving]. Everyone is in a certain cheery mood, people talk about meeting their family, taking time off, cooking and eating! These are some of the greatest activities in the world— and I do love Thanksgiving food!”

Alec Weisman, an Alumni for Liberty employee based in Washington, DC, will not be flying to his home state of California for the holiday either.

“I decided against going home because I wanted to conserve money for gifts to friends and family during the holiday,” Weisman, a 2011 graduate of the University of California- San Diego, said. “Being away from family for Thanksgiving for the first time will definitely be a unique experience. I probably will not put in much effort to celebrate the holiday now, but my return home in December will be much richer for having waited. I feel ambivalent toward spending Thanksgiving alone, as it is the atmosphere of the holiday that makes it special.”

If you don’t have the funds or freedom to reunite with family members for Thanksgiving, take our advice into consideration. Here is what you should do if you can’t bond with relatives during this family-oriented day:

Visit a soup kitchen

If you’re bummed about being by yourself on Thanksgiving, explore your town or city for a soup kitchen that will be distributing meals to the less fortunate. Volunteer your services, help the needy, and interact with the others. Giving back never felt so good! If you like cooking, this could give you an opportunity to show off your culinary skills. Non-cooks like me can simply smile and serve food.

Organize an “orphan dinner” with friends

Surely you’re not the only one of your friends who can’t go home for the holidays. Round up the troops and get everyone together for an “orphan Thanksgiving.” Prove the 20-something critics wrong by putting together a delicious, grown-up meal with everybody. Take photos to give your family members peace of mind and remind yourself that there is more than just one type of family.

Attend local events

There are countless things to do on Thanksgiving besides scarf down turkey. If you’re a New Yorker, head on over to the famous annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Chicago residents can go to the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade on State Street. Folks in the nation’s capital can set foot in the 10th Annual Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger in which they’ll have the chance to simultaneously get a good work-out and assist the hungry. Get involved with the community. There are tons of people who will be out and about, so join them as they make the most out of November 24. You could meet someone special at one of these get-togethers, whether it’s a new friend or significant other. During the holiday season, anything could happen!

Catch a movie or do something low key with a buddy

If you’re friends with someone from another country, he/she probably isn’t going to celebrate Thanksgiving. Invite him/her out to the theater, which will definitely be open because Thanksgiving weekend is big at the box office. The cinema may not be your thing, but you can go out for a bike ride, go to church or a synagogue if you’re both religious, play board games, take a walk (take the opportunity to laugh at people doing a post-feast work-out!), or whip out a deck of cards. Make Thanksgiving a play day. Get in touch with your inner carefree self, especially since you work so hard the rest of the year.

Call or Skype your family

If you have a playful family, you can probably sell them on the concept of Skype during or before Thanksgiving dinner! The idea of talking to a laptop while they munch on stuffing might be strange, but your family may miss you enough to agree to this. It’ll allow you to have a presence at your family’s gathering. You won’t be the only one resorting to Skype, so don’t feel bad about doing it! If you’re without a webcam (or find the concept of a Skype Thanksgiving too bizarre to follow through with), have an extra long phone session with family members. They’ll be thrilled to hear from you, especially if you don’t usually call home!

Take a nap or chill out

Not everyone is depressed about being alone on Thanksgiving. Introverts, this could be an ideal day for “me time.” If your idea of a good holiday entails catching up on reading, working out, and repose, spend a portion of your day doing your favorite solitary activity. Sleep deprived folks may want to go down for a cat nap. Workaholics who never have time to exercise can go for a jog in the neighborhood, where they’ll probably cross paths with well-fed trotters. Crack open the intriguing novel that has been collecting dust on your coffee table for months. Take a few moments for yourself and then see if anyone is available to engage for a bit.

Laura Donovan is a staff writer and editor for Levo.

