By Joey Africano
COVID-19 has been a stressful time for all, and people have dealt with many problems that caused them stress and anxiety. While it is a hard time for all students here at Western New England University, there are ways for all of us to try to relieve some of that stress and bring up our mood.
The best way to bring down stress and improve your day is by walking. Walking is the most forgetful exercise we do since most of us do it every day, especially walking to our classes. Using some of your free time to go walk around is a great way to deal with stress and get some exercise.
Exercise is proven to deal with stress and often clears the head and helps people be more active in studies or in any other work they might have. Since it is hard to go to the gym because of COVID-19, walking is a great way to get your daily exercise since you can walk anywhere; you can walk all around campus, such as to the Golden bear statue, Spirit, our beloved dining hall, and even the cross-country course behind Southwood to see a family of deer.
By simply walking for an hour, you will have a significant change in your mood and help reduce the stress you might be dealing with. Some ways to enjoy your walk is to either listen to happy relaxing music, listening to an audiobook of a book you have been meaning to read, or even bringing a friend along and having a nice chat and pushing one another to keep going when you want to stop.
If you have the time to give yourself a nice relaxing walk a few times a week or every day, you will bring down stress and will boost your mood, making your time here so much better. While COVID-19 has made it difficult to do all the things we loved to do before, maybe taking up walking might be a new thing you’ll enjoy even after the pandemic is over.
