Bustin’ winter blues with exercise

WSU’s Division of Student Affairs and the Graduate and Professional Students Association (GPSA) will host an event to help overcome Seasonal Affective Disorder on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Winter Blues Buster” starts 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Student Recreation Center (SRC). The event will continue 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center.

The event is free of charge to graduate students and undergraduates.

Veneice Guillory-Lacy, GPSA vice president and member of the Winter Blues Buster planning committee, said the event is intended to help combat depressive feelings that often come with winter.

“You know when it gets cold and it’s snowy and it’s rainy and it gets dark at 4 p.m., we’re at higher rates of just feeling down — having mental health issues,” Guillory-Lacy said.

She said students need to find a way to cope.

Some coping mechanisms provided by the event include exercise, art and cooking.

All activities were selected due to the impact they can have on mental health, Guillory-Lacy said.

“The mission of Winter Blues Buster is to help students find ways to feel more energetic, feel better, cook mood-boosting food, use mindfulness, be mindful and just have fun during these winter months,” she said.

Joanne Greene, University Recreation Center programming director, said the SRC is a great place to host the first night of the event due to the endorphin-increasing nature of exercise.

“We know that physical activity is a mood booster,” Greene said. “So we came up … with a diverse offering so there would be something for everybody.”

The second night will focus on mindfulness and creativity, Greene said.

“Mindfulness for a Restful Sleep” and a “Mood Foods Cooking Class” are workshops that will be hosted during the event.

Guillory-Lacy said the broad spectrum of events came from the diversity of members in the committee.

“Each committee member came up with ideas,” Guillory-Lacy said. “We were just like, ‘What would students show up to? What would students need?’”

Greene said the Winter Blues Buster is the first of several mental health focused events which will be hosted by Student Affairs this semester.

“We talked about ideas that would be inclusive … would be interesting to lots of different students and accessible to all,” she said.

The next event will be a series of mental health workshops featuring artist and speaker Dior Vargas. The workshops will focus on self-care.

The Vargas event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at Chinook 150.