STRESSED OUT?

HEALTH 101: TIPS FOR A HEALTHY BODY AND MIND

 Welcome Back Bruins!

Whether you are coming back for your last semester or attending your first class, the Center for Health and Counseling is excited to welcome you for Fall semester 2017! 

As you prepare yourself for classes we wanted to share some healthy living tips to ensure that you have a healthy and successful semester. 

Keep your body healthy!

When surrounded by thousands of other students on campus and sharing classroom space, spreading colds and viruses is easy if you're not careful. These tips can help keep you from getting sick.

● Wash your hands. Studies have shown that simple hand washing can help prevent a large number of illnesses. So wash your hands, especially any time you'll be touching your nose, mouth or eyes or if you've been around others who are sick.

● Don't go to class. If you're sick, don't force yourself to go to class. It will only make you feel worse and infect other students. Email your professors that you're ill and stay home and rest, trust me, they will appreciate it. 

● Get to the doctor. If you have symptoms that aren't showing any signs of clearing up within a few days, you may need to take a trip to the Center for Health and Counseling. A simple cold can turn into something much worse if left alone, so seek help if you aren’t feeling any better. And don’t worry about it breaking the bank, a visit to the CHC medical clinic is only $10!

● Drink lots of fluids. Colds and flu can wreck havoc on your body, often depriving it of much needed fluids. Replenish these by drinking plenty of water you’re feeling under the weather. 

● Get a flu shot. With so many germs around, sometimes getting a flu shot is the best thing you can do to avoid getting sick. The CHC offers the flu shot every year at a reduced price!


Keep your mind healthy!

Students can get run down with so much going on. These tips can help you beat the stress.

● Create a routine. If you get yourself in the habit of studying, working out, and sleeping at certain hours, it will be easier to fit in all the things you need to do in a day without feeling too stressed out.

● Give yourself a break. If you've been working steadily for hours, give your eyes and mind a chance for a rest by taking a break. You can come back feeling more refreshed and ready to go.

● Understand you can't do everything. While you might want to go to class, work, play a sport, and participate in clubs and social activities, the reality is that sooner or later you're going to get run down by trying to do so much. Focus on doing the things you truly love and forget about the rest.

● Get help. If you're feeling overwhelmed, feel free to reach out and ask for help. At $10 a session our licensed clinical social workers and psychologist here at the CHC are available to talk at any time. 

● Take advantage of campus resources and programs. The Center for Health and Counseling offers a wide variety of services that can help you destress, including massages for only $10!

We hope you will use these tips and take advantage of the resources and services the Center for Health and Counseling offers. We are always here to make sure that you are able to be your most successful self!

Good luck on your new semester and welcome back!

Keep It Safer and Smarter

     KISS is the theme for this year's Sexual Responsibility event. KISS stands for Keep It Safer and Smarter. The purpose of the event is to teach the importance of the 3 C's, which are communication, consent, and condoms. Knowing these things helps people obtain personal and community responsibility.

     At the event, we will have a few games going. We have a condom card line-up, which participants will try to arrange the steps to putting on a condom in order from step 1-12 in the fastest time. They will then receive an envelope which they must get signed by as many people as they can. This game will make them aware of many different STD's. We will have a myth/fact game as well. This game will decide whether the statements they hear are true or not. There will be two more games that focus on the importance of consent and communication.

     KISS will be held Thursday, February 21, 2013, from 11-1. It will take place in the Student Event Center (across from the Lair in the Student Center). Refreshments will be served. We hope to see everyone there!

Women Empowering Women

Women today are faced with a wide range of issues. The role of the woman itself is rapidly changing in our society. This group is intended to help women process with one another the experiences they have. Topics will be chosen by group members and may include, but are not limited to such things as: relationships, connecting with others, intimacy, self esteem, stress management, trust, gaining a sense of control, relaxation, and support. While this group is slated to run for 6 weeks, it may be ongoing should group members choose to continue.

By Stephanie Sinju

51 Ways To Cope With Stress

Just a few ways you can deal with the stress of finals this week! (Click the image to get a bigger view) Good luck everyone! Enjoy your upcoming winter break! 

Dealing With Finals Stress During the Holidays

 

Image Credit: 123Life.com

 
No matter your faith, no matter your family background, the holidays will have some emotional impact on you.  Your emotions may run the gambit from joy, anticipation, and love of the traditions to overwhelmed, loneliness, non-belief, and hatred of the traditions. You also may find yourself stepping on both sides of that fence; i.e. loving the traditions but dreading the family dynamics that always seem to push your buttons.  Whatever your experience is, there are some things you can do or some thoughts you can ponder to help ease your journey through the holiday season to Spring semester. 

Acknowledge the life stresses you have.  Most of you will be preparing for finals through Hanukah, Christmas, or Kwanza celebrations. You may be facing some stark realities about your financial state during this time and feel pressured to spend on gifts that just aren’t in your budget as you look at buying books for the next semester.  These stresses are real and are only intensified by a refusal to address them or by telling yourself you shouldn’t be feeling them.  Take time to truthfully acknowledge the things in your life that bring stress.

