Pitt students are already trying to de-stress with finals week on the horizon.

And a… Pitt students are already trying to de-stress with finals week on the horizon.

And a place for them was at the Stress-Free Zone, an event sponsored by Student Health and the University Counseling Center to give students a place to take time to relax – and get free massages – before finals week begins.

Calming music welcomed students as they entered the Assembly Room of the William Pitt Union yesterday. The event lasted from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., and students drifted in and out all day, glad the University offers such services.

Freshman Joanna Hameman said she came last semester and thinks it’s a good way to help students release the tension of finals.

“The massage was great, very relaxing,” she said. “I’ll probably go make flip flops later this week, too. Today I made a mosaic wand and a stress ball and listened to the relaxing music.”

Students could get free popcorn or smoothies and plenty of information from both Student Health and the University Counseling Center about ways to relieve stress. Outside were pamphlets on topics ranging from test anxiety, time management, self-confidence, loneliness and stress management.

A screen, projecting serene images of rainbows, landscapes and exotic places, was set up in the front of the room. One area of the room was set off for yoga and another for free chair massages.

Approximately 45 people received free massages and even more showed up to take part in some of the other stress-free opportunities around the room.

One of these activities was computer biofeedback. Students attached a device to their fingers, and in just three minutes the computer measured their muscle tension and heart rates and gave them printouts telling how relaxed they were.

There was also a creative corner where students could make mosaic photo frames, wands and stress balls.

David Morris, who works with the Counseling Center, is also a graduate student in the School of Social Work and said finals stress is part of the reason he came.

“I’m a grad student, so I’m under plenty of stress,” Morris explained as he designed a mosaic star with bits of tiles he’d broken up with a hammer. “I signed up for a massage, and I did my biofeedback. It gives you a print out of how relaxed you are, which I was not.”

“I think it is good because a lot of students don’t know how to relax, they don’t have healthy ways of relaxing,” Morris said. “They could just drink a beer, and you’re relaxed, but it doesn’t have any long term effect, it’s not a good coping method.”

Jamie Bromley, a psychologist with the University Counseling Center, said they tried a finals week event before and got much less of a response.

“Not many students are around during finals week, they’re studying or taking exams or they leave early,” she said. “But I think [the event] is wonderful, we hope to do more of these kinds of events in the future. I think students really need a place to relax and de-stress.”

“If they offered it during finals week, I’d come,” Hameman said. “I know I’m studying this week, but if the tension’s building up, it’d be good to have it during finals week.”

“I wish it was during finals week,” senior Julie Chomos agreed. “I think it would make more sense while we actually are stressed with finals.”

Chomos says she deals with stress with events like Day at the Spa and also just through time management.

“You just plan ahead and get things in order so you don’t have to stress and worry about finals week a lot,” she said as she pushed flour through a funnel into a balloon to create her blue stress ball.

“But mostly today I came for the free massage,” she said.