This academic year, The Wellness Department pursues to integrate healthy ideals into our
St. Mark's community. X-block represents an opportunity for our students to destress and spend time gathering with friends, sharing a conversation with a faculty member or getting ahead on homework. In this time period, the Wellness Department wants to introduce some areas of practice that would help our community have the physical, mental, and emotional skills
to enjoy their best experience in a demanding prep school environment.
Wellness Newsletter
This academic year, The Wellness Department pursues to integrate healthy ideals into our
St. Mark's community. X-block represents an opportunity for our students to destress and spend time gathering with friends, sharing a conversation with a faculty member or getting ahead on homework. In this time period, the Wellness Department wants to introduce some areas of practice that would help our community have the physical, mental, and emotional skills
to enjoy their best experience in a demanding prep school environment.
Movement Monday: The thought behind moving for a twenty-minute period separates our students from being sedentary for too long. Physical activity can improve the function of your brain. In studies movement raises our attention and mood after a single period of exercise. In addition to our amazing athletic offerings, in the X-block period, specific workout plans are offered in the Coolidge Center, suggestions to go for a twenty minute walk outside, or take the stairs to history wing get posted to the smwellness Instagram page for our community to participate in. Resources to help navigate a conversation can be found below.
Gratitude Tuesday: My first experience with gratitude journaling stemmed from helping teach Third Form Core with Jennifer Taylor. The exercise asked participants to think about the most influential people in their lives. Then you wrote in your journal about why they influenced your life. There was one more part of the exercise, call that person. What an impactful activity.
Gratitude journaling improves physical and mental health. This can help you sleep better, reduce aggression and increase empathy. With all these benefits, the Wellness Department wanted to let the St. Mark's student's journal as much as they could. With the help of the Dean's Office, journals for every student got purchased. Tuesday during x-block, a prompt is posted to smwellness and each student can choose to participate in journaling in their own comfortable space.
Thursday-Friday Mindful Moment: During x-block on both Thursday and Friday, a group of students gathered together in the artful practice of mindfulness. Nine students just completed a seven-day course learning how to meditate using the App Insight Timer. The App was introduced to the students so that they would always have the ability for guided practice, whether they gather together in the crypt or alone in the solace of their rooms.
Mindfulness has a lot of tremendous benefits, chief among them the ability to regulate your own emotions. In any boarding school environment academics, arts, athletics, and social relationship can cause stress. The Wellness Department would like to offer a space where our students could consistently and actively practice mindfulness.
Friday Healthy Plate Challenge: The role nutrition plays in the life of our students should be in their consciousness all the time. While the healthy plate challenge is just on Friday, this presents an avenue to tell our students that food can affect their brain function, their mood and their ability to sleep. Having learned from last years failed attempt at social media, an individual will take a picture of the healthiest plate they consumed during the week and Ashley Maddock will pick the most balanced meal and the winning photo is posted to smwellness and they receive a gift certificate. The TedTalk shared with you recently can be seen here: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-the-food-you-eat-affects-your-brain-mia-nacamulli
Sources
https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise#t-767078