By Laura Donovan

It was 5:20 a.m., and I was already late for work. My neighborhood plowman hadn’t yet cleared the road, which was covered in ice and resembled a skating rink, so I glided through the potentially hazardous street in my boots, praying I wouldn’t fall face first like I had the morning before. The journey would have been much simpler had I not gone to bed three hours earlier and been so sleep deprived, but I’d had tons of articles to complete that evening and was determined to maintain my tireless work ethic.

Nearly a year after that blistering cold winter day, I still work beyond my capacity— but have a much healthier and more normal approach to employment. I’m in a profession I love but have adopted the “work to live” mentality and set aside my post-college “live to work” philosophy, as my old habits were unsustainable and detrimental to my health and career, which I considered abandoning altogether as a result of burning out.

Of course, I join pretty much the rest of the nation in working more than eight hour days, covering the weekend shift, and staying late to get ahead. With an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, working folks are lucky to be able to pay the bills, but why do we push ourselves so hard by default?

According to a 2004 report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of annual hours worked by United States employees have been on a steady increase for the past few decades and eclipsed those of many Western European countries. Last month, a Towers Watson Talent Management and Rewards Survey found that of the 316 North American companies surveyed, nearly 65 percent of participants reported that workers have been putting in more hours over the past three years. One in three businesses reported that their employees have been using less of their vacation and personal days off over the same time span. We’re not giving ourselves the restoration period we need to detach from professional responsibilities. Some would call this admirable, but it’s also pretty unhealthy and unbalanced.

How working too much can hurt you and your company

Workaholics can and do endure much worse fates than being scolded by family members for leaving the dinner table to pick up an important phone call. In addition to taking flak from others, workaholics are susceptible to lots of health problems. Many mental health professionals consider “workaholism” a condition that can have both physical and mental effects.

“The stress that goes along with working too much has been shown to lead to substance abuse, sleep disorders, anxiety and ultimately to physical problems like heart disease,” Diane M. Fassel, author of “Working Ourselves to Death,” told the New York Times in 2007.

On the surface, workaholics seem like dream hires, but they may tire or move on to something else quickly, so their habits can have a negative impact on their places of employment.

“In the short run, having employees work extra hours can increase productivity, but in the long run, extended hours can negatively affect employee well-being and retention,” said Laurie Bienstock, North America leader of rewards consulting at Towers Watson. “Employees at many organizations are already suffering from change fatigue.”

Health conditions arise from working too much

Humans weren’t meant to sit hunched over a computer for the majority of the day. “Our bodies have evolved over millions of years to do one thing: move,” Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic told Glamour magazine in 2009. “As human beings, we evolved to stand upright. For thousands of generations, our environment demanded nearly constant physical activity.”

Times have changed since our days of running through forests and over to bodies of water in search of nourishment. A poll by the Institute for Medicine and Public Health found that we spend around 56 hours a week chained to our work desks, behind the wheel of our cars, or in front of the television set. Such a sedentary routine puts us at a greater risk for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

In our culture of getting ahead, it’s understandable why so many people overextend themselves and do more than the bare minimum. Putting in a little extra effort isn’t so harmful either, according to research conducted last year by the University College London and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

As reported by The Guardian, one or two hours overtime had no effect on workers’ health, but three or more hours resulted in a 60 percent heightened risk of coronary heart disease.

“If we’re stuck in the office we’ve less time to relax, get a good night’s sleep, and take enough physical activity, all of which have been found to help reduce stress levels and protect against heart disease,” said Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation.

Allow yourself to slow down

There comes a point where you must resist the temptation to consistently put in 10+ hour days and weekend shifts. If you finding yourself clocking in so many hours that you don’t have the energy to enjoy your own life or see your loved ones, you may begin to resent your work. Though I loved my first post-college job, I threw myself into it and stopped hanging out with friends, so I slowed down my pace and began to complain that work was too demanding. In reality, I expected more from myself than the others did, and all I needed was to let myself take it easy to have a better outlook on my professional life.

