Healthy Together

total wellness a ucla student wellness commission publication

healthy together outdoor immersion and our health

plant-based recipes that brought us together

navigating love in quarantine

spring 2021 | vol 20 | issue 1

total wellness editor-in-chief

managing editor

Nicholas Carpo

external director

Amy Choi

article editor

copy editor

Anisha Chandra

Elaine Yan

social media director

Melissa Bu

Nicole Lee

digital media directors

art directors

Eleanor Pae Hannah Chew

director of finance Sahej Ahuja

public outreach directors

Aly Quach Elika Asis

Jenna Hajny Rebeca Gasper

writing

digital media

design

programming

Ashley Kim Fiona Osborn Isabella Chaiken Jenny Long Karlie Hayes Kavya Katragadda Kayla Nguyen Melinda Lu Nancy Romo Nicolette Tour

Bella Hung Emily Xing Katera Lee Madeline Pineda Nicole Huang Pauline Vartany

Candice Lau Emily Dong Geena Wang Nikhitha Nair Rachel Kwan Sarah (Sky) Bassiry Zoe Liau

Bella Pham Karissa Shuck Maya Peterson Niharika Duggirala Serena Bhakta Stephanie Chang Zurizadai Gonzalez Juarez

advisory & review Ami Kunimura, MA, MT-BC

Jon Christensen

Founder, The Self-Care Institute Instructor, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability Founder, Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies

Eboni Martin, M.Ed.

Program Manager, UCLA Resilience In Your Student Experience (RISE) Center

Elisa Terry, NSCA-CSCS

Associate Director - Fitness & Wellness, UCLA Recreation

Theodore Robles, Ph.D.

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Professor, Department of Psychology

Total Wellness is a free, student-run publication and is supported by advertisers, the Student Wellness Commission (SWC), the Undergraduate Students Association (USAC), the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center, UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative (HCI), UCLA Recreation, and UCLA Center for East-West Medicine.

Contact 308 Westwood Blvd., Kerckhoff Hall 308 Los Angeles, CA 90024 Phone 310.825.7586, Fax 310.267.4732 contact@totalwellnessmagazine.com www.totalwellnessmagazine.org Subscription, past issues, and advertising rates available upon request.

Volume 20, Issue 01 © 2021 by Total Wellness Magazine. All rights reserved. Parts of this magazine may be reproduced only with written permission from the editor. Although every precaution has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the published material, Total Wellness cannot be held responsible for the opinions expressed or facts supplied by authors. We do not necessarily endorse products and services advertised. The information in Total Wellness is not intended as medical advice and should not replace the advice of your physician.

Always consult a health care provider for clarification.

meet the committees of

The Body Image Task Force’s mission is to spread self acceptance and positive body image, which encompasses mental, physical, and emotional health.

Love yourself and be confident in who you are!

BCC’s goal is to promote consensual sex, effective bystander intervention, and access to university resources that support survivors of sexual assault.

BruiNecessities looks to support UCLA by raising awareness to the lack of basic resources available on campus and seeks to fill these gaps by working with different entities on campus to bring programs and services to students.

Bruin Run/Walk puts on an annual 5K charity run to raise awareness and funds to support the Chase Child Life Program at the Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.

The CPR and First Aid Program offers low-cost American Heart Association CPR and First Aid courses to the UCLA community ($10 for UCLA students, $15 for community members).

SEARCH (Student Education And Research of Contemporary Health) researches health topics pertinent to the UCLA student body to create interesting and educational events.

The Sexperts committee is dedicated to increasing the awareness of genderrelated health issues, stigmas, and identity at UCLA and beyond.

EARTH is committed to promoting student awareness about the dynamic relationship that exists between individual health and the health of the environment.

“SHA”s are trained to educate other students about various health issues including relationships and communication, stress management, body image, and alcohol harm reduction.

HNF is devoted to hosting fun and educational events that promote proper nutrition, an active lifestyle, and overall well-being.

Total Wellness is dedicated to spreading awareness of and sharing knowledge on issues of student health and health care through quarterly publications.

Each committee within SWC holds health-related programs throughout the year for the UCLA student body. Like us on Facebook or visit swc.ucla.edu to learn more, and never miss an opportunity to improve your health!

