Tag: Health

RELAXATION TECHNIQUES

Steph_2Ahhhh Relaxation… something we all desire especially when we are swamped under a suffocating workload. Relaxation however, can be as elusive as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow being defined as “the state of being free from tension and anxiety” (Go Wikipedia!). Seems impossible huh? Yep, pretty much!

Ever had trouble sleeping or thinking straight because your mind is in a billion other places worrying about a billion other things? Ever had your muscles in your shoulders or your neck get really sore and tight? Ever felt exhausted and drained and desperately in need of a holiday? Well, well, well I would suggest this is the blog post for you.

So my lovely unrelaxed reader, I decided to take this quite seriously and went all detective ‘n’ stuff and made my way to the counselling centre at Uni opposite Admin. I booked in to see Brock Dawson who is a counsellor and he gave me some great tips to share with you all!

Brock suggested that the first place to start would be www.thedesk.org.au where you can do some evaluations of your personal stress levels and also find basic relaxation audio breathing exercises or Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercises. As well as these Brock said PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! He could not stress it enough to me that especially when you have to balance assignments, work, relationships finding time for yourself and many other elements of your life you need to plan ahead and allocate sections for each.

Relaxation is hard, and finding a balance in life is also hard. If you can’t relax or find yourself feeling tense most of the time pop into the Medical Centre and book yourself a session with one of the friendly counsellors.

~Steph

Stress Management

Steph_2That overwhelming, nagging sensation telling you to do this, go there, remember that…  Sound familiar? YAYYY STRESS! Something we all encounter more than we should.

While a low level of stress is normal, it is when the stress takes over that issues arise.  If you are a bucket and stress is the water that fills you, too much and you overflow. Like holes in the bottom of the bucket, you need to have self-care strategies in place letting out some of the pressure. When things get hectic people stop doing the things they enjoy. ..so, do one small thing you like a day; one slightly larger thing a week and one bigger thing every month or so.

Bucket of stress

When you begin to self-doubt, “I’m never going to get this in on time” or “I can’t do this” say “STOP” in your head. Accept these are just thoughts which don’t have any power and get yourself focused on task again. Baby steps! Don’t do too much in one hit just do little bit by little bit and you will get there.

As well as doing something for yourself remember to plan ahead. Write assignment due dates on a calendar and plan out your work hours. That way you will know when you have time and when you have to work a bit harder. As well as this follow the 8:8:8 rule which is 8 hours of play, 8 hours of work and 8 hours of rest.

If you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed remember there is help. For academic support, talk to your lecturer or come up to ASK and we will give you a hand. If you need more professional support the counsellors can be found in the Uni medical centre. These services are free which is exactly what we students LURVE!

~Steph

Medical Centre/ Counselling

IMG_0585So are you guys sick of all the work yet?  Sometimes the workload can get a bit overwhelming and there can be several reasons for that. If you actually are physically sick, the university has its own health centre. If you walk out of the library, you’ll be facing the ‘T’ building, off to the right hand side of the T building is a little group of offices, that’s where the health centre is.

Instead of trying to explain all of the things that the health centre can and can’t do, I’ll be lazy and just gives you guys this nice little link here.

That having been said, perhaps the problem isn’t entirely physical. Struggles with the mind are every bit as important as physical ones, if you find yourself getting overly stressed, depressed or even homesick, there is a fantastic counselling service in the university and it’s actually part of the health centre!

Depression, anxiety, loneliness, or even just needing to talk to someone about general life problems are all serious issues that can inhibit your academic life whether you realise it or not! Also don’t feel uncomfortable about going to see a counsellor, I know many people are reluctant to do so, but keep in mind that the counselling service wouldn’t be there if no one used it. It’s there to help, and the counsellors are there to help you! Let them!

There are support networks out there for a lot of things in life, never be afraid to reach out and use them!

I feel as though the only thing I’m missing from this post is one of those cheesy positive quotes with the nice backgrounds. I swear you can put any quote on a nice background of a sunset or something and it will look really nice haha.

~Brodie