Even if you’re a proud workaholic, devote yourself a half hour or more each day to at least non-work related activity that puts a smile on your face and serves as an escape from office responsibilities. If you love books, designate reading time for yourself at the end of each day. Athletes can wake up early to break a sweat before heading to the office. For a small portion of every day, let yourself engage in something besides work, even if you live to work like so many other people.

Take lunch and coffee breaks at work

If you eat lunch at your desk (you’re not alone— 62 percent of employees do it), step outside the office a couple of times a week to get away from the grind. There’s nothing like an eye-straining laptop screen to diminish the tastiness of a much-anticipated lunch, so stay away from your computer when you want to indulge in good food as a midday reward.

Ross offered another suggestion on dealing with desk jobs: “[T]here are simple ways to look after your heart health at work, like taking a brisk walk at lunch, taking the stairs instead of the lift, or by swapping that biscuit for a piece of fruit.”

Don’t try to be Superwoman!

Because women have more professional presence than ever before in history, it’s easy to try to make up for lost time by juggling numerous tasks, working constantly, and proving to male colleagues that we can do anything. If you try to be on top of your game all the time, you could be unnecessarily hard on yourself the days you cannot or will not overachieve. Rather than beat yourself up for not being perfect each day, give yourself a break a handful of times a month and make no apologies for needing recharge time. If you consistently produce quality work but show up to the office an hour and a half late on one occasion, shrug off the tardiness instead of agonize over how it could make you lose your workhorse façade.

Go home before 6 p.m.

Exceptional performance is not always the result of the number of hours you put in during the day, but the quality of work you complete. If you accomplished a lot one day, don’t feel bad about packing up before your coworkers and being out the door before the flood of commuter traffic. There will be days and even weeks in which you’ll do far more than you signed up for, so head home at your scheduled leaving time every once in a while if you could really use some time to yourself. The Grindstone writer Lindsay Cross said it best in her summertime piece titled “Pardon Me But I Refuse To Work Past 5 O’Clock.”

“All day long, from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, my job gets to be my main focus,” Cross wrote. “But outside of those hours, I reserve the right to concentrate on my home life. I purposely set up my job to make that possible.”

Laura Donovan is an editor and staffer for Levo.

By Laura Donovan

Though intimidating, self-promotion is an effective —- and possibly the most important —- tool for advancement in the workforce. A new report by nonprofit organization Catalyst ties self-promotion (i.e., talking about one’s accomplishments) to compensation growth for women. Aside from the monetary benefits, women who self-promote also catch the attention of others and spread the word on their work and accomplishments.

At the Levo (League), we understand that self-promotion can seem impossible to master and scary, so we’ve put together a list of our favorite female self-promoters whose techniques are easy to emulate. You may not have the audience as some of these well-known gals, but you do have access to some of their key platforms —- Facebook, Twitter, major blogs —- so study up on the strategies of these success stories to see how you can become an expert self-promoter yourself.

Leslie Bradshaw: Co-founder of creative agency JESS3, Forbes blogger

Industry: Tech, entrepreneurship

Self-promotion strategies: Personal website, Forbes blog, Twitter

Why her techniques work: The president of creative agency JESS3 does a little bit of everything. The young entrepreneur, who resides in the Washington DC area, has a personal website and Twitter page in addition to her Forbes blog, which allows her to write and conduct interviews with other successful career women. Bradshaw is a strong self-promoter for dabbling into multiple areas of social media and having an active, pervasive web presence.

How you can use her tactics too: In the words of Bradshaw herself, be great at something before you promote yourself on social media. “Not just good, but great,” Bradshaw told The L (L). “I’ve focused on being great at three things in my 29 years of living and they are: working really hard and working really smart, building and doing, and arming myself with theory, strategy and philosophy that spans many belief systems and experiences. When social media hit hard about five years ago, I was able to take what I am, what I do and what I stand for and port it into social. As a result of being great, you have great things to talk about. Building your presence will come naturally from there.”