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total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Active Minds holds workshops and events to educate students and the surrounding Los Angeles community on the importance of mental health.

editor’s note

Dear reader, When asked about your health, what comes to mind? Is it the number of hours of sleep you got last night? The amount of sugar that you’ve consumed in the past week? The number of steps you’ve travelled in the past month?

Why is it that when talking about health, we rarely speak of the conversations that spill into late nights. The great food we’ve shared with friends. Or the life-changing trails we’ve explored.

In truth, health is much more than a numerical measure of physical condition.

It is the totality of our daily lives and well-being—encompassing everything from the ways in which we struggle to the ways in which we grow. And though it is easy to forget, our health fluctuates and changes in response to the world around us.

As we continue to fight a global pandemic, health plays a pivotal role in addressing many social issues. But with the multidisciplinary nature of the challenges we face, it may be time for a renewed understanding of health and its impact beyond the individual.

This issue of Total Wellness looks to expand our current definition of health and discover what it means for the world to heal as a community. Health does not exist solely within ourselves. It is shaped by the interactions and relationships we share with those around us. Our friends, families, and partners are all essential to our growth and personal enrichment. Captured within this issue are just some of the many ways the connections we share can impact our health and how we might support the health of our community.

Learn to navigate long-distance relationships with significant others, family, and friends in lockdown (page 18).

Find solace in the beauty and tranquility of nature (page 35). Share a meal inspired by recipe developers Lisa Kitahara and Murielle Banackissa (page 39). Each page is filled with new ways to think about our health and as we bear witness to a new normal, I hope that you gain clarity on what it means to be truly healthy and happy.

To our growing community,

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Nicholas Carpo Editor-in-Chief

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a letter from the managing editor

Dear reader, This pandemic has been a trying time for many. As students, we have had to cope with the new normal that comes with social distancing and online learning. But with the loss of in-person classes and campus-wide events, I have felt the true importance of community. It’s one of those things that you don’t realize you need until it is gone.

Despite all these changes, it has been a pleasure to watch how our organization adjusted to this new normal and were able to rich relationships over video calls and online messages. Many of our members in Total Wellness have yet to physically meet one another and yet our community is very much real—so much so that it inspired the theme of this issue.

With all of the challenges it has brought, the pandemic has taught us about the importance of community and its impact on health. This publication will delve into how our relationships and interactions can influence our well-being and hopefully give you a refreshing take on how COVID-19 has impacted our lives. We cover everything from how we build social circles virtually (page 31) to how music keeps us connected (page 5). I’m excited for you to delve into this issue and learn more about the different aspects of what shapes and impacts our relationships and health.

As I step down from my position of two years, I am so grateful that I was able to take part in this great organization and I look forward to how Total Wellness will continue to grow in the future. If you want to read more, make sure to visit our website (www.totalwellnessmagazine.org) and scroll through our engaging infographics on Facebook and Instagram (@uclatotalwellness).

Cheers to our health and wellness,

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Amy Choi Managing Editor

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contents total wellness ▪ spring 2021

issue 01 • spring 2021

05

09

running into a community

sharing music and mental health

expectations for instant availability

14

18

23

PoC-owned businesses in the pandemic

navigating a quarantine relationship

getting the upper hand on skin care

28

31

35

farm la: community gardening and health

diversifying your social circle

outdoor immersion and our health

39

46

51

plant-based recipes that brought us together

why you should join a book club

credits

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

01

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leadership

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NICHOLAS CARPO Editor-in-Chief

AMY CHOI Managing Editor

ELAINE YAN Director of External Affairs

ANISHA CHANDRA Article Editor

MELISSA BU Copy Editor

ELEANOR PAE Digital Media Co-Director

HANNAH CHEW Digital Media Co-Director

ALY QUACH Art Co-Director

ELIKA ASIS Art Co-Director

Running into a Community by karlie

hayes

| design by zoe liau

For me, nothing beats the feeling of

embarking on a run with a group of friends. In high school, I looked forward to reaching the bleachers by the track, seeing my teammates clustered together, and pushing through tough workouts side-byside. And in college, I cherished memories of carefree chats with friends as we took on the streets of Brentwood. Running itself has been enormously helpful for my physical and mental health, but my favorite part of the sport is the connections I have made along the way.

photo: jed villejo/unsplash

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This connection between exercise and social health is especially relevant right now—excitingly, UCLA announced that they are planning on holding in-person classes next school year. And as we begin to move back to campus, many of us will be searching for a way to build and strengthen our communities, whether that means rekindling old friendships, making new connections, or finding a sense of belonging. Group exercise, both virtual and in-person, can be a great way to build those connections. And of course, an exercise community can be a motivator to build exercise habits and get a better workout!

