Health & Wellness Team Offer Fun, Relaxing Activities to Help CHM Students Unwind During Finals

Throughout medical school, students can spend much of their time studying—exerting a good amount of mental energy taking in gulps here and swigs there of information that, well,  took humans quite a bit of time to accumulate.

Yet studying can be most rigorous when proficiency with school curriculum is to be displayed. So the most intense stressful times during medical school focus around final examinations.

Sure, finals can be stressful.

Asking themselves what they could do to help alleviate some of that stress, the MSU College of Human Medicine Office of Student Affairs set out to give our terrific medical students an opportunity to sit back and, yes, unwind if at least for a bit.

It’s all part of helping our CHM students succeed, even if that’s helping them catch a breather and have a little fun in the process.

The Health & Wellness Team, comprised of MSU Faculty: Judith Brady, PhD; Laura Bennett, MA; and Patricia Brewer, PhD, among other Office of Student Affairs staff, created a week-long series of activities during exam week to reduce stress and allow the students in both Grand Rapids and East Lansing contingents a solid, meaningful break.

Attempting to supply activities for everyone, the week-long initiative has included art therapy, chair massages, mindfulness exercises, perpetual coffee and snacks, pet therapy, relaxation exercises, an ugly sweater holiday gathering and even yoga classes.

CHM students take in a variety of stress-free events during finals week

 

Created in the fall of 2011, the Health & Wellness team began planning such activities, not only as a way to reduce stress, but also as a way to promote adjustment for first- and second-year students, some of which come from as far as California and Canada.

So far, the week is working.

Direct stress reduction has been noted by the students in their feedback since the initiative’s inception. In 2012, close to 90% of those who responded said stress was indeed reduced. Additionally, over 90% strongly agreed that the activities put on by the Health & Wellness Team made them feel cared for and valued.

Students wrote statements such as, “I so appreciated the care and effort CHM put into my health and well-being during finals week.  It reminded me how lucky I am to be a CHM student.”

Another respondent said, “This program was just proof to us students that CHM cares and loves us!”

Many students even believed that the activities were beneficial to their learning beyond finals week. Over 60% strongly agreed the activities helped them gain practice insight.

“It was interesting to consider incorporating activities into future patient care,” said one respondent.

The Health & Wellness Team thought that it to be so successful, they plan to incorporate activities in the spring as well as the students themselves were enthusiastic to supply suggestions for future activities.

As far as this week, the Health & Wellness team incorporated past activities such as Therapy Dogs and yoga with massages and coffee breaks among do-it-yourself activities like “Make Your Own Stress Ball” and “Make Your Own Trail Mix,” sponsored by the Lake Michigan Credit Union.

CHM students try their hand at making the perfect trail mix to their liking.

Only time will tell what the Health & Wellness team comes up with next.

Good luck with finals!

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