Student Health and Wellness collaborated with Parks Library Wednesday to host Wellness Wednesdays, a chance for students to take a break, focus on their mental health and engage with members of the campus community while de-stressing.
“Wellness events definitely help students reduce stress. With finals approaching, this is a really good time for an event like this,” Barkha Mathur, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, said. “I actually completed my undergrad here as well. When I did that in 2018, we didn’t have this, so I’m really glad Iowa State is doing this now.”
Mathur said she enjoyed the activities Wellness Wednesday offered and came to the event initially for the chair massages.
Mathur also said she has been talking to and going out with her friends to de-stress.
“As a student, the most obvious stress is the deadlines for the assignments and the labs, and as a Ph.D. student, there’s research,” Mathur said. “I also have a dog that I spend time with to de-stress, which I call family. This event is really great. I also like to go and hang out at other events on campus and the Sloss House.”
Mathur added that Iowa State could promote wellness activities or resources more and ahead of time, which would allow more students to plan accordingly to come and take time off their schedule.
“I think there’s a bunch of stuff already going on the campus, but I am not sure if everyone is aware of it,” Mathur said. “It is really important for universities to provide sources and events like this for students’ mental health, especially for Iowa State, where a bunch of the students are not local, so they do not have access to their families necessarily, and a lot of the students at Iowa State have to also worry about their finances, which can be really stressful, so I am pretty sure that events like this help.”
Hala Deng, a senior in biology, said wellness events like Wellness Wednesday help her think more in self-reflection. Deng said her favorite activity is journaling because she enjoys expressing her thoughts on paper.
“My pressures are to maintain my grades and keep a balanced school, work life or personal life balance,” Deng said. “I tried to manage my stress by leaving school at a certain time, so I try not to be on campus later than six o’clock and then do a lot of self-care when I do get home to unwind.”
Deng said the microbiology department also did wellness events like Wellness Wednesday last semester.
“They had more stimulation stations like brain stimulators, but I like how spaced out this event is because you can be by yourself if you want to,” Deng said.
Deng said her suggestion for such events is to incorporate food and drinks that get students physically stimulated, such as some tea or little snacks.
“Iowa State promotes mental health resources, but I feel like students aren’t aware of them. Especially for minorities like myself, there’s not a lot of counselors to relate to, so that makes it hard to engage in those resources,” Deng said.
Deng added that future wellness events could also be taken outside.
“I think when it gets warmer outside, maybe this is something that we can take outside so that people can connect with nature,” Deng said. “Connecting with the earth is an important aspect of reducing stress and realizing that there’s a bigger picture out there, and we don’t have to be dimmed down in [our] environments.”