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How Exercise Can Help Form a Community

Mental Health

From the soccer team friends we made in our childhood to the uncomfortable smiles we share with a partner while attempting weights, there is something about exercise that fosters relationships. And in fact, numerous studies have found several specific ways that exercising with a group can form those connections.

In addition to social health, group exercise can promote our mental health. For example, the study on older adults found that they enjoyed exercising with a group significantly more than exercising alone.1 Moreover, participants reported feeling an improved self-efficacy, self-esteem, positive mood, and mental health.1 Exercise releases endorphins, chemicals released by the body to release stress and pain. It also provides a common subject to bond over. Each of these exercise perks can positively impact our mental health and social connectedness. This has an important implication: in a world where mental health problems are on the rise, an exercise group is an opportunity to practice self-care. From high-fives after practice to stretching in a circle together, an exercise group provides a community that can benefit our mental health.

original photo by gabby k A Sense of Belonging Studies have found that regardless of whether we are kids searching for something to do after school or seniors trying to broaden our social horizons, exercising with others helps us feel a sense of belonging. One qualitative study of older adults in Japan, for example, found that when people participated in regular, bi-weekly group exercise, they became more connected with other members of their group.1 This group exercise encouraged participants to build a community grounded in care and respect. One participant commented that if she sees that a regular to the group is absent, she will call that person on the way home.1 These sorts of everyday gestures that show that people in our community care about us can make us feel like we are a part of a community.

In younger children, a similar phenomenon occurs. One study of children and teens found that participating in team sports can decrease social anxiety and build relationships with coaches and peers.2 Joining a team, then, can be a great way to find the comfort of a caring relationship. Regardless of our age, joining an exercise group can encourage us to find a sense of belonging.

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Self-Esteem Ah, self-esteem—this quality helps us feel more content with ourselves. It can boost our confidence and make us feel like we are worthy of belonging to a team. The study on children and team sports found that team sport achievement improves individuals’ self-esteem.2 So the sensation of reaching a relay race goal or triumphantly winning a pick-up basketball game can build our own self-confidence, which, in turn, promotes a sense of community.

However, it is important to note that team exercise doesn’t always lead to victory. In fact, each time we step onto the starting line of a race or get situated for a basketball game tip-off, there is a risk and even certainty that we will stumble every now and then. Although it may seem like these stumbles would harm our self-esteem, having a teammate by our side means having someone who understands what we are going through—someone who can give us a pep talk to keep moving forward. Enduring struggles together can strengthen our community.

2

original photo by rf studio How to Build a Social Relationship Through an Exercise Partner So, what is the best way to get the most out of our relationships with our exercise partners? Here are a few tips for getting the relationship running (get it?): • Focus on getting to know each other: From conversations on a run to post-workout chats, I recommend using exercise as an opportunity to learn more about your partner’s life outside of exercise, as well as bond over the game or activity you are doing.

• Build a relationship both inside and outside of exercise: Exercising together allows us to get to know our exercise partner, but we can continue to build that connection by grabbing a coffee or going to lunch together!

• Approach workouts with awareness of not only personal goals but also your partner’s goals: One way to show mutual respect is to show interest in each others’ goals.

Celebrate when one of you reaches a personal record!

original photo by gabin vallet

original photo by jannes glas original photo by shane rounce

Group exercise can be a great way to start and strengthen a community while promoting our physical health!

Personally, if I plan to walk with a friend or schedule a morning group workout before class, I know that I will be more likely to follow through with that shockingly early wake-up time and even enjoy it. In line with this, studies find that exercising with others increases our motivation and the quality of our workouts.

Increased Enjoyment of Exercise According to one study from California State University (CSU) San Bernardino, college students reported that they looked forward to exercising with their exercise partner.3 This has a few implications: if we enjoy our workout and look forward to it, we may be more likely to hit the gym. It can also make exercise a habit: a source of enjoyment instead of a chore.

Peer Motivation original photo by helena lopes

Beyond pure enjoyment, studies have found that an exercise partner serves as a source of motivation. According to the same study from CSU San Bernardino, participants were more likely to skip a workout when their partner was absent.

