University students are beating the chill this week with a focus on their physical and mental health.<\/p>\n
The Otago University Students\u2019 Association (OUSA) has been running its annual Winter Wellbeing Week to help undergraduates cope with the colder months and highlight its year-round support services.<\/p>\n
OUSA community education and engagement co-ordinator Sophie Penn said the shift to the chilly season could be challenging for young people who were away from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cDunedin can be a big culture shock for some people, especially when it comes to winter, which is why we run our Winter Wellbeing Week during winter,\u201d Mrs Penn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s mood changes in winter and if you are not putting yourself first and not looking after yourself, that is going to then reflect on the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some young people faced added pressure after returning to university from the mid-year break.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have, like, been back with your family and it is kind of hitting homesickness all over again,\u201d Mrs Penn said.<\/p>\n
The association encouraged students to embrace the season and learn practical ways to stay warm, as financial pressures often forced them to compromise on heating.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften students say, \u2018no, we will just save money, not run our heat pump and just freeze\u2019,\u201d Mrs Penn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk to students a lot about preparing for that from summer as well \u2014 you know,\u00a0putting extra money into your power bills and things like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo then when it comes to winter, you have got a little bank of money set aside that will cover, hopefully, that power.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, a new class, Adjusting to the Season, focused on adapting behaviours for the frosty months, Mrs Penn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really about looking forward, how you can look forward to winter as much as people look forward to summer.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t live the same way you live in summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike, if you say you get up at 5am and go for a run in summer, that might not be practical in winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might have to adapt and change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second-year student Bella Tissink\u00a0attended a do-it-yourself mould-killer tutorial.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like living in a healthy home and I like cheaper solutions to things like that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Adjusting to the Southern climate had been difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from the far north, like we barely get frosts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhereas here it would be icy all day some days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Events earlier this week included a kombucha workshop, cooking class and sketching on campus.<\/p>\n
Students were offered free flu vaccines and could take part in a finance and budgeting workshop, as well as sessions focused on mental health, such as breathwork.<\/p>\n
Today participants are taking part in a badge-making activity and tomorrow offers a zine-making clinic and a family-friendly movie night watching Monsters University.<\/p>\n
The wellbeing week concludes on Saturday with a morning Zumba class.<\/p>\n
Throughout the week, students have been able to enjoy free hot drinks and pop into the craft room at the OUSA Clubs & Societies Centre for a break from the stress of study.<\/p>\n
The initiative also served to highlight the services offered by the students\u2019 association throughout the year, Mrs Penn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have yoga for our recreation programme and free breakfast and free showers and the sauna.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it is kind of a chance to bring awareness to that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
sam.henderson@thestar.co.nz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University students are beating the chill this week with a focus on their physical and mental health. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-556243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}