The Peer Health Educators organized a mindfulness meditation and a fruit giveaway to promote healthy lifestyles among college students. The event was one of many located on Stan State’s campus at the Pergola. It offered an hour long guided meditation with free pieces of fruit to any student that joined, to promote healthy eating.

This mindful meditation was one of their events offered in their STEP-tember month long health challenge, which included a “Building a Healthier You” workshop and guided walks. The organization even offered prizes when students added them on Instagram, @stanstate_healthed, and tagged them in their story as they participated in one of their guided walks. Prizes included a Jamba Juice gift card and a Fitbit.

Taylor Whitehead, Health Educator and PHE advisor, said that the Health Education & Promotion’s  Mission Statement is “To lead health education and promotion initiatives, advocate for a health-promoting community, and engage campus and community partners to support student wellness and academic success.”

Although the PHE organization encourages students to focus on their physical health, they also try to encourage mental health by offering free meditation sessions to help students to relieve stress. Whitehead said, “Based on the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment II (ACHA-NCHA II), Stan State students reported stress as the number one factor affecting their individual academic performance.”

Whitehead added that, in the past, they offered other stress management activities like yoga, art therapy and pet therapy. This meditation event was the first of this year.

Jaycie Wildermuth (senior, Kinesiology) said, “We thought it would be fun to switch up to do a meditation, I think mental [stress] isn’t addressed enough.” Wildermuth added that it was a good way for students to “slow down” and relieve stress before exams.

When asked how these stress management activities helped her Annie Nguyen (sophomore, Biology) said, “Many science classes with exams and quizzes every week have brought me a lot of stress, and there are times when I feel so overloaded with things to do. I don’t usually meditate as a way to destress in the past, but I find it peaceful for my mind and body to find a nice spot outside to relax and be one with nature through meditation.”

PHE encouraged students to focus on living a healthier lifestyle. “A healthy lifestyle can improve a student’s physical, mental and emotional capacity that will stay with them even through their adult life, and for many students, college is the big step from adolescent to adulthood where they’re starting to establish their own life without relying much on their parents,” Nguyen said.

For more healthy living workshops go here to view the calendar of upcoming events.