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Colonel Oasis

The EKU IT Geek Colonel Oasis is a space where students can take a break from studying, exams, or just life in general. The space provides stress-relief activities and materials--massage chair, yoga mats, puzzles, color sheets, and origami materials.

Less Stress with Self-Care

Photo by Maddi Bazzocco on Unsplash

Balancing the life of a college student is not easy--classes, schoolwork, deadlines, and jobs can be stressful throughout the semester--not just midterms and finals.  It is important to take care of yourself from day one to stay healthy and happy by manage stress, depression, and anxiety through mindfulness and positive psychology. 

Something as simple as taking a break to recharge can do a lot of good. Beauchamp & Childress (2001) defined self-care as "providing adequate attention to one's own physical and psychological wellness."   According to the International Self-Care Foundation (ISF), "self-care is what people do for themselves to establish and maintain health, and to prevent and deal with illness.  It is a broad concept encompassing hygiene (general and personal), nutrition (type and quality of food eaten), lifestyle (sporting activities, leisure, etc), environmental factors (living conditions, social habits, etc.) socio-economic factors (income level, cultural beliefs, etc.) and self-medication."  The seven "pillars" or "domains" from the ISF website are:

  1. Health literacy – includes: the capacity of individuals to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions
  2. Mental Wellbeing – includes: knowing your body mass index (BMI), cholesterol level, blood pressure; engaging in health screening.
  3. Physical activity – practicing moderate intensity physical activity such as walking, cycling, or participating in sports at a desirable frequency.
  4. Healthy eating – includes: having a nutritious, balanced diet with appropriate levels of calorie intake.
  5. Risk avoidance or mitigation – includes: quitting tobacco, limiting alcohol use, getting vaccinated, practicing safe sex, using sunscreens.
  6. Good hygiene – includes: washing hands regularly, brushing teeth, washing food.
  7. Rational and responsible use of products, services, diagnostics and medicines – includes: being aware of dangers, using responsibly when necessary.

The seven pillars illustrated schematically:

Things you can do right now:

  • Eat a healthy meal
  • Take a walk
  • Take a nap
  • Color\Paint
  • Listen to music
  • Dance
  • Talk to a friend
  • Watch a comedy routine\show
  • Journal
  • Take deep breaths
  • Yoga and stretching
  • Drink a warm drink (tea or coffee) to pause a moment

 

 

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