Room aids students

The+StressLess+room+at+SUN+120+helps+to+relieve+students+of+stress.

Photo by Brad Dress

The StressLess room at SUN 120 helps to relieve students of stress.

Trevor Gardner, Reporter

Stressed out?

A room in the Health Services department in SUN 120 helps relieve students’ stress.

The “StressLess” room gives any student the opportunity to chill out for up to 30 minutes.

In the room, students can watch TV with stress management videos, surrounded by a Himalayan salt rock lamp, relaxing soundtracks on a CD player, and a massage chair with a foot massager.

Health Services Manager Beth Mays said the room is meant to “decrease the stress rate.”

Mays opened the StressLess room in 2005.

“The No.1 complaint [from students] was stress,” Mays said about the creation of the room. “And I thought OK, there has got to be something that we can do.”

According to Mays, NFL players have used similar rooms to help in their decision-making process. Fighter pilots also use relaxation rooms to maintain composure in the heat of battle.

Students rate stress as the No.1 biggest negative impact to grades, according to a study by American College Health Association.

Additionally, 31.8 percent of respondents agreed it was the No.1 negative impact on their grades.

The StressLess room, staffed by licensed nurses, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and is free.

Health Services also has a lactation room and HIV testing, and both are free.