Not everyone has a Forbes blog, but WordPress and Blogger offer free blog services. Play around with their different complimentary layouts to decide which ones work for you, and use the blog to promote your message. If you’re a businesswoman like Bradshaw, contact blogs and sites of that nature (i.e. The Grindstone, Levo League of course!), present your business model, and inquire about becoming a contributing writer.

Bradshaw’s big secret for snagging a blog at such a prestigious publication?

“Simple answer: I asked,” Bradshaw said. “Many people go through life complaining about being left out or left behind, pointing to their peers and saying ‘why don’t I have that?’ and ‘why does he make more than me?’ Most of the time, all you have to do is ask. Granted, you have to have a compelling pitch and the depth to backup your request (in this case, qualified to write for an outlet with such a distinguished reputation as Forbes), but when you do and when you are great at something, it will come through in your pitch.”

Hilary Mason: Chief scientist for bit.ly

Industry: Tech

Self-promotion strategies: Employing self-deprecating humor on personal website

Why her techniques work: The smiley, self-proclaimed “data scientist and hacker” has a charming way of sharing her accomplishments with the world. Through her personal website, Mason posts updates on her latest interviews, appearances, and speeches alongside funny anecdotes. Upon informing readers in a blog post that she made Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list, Mason wrote, “My world domination clock is ticking.” In her blog post about being featured in Glamour magazine, Mason wrote, “It’s exciting to think that people who never would have picked up an article about a bunch of nerds will be reading and thinking and being inspired.” Mason simultaneously keeps readers posted on her impressive achievements and jokes around, so she’s both entertaining and interesting to follow.

How you can use her tactics too: Have a little fun with your site. Sprinkle your blog posts or website updates with jokes and sarcasm. If research that humor relieves stress and helps maintain well-being is correct, Mason is doing all the right things to resonate with and lift up readers. Her jokes also give off the impression that she doesn’t take herself too seriously, and people always appreciate a funny, down-to-earth girl. Though Mason declined to be interviewed, she wrote in an email that her sense of humor is not an intentional promotion tactic, but a way to “manage the attention [she gets] in a positive way and to be a good role model and support [her] company and friends.” Most people are responsive humor, so it’s a fairly effortless, simple tool for reaching out to one’s audience.

On her website, Mason also includes a sidebar titled “Latest Updates”, which includes links to her blog posts and lists her recent achievements. Follow Mason’s lead and highlight your accomplishments on numerous places on your site.

Catherine Connors: Director of Community and Social Good at Babble.com, mom blogger

Industry: Parent blogging

Self-promotion strategies: Twitter, blog

Why her techniques work: A mother of two toddlers, New York City resident, and top mom blogger, Catherine Connors is the real-life version of Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” which follows a career mom who tries to balance parenthood and a well respected job in finance.

“The ‘personal tidbits’ are everything - people get invested in the story of my personal life (especially when it involves things like moving to NYC,” Connors told The L(L) of the key to writing a successful parenting blog, adding that she appeals to a large audience of when she shares her own stories. “My self-promotion is not just promotion of self, it’s promotion of a whole narrative, so there’s a lot to work with.”

Though swamped with the responsibilities of a parent, Connors updates her blog consistently, tweets several times a day, and contributes to other sites. She details her accomplishments, awards, and skills in her website’s “About” section, which reveals that she has been featured in highly revered publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The London Times among others. Connors does not hesitate to mention her accolades and lists her email addresses on her site, making her easy to reach. She diversifies her Twitter posts with links to new blog posts and her site, updates on her goofy children, and yfrog and Instagram photos. With 14,000 Twitter followers, the ability to share her achievements with the world, and a trendy, widely read personal site, Connors has become an influential figure of the parenting blogosphere.