They also reported that their partner helped them exercise longer and harder.3 So having an exercise partner serves as that extra push. They can be a source of accountability, supporting us to work out both more often and more intensely.

Increase Exercise Quality Often, even if we decide to find a workout buddy to simply keep us company, having that workout buddy can increase the quality of our workout. According to the CSU San Bernardino study, participants reported that they maintained a higher level of effort and exertion when they worked out with a partner.3

How to Be an Effective Exercise Partner With this in mind, you might be wondering: what are some ways to be an effective exercise partner, helping both ourselves and our partners get the best workout? Here are a few quick tips: • Pursue a cooperative rather than competitive relationship: As we have all learned in school, an important part of being a part of a team is focusing on the “we” instead of the “me.” With respect and accountability, we can push each other to tackle our exercise goals.

• Pursue a comfortable and open relationship, rather than a purely motivational relationship: Strong relationships are the foundation for success, regardless of how we define that success.

Ultimately, if we provide mutual support with our exercise partner, we will enjoy the exercise, and exercise goals will naturally come along the way.

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total wellness ▪ spring 2021

How a Community Can Help Promote Exercise

How to Find an Exercise Community at UCLA

Forming an Exercise Group

From gym buddies to teammates, exercise groups can allow us to find a community and stay fit. When UCLA holds in-person instruction again, there will be several opportunities to find an exercise community meant for us.

And if organized sports aren’t your thing, nothing beats a workout buddy! Regardless of whether you are interested in weights, swimming, running, or core, finding an exercise group can be as simple as grabbing a friend or family member and heading out the door.

Are you a fan of yoga or pilates? Have you ever wanted to try your hand at kickboxing? If so, UCLA Rec may be a great place to find an exercise community. UCLA Rec holds a wide range of recreational activities and services, including instructional classes ranging from dance to HIIT to self-defense. They are even offering virtual events and classes while UCLA remains online. While some of their classes are free, some require a paid “Train Like a Bruin” membership, which you can purchase on the UCLA Recreation website.4

Intramural Sports Instead of intense competition, maybe you prefer some friendly rivalries! In that case, intramural sports may be for you. Intramural sports are sports leagues that students can join with their friends or colleagues. With 15 sports to choose from, intramural sports offer a 4-week regular season, from which you can advance to playoffs. And this league offers a wide variety of options, from traditional sports such as soccer to more unique games such as spikeball or ultimate frisbee.

Intramural sports is covered by a once-per-quarter flat fee.5

Club Sports

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Do you love the thrill of competition? Do you enjoy meeting up with teammates at practice? If so, Club Sports may be your cup of tea. Club Sports is an umbrella term for over 54 competitive teams on campus, run by student officers and competing against other universities. The examples of club sports are endless: baseball, cricket, ice hockey, quidditch, triathlon, and so much more. Personally, I joined the running club and love seeing my teammates everyday. The fees associated with Club Sports vary by club, depending on the cost of the sport’s equipment and competitions.5

Exercise during COVID-19 While we continue to social distance, there are several ways to find an exercise community with both friends from home and with fellow Bruins. One option is exercising outdoors with masks, from going to distanced outdoor yoga to taking a weekly walk with a friend. Outside of in-person exercise, virtual workouts can be a fun way to stay connected! Not all workouts can be adapted to Zoom, but yoga, HIIT, or strength training are options to try in front of a screen. While social distancing, I have been doing a weekly core workout with friends. By the end, my abs are strengthened and I’ve checked in with some of my workout buddies! It’s a win-win all around.

Bottom Line In a time of social distancing, it can be difficult to form a community or pursue deep relationships. However, as the world slowly emerges from the pandemic, finding an exercise group stands out as a way to support both our physical and social health. Regardless of what those terms mean to us and the avenues that we take to get there, a workout buddy can be a pathway to feeling physically well and making connections along the way.

References 1.

“Regular group exercise contributes to balanced health in older adults in Japan: a qualitative study.” BMC Geriatrics. (2017).

2.

“A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport.” Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. (2013).

3.

“Characterizing Relationships with Exercise Partners: Communication, Closeness, and Performance.” Int J Sports Exerc Med. (2020).

4. “ UCLA Recreation. recreation.ucla.edu. (2021).

5. “ UCLA Club Sports. uclaclubsports.com. (2021).

