Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) hosted their Sex, Health and Well-Being Week from March 1-3 with various events held in the UniCentre.
Maddie Adams, CUSA’s vice-president (student issues), said the week is designed to remind students to pay more attention to all aspects of their health.
“Essentially, the Sex, Health and Well-Being Week is meant to bring awareness to looking into your mental health, your sexual health, and just your overall health as a human being,” said Adams, who planned and oversaw the week’s events.
March 1, the health day, consisted of the option to visit a therapy dog in the UniCentre. Several students took advantage of the opportunity to hang out with a greyhound that made its way around the room to greet all of the students attending.
In addition to the therapy dog, the health day featured free snacks such as granola bars and muffins donated by the Food Centre and sandwiches from a local business in Little Italy called DiRienzo’s.
Ogen Tsomo, administrative co-ordinator at the Food Centre, said she thinks the week is extremely important because as students become busier with their studies during midterm and exam seasons, they tend to neglect their health.
“If you’re in good health that means you can do better in your studies, so it’s important to balance both. But students will prioritize their studies and they’ll do all-nighters all the time and forget to eat their meals, and so we run programs like this where we remind students that your health is just as important,” Tsomo said.
The theme on March 2 was sex, where free lube and condoms were handed out in the atrium. A game of sex trivia was also offered, and there was a visit from a chiropractor to educate students on the best ways to ensure minimal back pain during sex and inform students on their overall back health.
Dr. Chandon Brar from the Chiropractic and Wellness Clinic prepared an educational slideshow presentation to help students better understand how to maintain a healthy back and body both during sex and throughout the day in general.
Brar said his practice is very patient-focused and that the most important thing is for people to be well educated about the issues they may be dealing with.
“Go to somebody who can tell you the exact cause of the problem rather than going online,” Brar said.
March 3 had the theme of wellbeing, and offered yoga courtesy of the Health and Wellness Resource Centre in the UniCentre atrium.
The week is similar to the Health and Well-Being Week that was hosted last year, but the “Sex” aspect was merged into the week’s events this year.
Adams said time constraints made it difficult to host two separate weeks on well-being and sex, but she is pleased with how the two topics have been able to come together under one overall health week.
“I think that they’re both really important issues to address, and it worked out well to be able to bring it to these three days and have each day be its own but at the same time make it its own week to think about yourself,” Adams said.
