College life continues to grow more stressful for students. The UI needs to do more to ensure its students have effective resources to reduce stress.
Lucee Laursen
Juggling numerous jobs to pay rent and tuition, striving to achieve high grades to receive a competitive internship, and participating in student organizations to stand out are just three things among many others that college students constantly think about.
Being a college student is not so easy as some may believe. Faced with ever rising tuition and the reality that graduating from a four-year university is not enough to set one apart from other potential applicants forces college students to never be satisfied with their current performance. Working to do one’s best is extremely important. But stress is a negative side effect that comes along with the never-ending cycle to be the absolute best. It’s simple — we cannot stop thinking about how we could do better, and our minds are in a perpetual frenzy.
Gregg Henrique wrote in Psychology Today, “There is a mental-health crisis today facing America’s college students.” The American Freshman’s annual survey in 2012 reported that 30 percent of freshmen frequently feel overwhelmed. It is no longer up for debate that today’s college students face increased stress levels that lead to decreased mental health. Many universities, including the UI, continue to struggle finding effective solutions to the prevalent problem.
Realizing that it is no longer enough to have certain days or weeks dedicated to mental-health awareness, many universities turn toward the idea of “mindfulness.” Mindfulness encourages people to be present and aware in the moment. The goal is to force your brain to stop obsessing about every little thing you need to accomplish by the end of the week. Instead, you are encouraged to turn the mind inward and take a break from the monotonous deadlines.
Inevitably, mindfulness is more than just having therapists on campus. Rather, it is a cultural change that encourages students and faculty to remember that we are all human and deserve to take time to ourselves without fear of consequences.
Some schools have begun implementing mindfulness into students’ everyday lives. The University of Minnesota added designated meditation rooms to its dorms, the University of Vermont created an entire dorm dedicated to wellness, and Carnegie Mellon installed a mindfulness room. The goal of these spaces is to provide students an area that encourages them to leave their stress and obligations at the door frame.
As a current college student, I know that high stress levels and anxiety attacks can come at any time. Having to wait weeks on end until therapy dogs or other relaxing events to take place on campus is not only inconvenient but detrimental to my mental health.
Not only is mindfulness tied to reducing stress, studies also show that increased mindfulness improves academic performance and improves health generally.
If the UI can find new and innovative ways to inspire students to be more mindful, students’ stress levels will go down.
But let’s face it, mindfulness is a cultural change, and setting a new cultural standard means getting people on board, training staff, and encouraging students to participate. This may not be easy, but it is necessary. Occasional therapy dogs and napping pods just do not cut it. The UI needs to seriously consider improving student’s academic environment by implementing mindfulness rooms and techniques.
