Student Health will hold its first health and fitness week Monday through Friday in the hopes of highlighting healthy lifestyles for undergraduates.
Student Health is hoping that a spoon full of sugar, a hot air balloon and some free massages will help the message go down.
Working with Counseling and Psychological Services and Physical and Occupational Therapy, Student Health will put on its first health and fitness week from Monday to Friday on East Campus. The events will also feature opportunities for students to participate in swing dancing, karaoke and intramural kickball and dodgeball.
The program is a platform to promote all the health opportunities open to students, and the fair will highlight different aspects of wellness each weekday. All of the week’s programs will present together Saturday. The health and fitness week is the beginning of a string of promotions by Student Health designed to increase general wellness among the student body.
But some question what a hot air balloon or “positive psychology karaoke” has to do with health.
“Some people will say Student Health just blows hot air,” said Jean Hanson, administrative director of Student Health. She noted that the fair is merely Student Health’s attempt to make wellness fun. “We are trying to present all of the aspects of health and wellness so that students know that Student Health is not just the clinic and [they’re not just] coming to see us when they are sick or injured.”
Exposure to and knowledge of programs is vital for the success of prospective medicine, an educational and preventive approach that attempts to curb risk factors that could cause health problems in the future, officials said. Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, believes that even though this fair might not elicit changes in lifestyles, it can still have a positive impact on students’ health.
“I think that health is one of those things that you are just persistent with to encourage students to be caring about their bodies,” Moneta said. “It’s not an either we-are-successful or not type of thing.”
The fair will attempt to tackle such topics as fitness, mental health, nutrition, sexual health and stress reduction Monday through Friday.
Franca Alphin, director of health promotions and planner of the health fair, said she did not expect the fair to draw a large crowd weekdays, nor did she expect students to visit the fair each day.
“I am not anticipating a huge turnout Monday through Friday, but Saturday I am looking for a better turnout,” she said, noting that she was not expecting more than 100 people per day.
John Barrow, assistant director of CAPS, noted that the mental health day might draw less interest due to the stigma that surrounds issues of mental health on campus. “As much as anything else, we want to de-stigmatize psychological and emotional concerns and use of counseling services,” he said. “We hope to present students with useful information Tuesday about issues such as stress, anxiety and depression.”
Barrow also noted that Tuesday’s promotions will feature “positive psychology karaoke,” croquet mimicking “The Duke Journey” and an optimism-pessimism water balloon toss.
This fair is another step Student Health is taking in its efforts to become more connected and visible to undergraduate students—a goal that has received more attention since the re-organization of Student Health earlier this year.
“The major goal here is to get Student Health as a whole to be a more integral part of University life. We are hoping to work closer with residential life, greek life and eventually with even the academic component,” Hanson said. “We believe that physical and mental health can contribute to success in academics and life.”
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