West Virginia University will be offering students the opportunity to chillWELL Monday (Nov. 10). The program is designed to help students optimize their quality of life and manage stress.

Each year, WVU students report stress as the top impediment to academic performance on the National Collegiate Health Assessment II. chillWELL will address stress and how it directly impacts the wellbeing of students.

Activities surrounding chillWELL are designed to help students learn techniques to increase awareness of feelings, shift thoughts in a positive direction and learn to self-regulate their response to stress through tools and programs like HeartMath� and Mantra Workshop.

Three chillFEST events will provide students an opportunity to learn these techniques and experience yoga, massage, meditation and relaxation.

The first chillFEST will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on (Monday) Nov. 10 at the Health and Education Building, and the second will take place 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on (Tuesday) Nov. 11 in the John Jones Conference Center at the WVU Health Sciences Center. The third program will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on (Wednesday) Nov. 19 at the Mountainlair.

WELLWVU programs utilize social marketing campaigns and educational activities to encourage a cultural shift towards fostering health and wellbeing on campus. Through chillWELL, WELLWVU encourages students to photograph things they are grateful for and post them on Instagram with #wvugrateful. WELLWVU’s website also has interactive games, online apps (WELLGO calendar and chillPACK) and articles related to stress management.

Drop-in yoga sessions are also being offered Mondays at 6:30 p.m. and Tuesdays at 5:15 p.m. from Nov. 10 through Dec. 15 at the Health and Education Building. Drop-in meditation will take place Thursdays at 4 p.m. from Nov. 6 to Dec. 11 in the same location. Drop-in HeartMath� and WELLGO calendar lab hours will be Nov. 3 through Dec. 12: Mondays 4-7 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays 5:30-7 p.m., and Fridays 8 a.m. to noon at the Health & Education Building.

Visit WELLWVU at http://www.well.wvu.edu/ to learn more about stress reduction techniques or contact Rebecca Olsavsky at rrolsavsky@mail.wvu.edu for more information about chillWELL activities.

-WVU-

ta/11/05/14

CONTACT: Rebecca Olsavsky, WELLWVU
304.293.5054, rrolsavsky@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.