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photo: roberto nickson/unsplash

UCLA Recreation

Send Me Your Playlist: How Music Keeps Us Connected to Ourselves and to Each Other

BY JENNY LONG | DESIGN BY PAULINE VARTANY

of online concerts and live streams have reassured us that the music and the connections don’t have to stop.

From sharing playlists or even playing background sounds during a Zoom study session, music has a powerful ability to bring people together even during the toughest of times.

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

photo: ivan samkov/pexels

When you’re first getting to know someone, one question you might ask is, “what kind of music do you like?” Music is a common point of interest for many and song recommendations are a great way of sharing something personal with another person. Going out to concerts and music festivals used to be events we looked forward to, but the recent adaptation

5

Vibing Out:

Music and Mental Health Music and Self-Expression

Most of us resonate with the music we listen to because it not only boosts our mood and entertains us, but it is also evocative and reflects emotions we might be feeling.1 ­When you’re cooking or baking, you might have wanted to play some calming music, but when you’re with your friends, maybe you’ve wanted to listen to something more lively.

Music holds great emotional significance to us and is often regarded as something personal.1

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

If you’ve ever felt that you knew someone better after figuring out their music tastes, you’re not the only one! It’s common to infer about someone’s personality based on what music they listen to. We may even consider music to be an extension or a reflection of ourselves because it is something that we consume and invest our time into.1,2 The feelings and ideas captured in different songs may resonate so deeply within us that we think of them as an expression of who we are.2 This idea may be why we seem to be friends with people who share our music tastes!3 Studies have shown people’s personality traits overlap with specific characteristics we typically attribute to music.2 When we listen to a song or a genre of music, we categorize it based off of its rhythms and perceived energy and mood it facilitates.2 For instance, pop music is usually associated with being positive and upbeat, while rock or heavy metal might be thought of as wild and rebellious. Correspondingly, surveys have shown that people who listen to energetic music have been scientifically linked to having extraverted and agreeable personality traits.2

Maybe you’ve had a rough day and wanted to take some time to unwind. After you’ve put on your favorite playlist or something that matches your mood, how do you feel?

Hopefully you feel a bit better! In terms of helping us through our days, music has great mood boosting effects and can even be used to regulate our emotions.4 Regardless of whether you’re feeling down or amazing, listening to a song can bring you some comfort. This phenomenon occurs because some of the actions we engage in while listening to music are associated with mood regulation.4 When we are listening to music, we are in touch with our emotions and gain energy from having our emotions expressed.4 These actions are similar in function to strategies like reappraisal where we can shift our thoughts into being more beneficial for us.4 For instance, listening to a song that matches your current mood might help you release those emotions, letting you experience your feelings and eventually helping let go of them.4 As known in music therapy, this technique is part of the iso-principle, which indicates that we can slowly shift our feelings into something more desirable by first listening to songs that match our current mood.5 After we have validated our emotions, we can then shift our music to match a mood that we want to experience.5 Imagine that you are stressed out about an upcoming exam. You decide to make a playlist that starts with a high tempo song that reflects your current feelings of tension and nervousness.

When you’re done listening, you’ve acknowledged those feelings of worry and are able to move past them. Near the end of your playlist, you start listening to music that calms you down or brings you a sense of security. Now, maybe you’re feeling a little more at ease and determined about tackling that exam, and your mindset has shifted into something that can benefit you.

What if you’re having a bad day or are stuck in a slump?

Listening to some music might help you enjoy doing activities a little more. Many students enjoy studying with music to keep engaged or to make the time spent studying more enjoyable overall. This habit might be due to the fact that listening to music is a pleasurable and active process (even though it may feel subconscious) that forces us to tune into sounds in our immediate surroundings.6 The idea of doing something fun naturally guides us into exploring other activities like studying or drawing.