Acknowledge the emotions you experience during this time. They may not all be pleasant happy emotions but like the weather they will change without you fighting, denying, or hanging onto them.  Emotions aren’t in your control so just recognize them.  A happy byproduct of not fighting with our emotions is they generally become less distressful. 

And finally, seek help when you feel like your demands outreach your skill level.  This may involve seeking out a trusted friend, talking to a valued advisor, or contacting one of our therapists in Health and Wellness.  We can’t always have all the answers or skills to solve our life problems and counseling with a trusted source can help with skills development and perspective.  

Tobacco Free Campus Policy

There are over 49,000 deaths in the US among adult non-smokers as a result of second hand smoke, according to the National Cancer Institute.  So how does this affect Salt Lake Community College?

SLCC is in the developmental process of implementing a Tobacco free campus to insure the health and wellness of each and every student.

“Currently, the tobacco policy on campus is supporting the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act, so by state law you can’t smoke within 25-feet of a doorway or an open window,” said Peter Moosman.  “It’s really hard to enforce, so the policy that we are proposing is a tobacco free campus policy.”

Going through the process of making this policy, the Health and Wellness Department went through several loopholes that prevented them from progressing forward.  

The Health and Wellness Department had conflicts with discrimination against smokers, taking away smokers rights and how they were going to enforce the policy.  

“Smokers as a group have no rights as smokers.  You don’t have the right to go into a public place and expose others to toxic chemicals,” said Peter Moosman.

In a survey done in fall of 2011, the Health and Wellness Department at SLCC showed that 86 percent of students believe that secondhand smoke is either extremely or very harmful.  

More than 7,000 chemicals are identified in secondhand smoke alone and cause approximately 69 types of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institution.

“People that do have rights are those with Asthma and Respiratory issues.  They are protected under the American Disabilities Act and so we as a college have a responsibility to protect those students by law,” said Moosman.

SLCC isn’t taking away the smokers right to smoke but simply asking them to leave the campus to the nearest public sidewalk to not expose the toxic chemicals to other students on campus.

Another idea that was brought up instead of completely getting rid of tobacco was to implement a designated smoking station.  The Health and Wellness Department worked out maps to see what still complied with the 25-feet rule but the only places were small pockets and tended to be high traffic areas.

“Looking into the designated smoking areas wasn’t very effective because of our campus being so small in order to walk to one smoking station, you could probably walk another direction to a public street,” said Moosman.

Also considering the current policy, there is no designated line telling you where 25-feet is.  The same issue can occur with the designated smoking station.  Where can you define the line for the designated smoking station?

With the new tobacco policy currently going through a feedback process, this policy won’t be going into effect until Aug. 1, 2013, the start of the next school year.  If everything goes as planned and it is approved by the vice president of student services, they plan to take it to the cabinet and begin to enforce the policy by next year.  For more information, visit the Taylorsville Redwood Student Center Building and talk with the Health and Wellness Department or visit their website at slcc.edu/hw.

By Nichole Steinfeldt

Mental Health - Let Us Help

Yahoo!  You have finally made it into college and are full of excitement about the wonderful possibilities that await you.  The future looks bright and the world is your oyster.  The doors have been blown open to a seemingly limitless array of positive new adventures: new friends, new knowledge, new romance, new fun, new career, or even the shaping of a new personal identity.  Success is there for the taking!

But things do not always go according to plan.  Or at least, not how you thought they were supposed to go.  And while college is undoubtedly a time when many hopes and dreams are fulfilled, just as commonly, it is a time of having to face up to various disappointments and limitations.  Ouch. 

So, career choices may need to be reconsidered due to lower than expected grades.  Friendships and romantic relationships may end due to betrayal or insurmountable conflicts.  Despite your best efforts, it might be hard to find a job.  And, instead of finding yourself, you may become more confused about who you are and what you want to do.

At such times, you may end up feeling overly discouraged, stressed, overwhelmed or lost.  It might feel harder to cope and you might feel like giving up.  Maybe you find yourself drinking more, or experimenting with drugs.  Or you might find that in many ways you just do not feel like your normal self, or that your emotions feel out of control.  Rest assured that you are not going crazy.  But, you might be suffering from significant depression, anxiety or other mental health symptoms. 

This may be a scary new experience, or one you have dealt with in the past.  In either case, you are not alone.  A recent national survey of college students conducted by the American College Health Association found that at least once during the school year, 93% of students felt overwhelmed, 91% felt exhausted, 79% felt sad, 63% felt hopeless, and 45% felt so depressed that it was difficult to function.

Unfortunately, data also show that many college students who are distressed do not seek counseling or support from others.  Oftentimes this is due to the common, but erroneous, myth that anyone with mental health struggles is defective or weak or crazy.  Actually, the truth is just the opposite.  Those who decide to seek counseling show thereby that they possess good self-awareness, decision making and courage in getting the help that they need.

Besides, counseling helps.  Research shows that the majority of people who receive counseling improve to some extent, and much faster than if they tried to handle things on their own?  So why continue to suffering unnecessarily?  If you find yourself struggling, consider making an appointment to see one of our professional counselors at Health and Wellness Services as soon as possible.  It may end of being one of the best experiences of your college career.

By: Scott Kadera - psychologist