How you can use her tactics too: Maintain an active Twitter account and make your brand and niche clear in the “About Me” portion of your website and Twitter page. If you tweet on a regular basis and follow people of a similar mission and career path, you may eventually be viewed as an established member of your specific field. Retweet and tweet at your favorite public figures in your area of interest and they may respond, which could inspire their followers to follow you and see what you’re all about. While we’re on the topic of mom bloggers, let’s use Connors as an example. If she wanted to boost her credibility in her industry, she would follow parenting sites such as Mommyish, Babble, The Stir, Dooce, and more. Bottom line: Stick to your core focus so people know what to expect from your Twitter feed, but don’t be afraid to publish the occasional frivolous tweet about movies, television, or something silly your mom said.

Use social media analytics site, Klout to learn what sort of influence you have on the Twitterverse. If you’re low on the spectrum, which ranges from 1 to 100, narrow down the topics about which you tweet and focus on specific subjects to maintain consistency. Earlier this year, Michael Sunden of Landor Associates branding firm told tech site Mashable that establishing one’s brand is key on Twitter. “You need to find a mission, principles and a standard for what drives your brand,” Sunden said. “All those personality descriptions.”

Priscilla Gilman: Author of memoir “The Anti-Romantic Child”

Industry: Writing

Self-promotion strategies: Facebook

Why her techniques work: Earlier this year, the former Yale and Vassar English literature professor published a book about the ups and downs of raising a boy with a rare developmental disorder. Though she promotes her book on Twitter, Gilman’s book has gotten more traction from its Facebook page, which has nearly 28,000 fans. Gilman includes family photos, inspirational quotes from other writers, appearance information, personal tidbits about her life, articles about her book, and more on the book’s Facebook wall. She also responds to those who write notes on the book’s Facebook wall, and such correspondence is crucial to maintaining a fan base. The Facebook page isn’t all about her product either, as she likes to post relevant links about family life and the suffering of children. Gilman’s correspondence with readers, inclusion of information and links not directly related to her book, and broad range of Facebook content make her a highly effective self-promoter.

How you can use her tactics too: Take advantage of Facebook’s fan page offerings. Last spring, AOL site TechCrunch published a story on building engaging Facebook fan pages and explained to readers, “Facebook allows you to change the traditional boring tabs to be more exciting, original, and relevant.” Add apps to your page and establish a concrete publishing schedule for posting your content so others can always expect to find something new on your page. Use the “Notes” section to provide information on upcoming appearances or other great milestones. Make it a point to respond to fans’ public wall posts so it’s clear that you value the feedback and communication of your following.

Laura Donovan is an editor and writer for Levo.

By Laura Donovan

Every night before bed, I crave IHOP.

At the end of the summer, my roommate and I moved to an apartment complex across the street from the 24-hour breakfast joint. When we first arrived at our new residence, I jumped for joy at the prospect of having chocolate chip pancakes whenever I pleased.

Of course, timing is everything, and even the tastiest of pancakes aren’t so wonderful if you’re anxious about something. Last week, my roommate and her Georgetown sociology graduate school friend, Keith invited me to IHOP late at night, when they had finished their homework and were ready to socialize. I, meanwhile, had worked and bantered with co-workers all day and was in need of some shut-eye. Exhausted, I declined the offer but said I’d be happy to take them up on it over the weekend.

“You’re such an old lady,” my roommate quipped.

When one leaps into the professional world with a full-time job the change can feel instant (and drastic). You suddenly abide by a daily routine, must wear business attire to be taken seriously, and inevitably cut down on weeknight fun. Most of all, you need a bedtime to function. Why else would happy hour, which starts around 5 p.m. and ends before 8 p.m., take place so early in the evening?

Life as a PYP is centered on structure, establishment, and paying dues. Graduate school, while often more rigorous than undergrad, comes with a less defined schedule; and especially for law, medical, and business students, class schedules vary and aren’t always on the same 9 to 5 shift with which most PYPs are familiar.

