This article is part of a running series with Rowan University’s Wellness Center. This collaboration aims to educate students about personal well-being options. For further updates, follow @RowanUWellness on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Spend time imagining that middle-of-the-semester rush. Rushing through campus to get from class to class. Upcoming homework repeatedly fills your mind while also keeping track of a schedule full of clubs, work and other responsibilities. Counting down the days until the weekend or maybe the next school break. But what if there’s a practice called wellness days that can help provide that much needed mini-break?
Some may have heard about wellness days, but you might not know what that exactly means. In a sense, wellness days are basically days focused on an individual taking care of their mental health (Uzialko, 2022).
It’s not uncommon for people to face mental health problems during their college years. According to the American College Health Association (2022), more and more college students go through increasing levels of distress and are experiencing more mental health problems.
That being said, now is more important to prioritize wellness days.
There are a lot of reasons why wellness days are important. To start, people who take wellness days are less likely to experience burnout (Uzialkno, 2022). Additionally, by practicing, there are numerous health benefits associated with taking wellness days (Lawler, 2019).
Since self-care is tailored to each individual person, wellness days can be designed to what a person would need. For one, it could be an extra hour of sleep and focus on doing nothing. For another, it could be a day filled with enjoying various hobbies and spending time with loved ones. Regardless of how a wellness day is spent, it’s obvious that wellness days are days well spent.
References
American College Health Association. (2022). American College Health Association National College Health Assessment: Spring 2022 reference group executive summary. https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/NCHA-III_SPRING_2022_REFERENCE_GROUP_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf
Lawler, M. (2021, May 19). What is self-care and why is it so important for your health? Everyday Health. https://www.everydayhealth.com/self-care/
Uzialko, A. (2022, August 5). The critical importance of mental health days. Business News Daily. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10945-mental-health-days.html
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Story by:
Rachael Owen, senior public health and wellness major, Wellness Center intern
Photography by:
Ashley Craven, sports communication and media major
Produced by:
Joseph Conte, junior community and environmental planning major