For everyone who is actively using Facebook currently, this is your chance to win a $40 gift certificate to Wild Oats! The first 100 people to “like” the Bowdoin Peer Health Facebook page will be entered in a raffle to win! And the best part? You will be among the first to know about all the health happenings on campus.
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Wellness Wednesday: The Healthy Touch
The following post was written by a guest contributor.
People in my family have a history of depression. Thankfully, none of us struggle with crippling bi-polar disorder or severe clinical depression, but every few years we tend to ruminate on negative thoughts and feelings and question our place and purpose. Personally, I think that these periods of rumination can be beneficial in helping us re-evaluate who we are and who we are striving to be. However, sometimes rumination becomes a rut and it gets difficult to shift my emotional outlook from contemplation to gratitude or genuine happiness.
For this reason, I am always looking for non-medical techniques to boost my mood. Recently, my mom bought me a book by Dr. Andrew Weil called Spontaneous Happiness. Among other techniques, this book discusses touch as a way of boosting oxytocin (a good hormone), lowering cortisol (a stress hormone), and increasing white blood cells (boosting your immune system) – ultimately improving your outlook and combating depression.
Healthy touch is any positive touch you recieve from your special someone, friends, or yourself. Healthy touch makes you feel safe, loved, trusted and cared for. Finding healthy touch at Bowdoin can be difficult. Many of us on campus can feel isolated from family, old friends, and trusted pets. This week, some of us will be going on dates and getting busy in the sack, but others of us will be spending the night in the library or hanging out with good friends. So, what are some ways to get some healthy touch and boost your mood this Valentine’s week, regardless of your relationship status?
Some tips:
- Hug your friends more
- High five people
- Get a massage (submit your 1 <3 Health cards and be entered to win a gift certificate for an hour massage)
- Buy a loofa and enjoy your shower more
- Snuggle with whoever is willing
- Pretend you have a sprained ankle and ask for a piggy back ride across campus
Health Fair in Smith Union
Looking for a nice massage?
Want to try acupunture or reiki?
How about a paraffin hand wax?
Care to learn about your resources?
This is your chance!! Stop by the Health Fair in Morrell Lounge, Smith Union on Friday, February 17 between 1:30pm and 4:30pm, where campus and community health resources will be tabling with information, stickers (and other fun things), and the option to get a quick massage, reiki, or paraffin hand wax. What better way to relax for a bit on Friday afternoon?
In addition, all students who come will be entered into a raffle for massages and other gift certificates! Hope to see you there.
Brought to you by AFAM and Peer Health.
Wellness Wednesdays: QiGong
The start of a new year and a new Bowdoin semester is always an exciting time. Between fresh notebooks for class, friends back from abroad, and subtle (but still immensely important) changes at Thorne, the campus is ready to spice up last semester’s old habits. For some students this also includes new sport seasons, changing fitness routines, and spring health and wellness classes. While many of us might have skimmed the list of classes and signed up for yoga or spinning yet again, why not try a new class you haven’t experienced yet? For example, qigong is a wellness class often overlooked at Bowdoin. Maybe you are turned off by the fear of mispronouncing the name, or maybe you just have no idea what to expect, but trying something entirely different can be wonderful for your body, mind, and state of being. Supposedly you should do something everyday that scares you, why not make qigong that something?
Qigong is an ancient Chinese art made up of different postures, circular movements, and breathing techniques. “Qi” translates to “the vital energy of the body,” and “gong” refers to “the skill of working the qi.” Thus, the idea behind this practice is not just working your muscles or breaking a sweat, but working the energies of the body. The goal is to train the mind to utilize and control the body’s various energies. In the hectic days of Bowdoin life, we often are forced to move from class to meeting to rehearsal and find our energy slumping. Thus, using your workout time to harness your energy and learning how to re-direct your energies is a very valuable skill. Likewise, learning how to work the qi has many medicinal healing effects that might just help you avoid the health center.
There are two main energy types worked during qigong. Through physical exercise and breathing focus, the internal qi is worked for healing one’s own body. However, advanced students also learn how to work external qi, which is emitting your energies to heal another person’s body. Both these processes have been clinically found to lower stress levels, bolster the immune system, lower blood pressure, improve balance, increase stamina, and improve digestive and circulatory function. Although heading to the gym is a form of stress release for many, qigong’s de-stressing effects extend beyond the moment of exercise. Learning to increase the mind-body connection will help you make it through a late night cram session and stay sane in the stress of midterm periods. Qigong is a great way to shake up last semester’s exercise rut and improve your health and mental sanity in the process. So as you work to add some variety to your Bowdoin life this semester, consider trying this valuable ancient practice. You might just be able to improve your health and the health of those around you in the process.
For further qigong reading:
http://www.qigonginstitute.org/html/papers/Anti-Aging_Benefits_of_Qigong.html
http://www.webmd.com/balance/health-benefits-tai-chi-qigong?page=2
Written by Elizabeth Huppert ’12.
The Perfect Pour
Wellness Wednesdays: Stress
Winter break is a welcome respite from Bowdoin life, and whether you spend break lounging on the beach or sitting on the couch watching TV, you were most likely able to relax. With homework and meetings finally coming to a standstill, winter break is a time to recharge and de-stress. But now as the spring semester begins, the stress we gladly abandoned has come throttling back at full force. Although eager to see friends and be back on campus, stress is a feeling we would rather not greet again.
However, stress is not an entirely bad feeling. Sure, slaving over a paper until 3 am is no fun and anxiety brought on by a jam-packed assignment notebook is not exactly pleasurable, but certain levels of stress enhance our physical and mental well-being. Adaptive stress is the adrenaline surge that propels us forward. During adaptive stress, blood vessels dilate and allow more blood flow to the brain and the muscles. This reaction results in the extra speed the body suddenly gains at race-time, the backstage nerves that sustain beautiful dance concerts, and the enhanced mental clarity and memory that appears during exams. This is a stress we should aim to have so we can constantly be performing at our best. Unfortunately, the stress many Bowdoin students experience frequently is harmful stress. Instead of dilating, blood vessels constrict resulting in dizziness, pins and needles, and irregular heartbeats. This anxious, panicked feeling is unpleasant, exhausting, and often dangerous. So how do we turn the harmful stress we often carry at Bowdoin into this adaptive stress?
A key difference between adaptive and harmful stress is the role of the mind. When harmful stress is in full force we become subject to our bodies, unable to control blood flow or think logically. On the other hand, during adaptive stress we are able to take a step back from the situation at hand and put things in perspective. Relaxation techniques are a great way to break free from the all-consuming nature of harmful stress and calm the nervous system down. For example, 4-7-8 breathing, which consists of inhaling for 4 counts, holding the breath for 7 counts, and exhaling for 8 counts, helps re-charge the mind-body condition. Wellness classes like yoga and tai chi also help with this same mind-body connection. While stress seems like an inevitable reaction of the body to the flurry of Bowdoin life, the mind has the power to soothe the body, re-frame stressors, and turn levels of stress from harmful to adaptive. If you feel yourself already overwhelmed by new classes and tired from long days, remember that you have the power to turn the stress in your life from a negative to a positive force. Try enrolling this week for a Bowdoin wellness class, practicing breathing at your desk, and most importantly take a step back from the Bowdoin Bubble to put everything in perspective. If your mind can find peace, your body will follow suit.
For more information on the difference between adaptive stress and harmful stress check out this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171192704005250.html
Written by Elizabeth Huppert ’12.