At the apex of the student stress season, the Student Recreation and Wellness Center will be hosting an event to promote relaxation to let students unwind.
Night of Relaxation will take place on Wednesday from 7:30-9 p.m. It will offer gentle yoga, guided meditation and information on healing stones and the seven chakras. Free healing stones will be given to the first 50 participants.
“The idea of it is to give [students] a night where they can do yoga and meditation for a night before finals,” said Maureen MacRae, a fitness coordinator at the SRWC. “All in all it’s just going to be a lot of knowledge for them and tools to help them with their health and learn to relax.”
Eight in ten college students say that they have frequently experienced stress in their daily lives over the past three months. The results of this study showed a 20 percent increase in stress levels since the previous survey was done five years prior. This indicates that stress levels continue to rise over time, according to a 2008 mental health study by the Associated Press.
A constant state of stress among college students can affect all aspects of a student’s health, and has caused college freshman emotional health levels to decline to its lowest points in 25 years, according to a New York Times article from 2010.
The event is being held to help educate students on the various ways to handle and control stress.
“[Students] will be [be able] to help themselves learn how to breathe [properly] and relax themselves so when they have stressful times like taking their tests or getting ready for their finals they’ll have tools that they can use to help relax themselves,” MacRae said.
Physical, mental, emotional and behavioral health can all be negatively impacted when under extreme periods of stress, and this can lead to various health problems such as a weakened immune system, sleeplessness, inability to concentrate, anxiety, risky behavior, and depression, among many others, according to the American Institute of Stress.
While some levels of stress are normal and healthy, and allow people to function and perform tasks quickly and efficiently, chronic stress can lead to severe health problems like heart attack, stroke, raised blood pressure and it can also speed up the aging process, said the AIS.
“College life can be really stressful,” undeclared freshman Veronica Bautista Agueda said. “For some kids this is the first time they’ve been away from home, and they have classes and jobs and friends…and all this stuff going on that’s important… it’s definitely stressful. I can see how people can get overwhelmed.”
According to the American Institute of Stress, the best ways to cope with stress include exercising, adapting to stressful situations, having a healthy diet and having fun with friends or family.
As the rates of stress among college students continue to rise, Night of Relaxation will help promote a more balanced and well managed lifestyle to help students understand the effects of stress as well as the best ways to manage their stressors.