Institute Wellness Days to Ease End-of-Semester Stress and Fatigue
In lieu of a spring break, Marist should institute at least one wellness day to prevent student burnout. Source: Alexis Colucci ‘23
With less than a month remaining in the semester, students are burnt out. Following the longest pause of the school year, increased social isolation and a rising workload, I speak for many students when I reiterate our mental exhaustion. We consistently hear this semester “has been like no other” and it has for many reasons — one of which is because Marist removed spring break.
Among other colleges, Marist College was not alone in its decision to cancel spring break. It made sense to limit unnecessary student travel and inhibit a period infamous for social gatherings that disobey school and state guidelines. A 2020 study in the Journal of Urban Economics even linked a greater number of cases to college campuses following the 2020 spring break.
It was a wise decision to prevent increased transmission stemming from travel from occurring this year. But nowhere in Marist’s lengthy provisions for protecting students during the spring semester did they acknowledge protecting students’ mental health, including an alternate form of a break.
As spring break traditionally offers students a mid-semester pause on coursework to socialize with friends and disconnect from the stress of school. As a result, it poses many benefits. According to a 2015 Gallup survey across income brackets, Americans who routinely make time to vacation reported a higher score of 66.3 on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index than those who don’t, who scored 55.1. While spring break isn’t necessarily a vacation, it mimics the characteristics of one, including that it allows students time to relax.
Applying these survey results to the lack of spring break at Marist, it follows that students might have a lower well-being than if we had had a break. Besides being a period away from the routine academic stress, a break during this year is more justified than in any years prior simply because students are living and working through a pandemic. I understand and agree with the college’s decision to forgo a traditional spring break. However, this statistic coupled with the effect of COVID-19 has had on students’ mental health shows that we need some sort of break.
Mental health has undeniably declined due to the pandemic. A 2020 study about the “Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States” found that 71% of participants reported increased stress and anxiety due to the pandemic. Out of these participants, only 5% had utilized mental health counseling services. The majority of students are coping with this added mental distress alone, in addition to their usual responsibilities. This makes some sort of break crucial to preventing burn out. The benefits of spring break and the detriments of living through a pandemic on mental health justify the necessity of a break in order for students to continue to effectively function.
Institutions that opted to remove spring break out of concern for the increased transmission of COVID-19 recognized the benefits spring break poses for students’ mental health. Over 600 schools, like Cornell University and Syracuse University, have implemented “wellness days,” as a substitute break for students. No classes occur on these days, allowing students to recover from school stress or pandemic fatigue as well as focus on themselves. These days are often often in the middle of the week to discourage travel,
With this solution, assignments will likely continue to accumulate and it would essentially act as a short weekend. However, not having class one day might ease travel concerns for commuter students, allow later wake-up times, and ease Zoom fatigue — which has been heightened by our previous three-week pause. It could also provide students with an extra few hours to accomplish what they need to improve their mental health.
Critics of wellness days, or any breaks during the current semester, argue that students will use the day to socialize, often without precautions. I counter this assumption with the idea that students who choose to party during this pandemic will likely continue to do so, whether or not we have a wellness day. Therefore, this wellness day would pose more benefits to students than harm, as the risks are similar to those on any given day.
Another opposition to wellness days is that they are insufficient to negate the stress of the current semester. Wellness days could still significantly mitigate the immense stress. Even a one-day break has shown to improve productivity as well as greater happiness and efficiency, as seen by the four-day work week model employed in other countries. The positive impact of an extra day off illustrates that students will greatly appreciate any time away from the demands of daily life. Even with a few weeks remaining in the semester, implementing at least one wellness day at Marist could be extremely beneficial to the student body.
Since the spring 2021 schedule remains predetermined, adding even one wellness day this late in the semester would come at a loss to class time. To alleviate the day’s impact on academics, the college could implement a wellness day on a Wednesday. Due to activity hour, there are already less classes occurring.
Furthermore, as professors have continuously adapted to changing schedules and an altered semester, a wellness day could benefit them too. A Coursehero study of more than 570 full- and part-time faculty found that 74% of faculty reported an increase of stress due to the transition to online learning. The same study also reported that 40% of faculty have considered leaving their position due to the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a statistic that highlights the need for a mental health break. In a tradeoff between covering additional material or caring for our mental health, we must choose the latter.
Now 77 days into the semester, Marist must recognize during one of the most difficult semesters any of us have faced, students still continue to thrive, often at the cost of their mental health. A majority of the student body has worked hard to obey all COVID-19 protocols, succeed academically and adjust to life in a pandemic. Without a break to recuperate, this will begin to cease. It is clear that as students, we are trying our best. Therefore, I acknowledge the dangers of a traditional spring break, but I implore the administration to consider adding a wellness day to the schedule as we head into finals. We’ve managed to contain the spread on campus to safeguard our physical health. Now, let’s improve our mental health.