Midterms are finally drawing to a close, but that doesn’t always mean that the pressure is off. Stress from school, social lives and work can continue to weigh on students throughout the year, but long-term stress can have lasting negative effects on both mental and physical health. While there are many ways to combat feeling overwhelmed, it can be hard to know what to do in those moments. The University of Oregon Counseling and Testing Center (UCTC) is attempting to combat these struggles with Be Well Wednesdays, an event to encourage healthy techniques for identifying and handling stress.
According to Eric Garcia, the outreach graduate teaching fellow with the UCTC, “students experience a range of stressors both within their roles as students and their own personal challenges and responsibilities.” These stressors can lead to harmful habits over time and eventually affect both the professional and personal lives of students.
Be Well Wednesdays are designed as an interactive workshop to educate students on how to replace those harmful techniques with more productive ones. “Along with increasing their understanding of stress, students will gain tools for managing their stress through experiential learning activities, including mindfulness mediations, deep breathing techniques and writing exercises,” said Garcia.
The UCTC has held similar events in the past, including one titled Less Stress, More Tea, but none have been as tailored to students as Be Well Wednesdays. According to Garcia, the event is tweaked each week to address the concerns and preferences of the people in attendance. “We have continued to refine our outreach programming efforts to make them more engaging and beneficial to UO students,” said Garcia.
Being overly stressed isn’t just a bad feeling; it can also be detrimental to your overall health. Researchers from John Hopkins University have found that when stress is prolonged, it can actually lead to disease or illness, including different forms of cancer. These results prove just how crucial it is to manage the stressors seen in everyday life, because the alternative can be life threatening.
The UCTC hopes that events like Be Well Wednesdays will help students to realize the magnitude of taking care of their mental health. “We recognize the importance of offering education and prevention efforts along with our clinical services,” said Garcia.
Garcia’s personal favorite for reducing stress is to take a moment to write down everything making you feel overwhelmed. “Often times we ruminate over our stressors and self-critical thoughts, which makes it difficult to stay calm or focus on things we need to do,” said Garcia. Getting those thoughts out on paper, he believes, can ease your mind and allow you put things back into perspective.
Be Well Wednesdays will be held every Wednesday this term at 2-2:50 p.m. in the Duck Nest in the EMU. The event is free and open to all students. Tea and snacks will be provided to those in attendance.