Spin bikes, plants, and meditative art.
That鈥檚 what Nurse Louise Lockhart is prescribing to 海角社区 students, staff and faculty members in need of enjoyable mental and physical health breaks. 海角社区鈥檚 first 鈥榮pin bike gardens鈥� will be designed and installed in key locations on the downtown and Macdonald campuses, including the Brown building鈥檚 4th聽and 5th聽floors, 海角社区鈥檚 libraries, the 3rd聽floor of McIntyre building, the Barton building at Macdonald campus, and the 5th聽floor of the Trottier building. The idea is to provide a quiet, convenient mental health break in areas where students and staff are busy at work, and make cardio activity more accessible to the community.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada has indicated that up to 70% of all long and short-term absences from work can be due to mental health. At 海角社区, mental health has been an issue of great trepidation for both the community and the administration. 鈥淏urnout is not secret!鈥� Nurse Lockhart says. 鈥淪o much is demanded of both staff and students at an institution like 海角社区.鈥�
Evidence suggests that exercise can boost moods, increase effectiveness at work and reduce daily frustration. It鈥檚 also been shown to both treat聽and聽prevent mild to moderate depression. That鈥檚 where the spin bikes come in.
鈥淧roviding tools that help our community members focus better, de-stress, and literally refresh their mind with the increased cerebral blood flow that comes with moderate intensity exercise would be a practical聽way for them to sustain their own mental wellness,鈥� Nurse Lockhart says.
Funded by the Sustainability Projects Fund, the initiative is a conscious and proactive step towards creating sustainable spaces for health and wellness. It aims to create a deep cultural and social change in place of 鈥榖and-aid鈥� solutions to mental health crises.
鈥淭o me, providing tangible tools to help our community members remain resilient against stress despite demanding working conditions is sustainability,鈥� says Nurse Lockart. Spin bikes could create a paradigm shift around exercise, too; they could reframe exercise as an easy and desirable tool to create wellbeing in an age of overwhelmingly sedentary lifestyles. To this end, the project will feature a health campaign that will debunk myths about exercise as being overly physically challenging or focused on body types.
The initiative has definitely been an interdisciplinary effort. Ginny Kennyon,聽Masters Student in Occupational Therapy, and Brighita Lungu,聽an architectural designer and Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Architecture, played a critical role in the research that led to an 鈥榚xperts day鈥� in May. The community consultation was an effort to get input from engineers, health specialists, building directors, and student leaders. The project has also worked closely with 海角社区鈥檚 Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Athletics and Recreation at Mac, and Senior Campus Space Planner Paul Guenther. 鈥淭hese folks have been what I聽would call the advisors. They are all grounded, no-nonsense, let's-get-stuff-done kind of folks, and they鈥檝e been awesome at offering guidance for聽the larger vision and direction of the project,鈥� says Nurse Lockhart.
In addition to the spaces, the team also aims to set up a website managed by a wellness-related unit of Student Services, featuring educational resources, research on the stations, instructions for setting up the bike gardens, and promotional tools. The bikes are all set to be managed by 海角社区 Athletics, while steward teams will be set up to care for the plants. 鈥淥nce in place, the un-manned bike stations would sustain themselves, needing only cleaning and routine maintenance,鈥� Nurse Lockhart says. 鈥淟ater phases of the project could include generating energy from the bikes in order to power calming lights in the stations or bike apps, or watering plants with grey water from nearby fountains.鈥�
So how can students, staff, or faculty members get involved? 鈥淔irst of all, we are now looking for聽leaders for each building who are interested in taking the reins with promotion and working with building directors to work out any logistics,鈥� says Nurse Lockhart. 鈥淲e also聽need聽volunteers in January聽who will play an integral role in maintaining the spaces once they are set up on a weekly or biweekly basis.鈥�
If you鈥檙e looking for a more tangible way to contribute to the Spin Bike Gardens, you can donate your old phone chargers to Room 4100 in the Brown Building 鈥� the donations will be used in the garden spaces! You can also聽
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