Rejuvenate mini, body
with massage therapy
By Debi Hoff
Staff Reporter
Leah Halldorothy was suffering
from neck pains, tight muscles and
an incredibly stressful schedule.
She tried different ways to cure her
ailments, but finally found relief in
the hands of a massage therapist at
the Campus Recreation Center.
According to a rec center pam
phlet, massage therapy relieves
mental and physical stress and
leaves one relaxed and rejuvenated
by:
■ reducing muscle tension and
pain.
■ calming the nervous system
by increasing circulation, which
boosts one’s energy and alertness.
■ helping one to identify and
relieve tension on his or her own.
■ providing one with a change
of pace so that the body and mind
can relax and revitalize.
“Massage therapy is definitely
a nonevasive way to break away
from your daily schedule,” said
Amy Lohrberg Patt, Massage
Therapy Coordinator at the
University Recreation Center.
Halldorothy, a graduate student
in educational leadership, has been
scheduling massage appointments
monthly.
I “I usuallygust pick a really
stressful week,’of ohe fliat is sched
uled to be busy, and make my
appointment,” Halldorothy said.
“It just makes my body feel good
and gets it ready to go again.”
The massage clinic at the rec
center recently expanded its sched
ule to meet the demands of stu
dents and faculty.
J“RetiMAappo4aftifen1©«re evig
m whium 3w“i
larity, we revised our schedule to
offer twice as many appointment
times.”
Megan Armbruster, a senior
community health education
major, is fairly new to the massage
scene, but said she plans on contin
uing,
“Massage is extremely relax
ing,” Armbruster said. “It gives me
time to think about absolutely
nothing and totally relax."
Like many businesses, the clin
ic hits a busy period, Patt said.
“The time around finals seems
to justify the need for a massage,”
Patt said. “There is also a larger
thrust around the holidays.”
Armbruster recommends mas
sage as a way to relax especially
during finals.
“It really helps you to relax
when you are stressed,” Armbruster
said. “It’s definitely something that
helps you find your focus again.”
Halldorothy agrees.
“It gives you back a positive
attitude so you can get back into
your homework,” Halldorothy said.
The clinic offers massage times
of 25, 45 and 60 minutes. It also
offer a new sea clay body masque.
The rec center also will be
sponsoring five-minute sample
massages costing $1 during
Massage Therapy Awareness Week,
Monday through Oct. 24.
Halldorothy and Armbruster
agree that the prices offered at the
rec center are reasonable.
Halldorothy said the actual
massage may seem brief, but com
pared to prices at other Lincoln
massage services, the rec center is
less expensive.
“The prices at the rec center
can’t be touched,” Halldorothy
said. “Twenty-five minutes may
I seem like a short timf* but it’s
I enowgb tPjmfJ^ ypur feel relaxed.”
Appointments can now be made
at the Campus Recreation Center
The cost...
UNL Campus Recreation
Center:
Members (students and
faculty): |
25 minutes: $ 15 ' .*
45 minutes: $25
60 minutes: $30 ;
^ Masque: $30 m
Non-members:
25 minutes: $25
45 minutes: $35
60 minutes: $40
Masque: $40
A Body Massage Center,
2775 E St., 477-0138
Offered on hourly basis
only: $40
Lincoln Massage Center,
Suite 200 3230 S. 13 th St., 421
3230
30 minutes: $25
45 minutes: $35
60 minutes: $40
90 minutes: $55
Tranquility Massage
Therapy Associates, Suite 201,
1550 70th St.,484-7878
15 minutes: $10
30 minutes: $25
60 minutes: $40
90 minutes: $60
Monday through Thursday from 10
a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Fridays from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the East
Campus Recreation Center,
appointments are available
Monday through Friday from noon
to 2 p.m.
Call.472-3467 to make an
appointment at City Campus or
472-2479 for East Campus.
f OPEN BAR: A
^B
Witness Classes Included In Membership
■ OPEN 24 HOURS, 7 DAYS A WEEK! ■
Comfort food may make
tension more palatable
■ Ice cream, chicken
soup, chocolate are a
few solutions to many
students’ stressors.
By Amanda Schindler
Staff Reporter
Chicken soup for the flu, ice
cream after a bad day, chocolate
after a breakup - these common
foods play a large role for some
people managing stressful lives.