Where graduate students and PYPs differ

While twenty-something age graduate students and PYPs may have different lifestyles, the bigger issue is that they don’t understand each other at a more fundamental level. My graduate school friends, for example, can’t see why I need to be asleep by 11 every night to feel energized for work; meanwhile, I don’t really get why they chose to take out loans for another degree when they could have started a career.

Jen Dziura of The Grindstone, a website about women and careers, exemplifies this lack of understanding but means well in her recentcolumn, “What I Wish I Had Known When I was 18.” Dziura opined earlier this summer that she wished she’d taken a less glamorous view of graduate school during her first year of undergrad.

“Later, I learned that a lot of masters programs are just finishing schools for people with rich parents. And also, of course, ways to delay the real world,” Dziura wrote. “Unless you specifically need a masters or PhD for an actual job that you have a reasonable chance of obtaining (clinical psychologist, social worker, professor, etc.), please don’t be a 24 year old who’s never held a job or run a business or had a client. It looks terrible.”

Dziura is far from the first person to knock on graduate students for seemingly running away from reality and burning cash. I’ve certainly held Dziura’s views on graduate school in the past, especially when graduate student buddies have visited from out of town and complained that I couldn’t take several days off work to show them around town. Long lunches, which definitely raise eyebrows at many offices, were the most I could budget.

“I can’t drop my daytime responsibilities to go sightseeing,” I told my friend. “It’s not like skipping class. I’d face serious consequences.”

Many have scorned the lack of structured scheduling that graduate student lifestyle holds. Popular sitcom “30 Rock” has joked that “grad students are the worst!” There’s even a Facebook page dedicated to the line.

Why graduate students remain in school

Of course, there’s plenty of credit to give to graduate school and its students—even beyond the benefits of higher education and expertise grad school can provide. Last year, New York Times writer Robin Marantaz Henig penned the extensive article, “What Is It about 20-Somethings?” to explore why people in their early twenties are taking much longer to advance and achieve independence than earlier generations.

Psychology professor Jeffrey Jensen Arnett calls this phenomenon “emerging adulthood,” which among other things was caused by, “the need for more education to survive in an information-based economy.” Graduate students aren’t all pursuing more schooling to “delay the real world” or because they have enough financial cushion to hold off on making money, but because they need an edge in the current market and, for the first time in history, they have the resources available to provide extensive higher-level education.

Unlike undergrads, graduate students don’t always have the privilege of picking their courses. Joey, an MBA student at George Washington University, has class once a week. On the surface, you’d think he hit the jackpot—but his courses take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday when most people are relaxing or enjoying themselves. The university compiled his schedule for him, so he misses out on televised baseball games and Friday night social activity. Where graduate students can finagle schedule flexibility, it looks like their victory—but the commitments they make to a graduate degree take first priority.

How PYPs can be more understanding of graduate students

Occasionally urging a friend to sacrifice one night of sleep to hang out when not necessarily convenient is admissible in a friendship between a PYP and a graduate student—but until that diploma makes its way onto the wall and you feel like you’re leading similar lives again, it’s important to recognize that schedules differ, and finding an overlapping time convenient to everyone is the only way to go.

For the time being, I can have late-night IHOP excursions once a week— the very evening that Joey is unavailable, and my grad school friends are spent from the fun they had Monday through Thursday. Someday soon, we’ll be in the same boat again. My graduate student friends will have full-time jobs and I’ll have upgraded from green PYP to seasoned professional. Maybe then, when we all have similar duties and expectations to fulfill, will we fully understand each other and get back on the same wavelength.

Laura Donovan is an online editor/entertainment writer at The Daily Caller in Washington, D.C. and a wannabe New Yorker. A proud northern Californian and graduate of the University of Arizona, Laura left sunny skies, delicious Mexican cuisine, and dry heat last year for a high-energy journalism career on the east coast. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, The Washington Times, Townhall Magazine, and many other publications. She wants to be David Sedaris.