One thing that many college students have in common is that they are always moving from one place to another. One minute a student is in class, the next they are studying in the library, and after that they are hanging out with friends or family. But when does a student really have a full day to him or herself? Well, to help kick off Mental Health Awareness Month, the office of residential student services (RSS) hosted a Mental Health Day, where students could decide to take the day off from all the studying and partying.

Mental Health Day was held on Saturday, May 2, 2015, from 12 a.m. until 11:45 p.m. and it was a campus wide event. Although final exam week is coming up, a break from the studying will help students free their mind of stress, school, and work, ultimately making them feel refreshed the coming days.

Mental Health Day was created by resident assistant (RA) Brittany Martino, who is a junior majoring in physical education and health. “I came up with this idea from one RSS training session with Nicole Rodriguez [Managing Assistant Director of Community Standards and Student Conduct]. She talked to the [RAs] about how our generation does not take time to sit [down] and do nothing. She had us sit quietly for two minutes doing nothing. We could not talk, move, look at our phones or even think. It was amazing! I had never felt so relax.”

But Mental Health Awareness Month is not only about students felling less stressed. It is also about other mental disorders like bipolar disease, schizophrenia, and depression. As said by mentalhealth.gov mental health is a very important aspect of everyone’s life, as it relates to how everyone handles stress, communicates with others and more.

There are many signs of someone who has a mental health disorder, according to mentalhealth.gov, which includes:

• Unexplained aches or pain
• An urge to harm oneself
• Having arguments with family or friends
• An increase use of drugs or alcohol
• Unable to do day-to-day tasks like going to school or work

“We need to take care of ourselves mentally because suicide is the third leading cause of death,” comments Martino, and by living a stress-free life the rates of suicide is more than likely to decrease. Martino continues to say how “we mentally destroy ourselves because we never take a health break.” Juggling the life as a student, a part-time worker, a friend to many and a member of a family finding the time to relax can be hard. But if students just take one day out of the year, month, or week, the body can help rejuvenate itself.

“When you lie down and do nothing you energize your mind and body…our generation needs a day to relax! We need a day to lie around and look at the sky, give our brains a break and [give] our bodies the well-deserved rest we need,” concludes Martino.

All in all, before the semester ends, take a breather and relax the body. And taking a break before a final exam may not be that bad of an idea after all.