Called comfort foods, or
foods eaten to relieve stress, they
work by producing certain sen
sations usually related to past
memories, said Shirley
Davidson, a psychiatric mental
health nurse at the University
Health Center.
Heath center dietitian Karen
Miller said she believes culture
plays a large role in causing this
behavior. :
“We are a society that uses
food for everything: celebra
tions, funerals, weddings, etc.,”
she said. “It’s a conditioned
response (to stress).”
This conditioning occurs
when a person associates a par
ticular food with pleasant feel
ings experienced in the past, and
therefore eats to reproduce those
sensations. The phenomenon
may start as early as infancy. If
babies are fed every time they
cry, Miller said, they can learn to
use food as a solution every time
they feel uncomfortable.
The relationship between eat
ing and stress varies from person
to person. In “Women, Food, and
Mood,” an article in “Topics in
Nutrition” by Mindy S. Kurzer, a
study of college students found
that a large percentage of both
men and women had experienced
food cravings. Among men, 68
percent had cravings; but 97 per
cent of women did.
Kurzer, a professor in the
Department of Food Science and
Nutrition at the University of
Minnesota, found that women
most often craved chocolate,
while men chose both chocolate
and pizza as their favorites. Such
cravings can be a product of food
deprivation, Kurzer stated, but
J biological factors may be part of
the food-and-mood relationship.
For example, chocolate and
carbohydrates like pizza may
contain certain compounds that
influence mood, she stated, but
these are not well-founded theo
ries. If it were true, foods that
contain the same compounds,
like cheddar cheese, pickled her
ring and salami, would be just as
appealing.
More likely, cravings are
influenced by cultural and psy
chological ideas about the food,
Kurzer stated.
Although personal prefer
ence plays a large role in comfort
eating, a few area food stores
noticed an increase in sales dur
ing finals week - a stressful time
for students. Kent Knudson, an
owner of daVinci’s Italian
Eatery, reported increased busi
ness during that time among col
lege students. Ruth Wenzl, four
year employee at JP Chocolates
and Candies in Gateway Mall,
said that although business did
not change during final? time,
people frequently walked in
wanting “a chocolate fix.”
Some students at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
have experienced comfort eating
themselves.
For Jill Hallgren, a freshman
news-editorial major, ice cream
is the answer to stress. “It’s just
so soothing,” she said.
Tiffany Runnels, a sopho
more education major, said
M&M’s have helped her through
stressful times, such as the
beginning of a new semester.
However, Matt Harre, fresh
man mechanical engineering
major, said he usually doesn’t eat
to relieve stress.
“I don’t change my habits a
lot when I get stressed,” he said.
“I usually don’t eat anything (for
comfort).”
This contrast could be a mat
ter of personal preference, but
Kurzer’s study suggests that gen
der is a factor. Women, especial
ly those who suffer from pre
menstrual syndrome, consume
more energy, protein, carbohy
drate and fat right before men
struation than at any other time,
she wrote.
Along with producing relax
ing sensations, food also can be
used as a substitute for other
needs, such as rest or exercise,
therapist Davidson said.
“We have to ask ourselves
what we really need to alleviate
stress instead of food,” she said.
The consequences of too much
comfort eating can be potentially
dangerous too, she said- Si^h ,, t
consequences include obesity
and eating disorders.
Completely forbidding cer
tain foods from one’s diet,
though, is not the answer, she
said.
“If you keep yourself from
eating the things that you like,
you’re more likely to be unsatis
fied and thus overeat,” Davidson
said.
The difference between nor
mal and harmful comfort eating
is unclear. “It depends on the
person and how it’s interfering in
their life,” Miller said. “Are they
(Spending more than 10-15 per
cent of their day thinking about
food? Are their activities
wrapped around food?”
No matter how comforting
eating can be, it has actually
been proven to increase tension
and guilt in some women,
according to Kurzer. There is no
hard evidence suggesting that it
makes people happier, either.
“I think we’d have a lot more
happy people if that were true,”
Miller said.
Miller said the best defense
against stress is a combination of
a healthy diet and daily exercise
program.
“It’s all about lifestyle,” she
said.