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photo: elijah henderson/unsplash; icons: pixabay

That Song’s My Jam:

Music and Community

The act of listening or creating music does not have to be an individual affair; in fact, most people prefer connecting with others through music by sharing their tastes with others, for example. If you’ve ever been part of a choir or band, you’ve already been part of a community. Whether you’ve gone to a concert with people, went out for a night of karaoke, or even used your playlist as background music at hangouts—that’s all a part of building community. People have used music for decades to create connections and inspire change in communities.7 Community music has been used in teaching, engagement, and empowerment by welcoming people of diverse backgrounds with open arms.7 The feeling of togetherness when we listen or make music together is something that creates meaningful bonds and connections.8 When someone invites you to listen to something with them or shares a song with you, the sense of openness and welcome is almost always there. These opportunities provide a chance to socialize and have been implicated in various benefits for emotional health and cognition.8

From orchestra to acapella groups, there are plenty of opportunities for people to listen and make music together within the broader UCLA community. For instance, the Game Music Ensemble brings together student musicians who have a love for soundtracks from video games like Kingdom Hearts and Legend of Zelda. Orchestra and choir members even get to have full performances twice a year. In regards to music accessibility, SLAM at UCLA is a student-led organization that aims to expand a community of musicians by providing costfree music education to underserved middle and high school students. In order to connect with each other, college students are also offered the opportunity to perform together in bands.

Even if you dabble in producing songs of your own, the UCLA Learning Centers on The Hill provide access to a music room where you can make beats and even record your own music in a booth!

There are countless ways to get involved in music and to learn more about these experiences, I spoke to Amy Choi, a former member of campus acapella group Awechords, about her thoughts on music and how it’s helped her build community.

photo: laura stanley/pexels

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Let’s Listen Together:

7

Amy Choi on Awechords

What has your experience been like in your acapella group?

I had a great experience—it was something that I didn’t plan on doing at first. In high school, people stick with a certain identity.

For me, it was playing the flute. But in college, I decided to pursue acapella because I was interested in it and had an opportunity to do it. I auditioned for a bunch of groups, made it into Awechords, and I have no regrets at all.

What do you like about your group and do you think it’s helped you build a community?

Why do you think music is so important to people?

At first, I didn’t think music was important. I played the flute but I didn’t actively listen to music outside of that. To be honest, Spotify hooked me with the discounted price for students. I think of music kind of like a gateway drug—the more you listen to it, the more it hooks you in. It really helps to listen to music when you’re feeling down just to feel your emotions. When I was in a funk during the pandemic, I’d just turn on music in the morning and dance to start the day right.

Do you think music has any impacts on mental health and well-being?

Yes, definitely. I know music therapy is a thing because someone in my group wanted to pursue that as a career.

Listening to music really helps you change your mood. If you’re feeling down, you can play some sad or exciting music. Both listening to and making music is therapeutic, especially when we empathize with it. It brings a sense of catharsis.

I was able to open out of my shell because I met so many enthusiastic people. As a STEM major, I was always surrounded by similar people so it was nice to see a wider variety of students. They weren’t shy at all and would share things about themselves even if I didn’t ask.

They’ve helped me build a community for sure. I was able to expand my friend group and open up as a person. It was a welcoming environment with a wild group of people—very different individuals and I wouldn’t know what to expect from them. We would have practices late at night and walk back home together, maybe eat some late night food.

Are there any events that you’ve performed at? How do you think your performances have helped build community?

Has creating and sharing your music helped you or others in any way?

I was able to develop multiple skills. Practicing music helped me to be honest with myself and pinpoint what I was doing wrong in the process. I developed good habits and work ethic, especially because of practices. I played the flute competitively, but I didn’t really build confidence because I was pretty self-critical. By branching into acapella, it really boosted my confidence because I was able to do something that I didn’t think I could. I’d say doing music really forces you out of your comfort zone.

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The Bottom Line

Almost everyone listens to music in their everyday lives, whether it is to pass the time while studying or to boost one’s mood. Many of us also have friends or want to be friends with people who enjoy the same type of music. As a representation of who we are, music helps us express our emotions and can readily serve as a point of discussion or socialization. By sharing the things that we like and hold personal to ourselves, like our music tastes, we can extend a hand to others who want to build community.

References 1.

“The consumption of music as self-representation in social interaction.” Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ).

(2009).

2.

“The do re mi’s of everyday life: the structure and personality correlates of music preferences.” Journal of personality and social psychology. (2003).

3.

“What’s Up With That: Why Do All My Friends Like the Same Music?” wired.com. (2014).

4.

“Music in mood regulation: Initial scale development.” Musicae Scientiae. (2008).

5.

“Let’s Talk About Iso-Principle: The Introduction.” musictherapytime.com. (2015).

6.

“Music therapy for depression: it seems to work, but how?.” The British Journal of Psychiatry. (2011).

7.

“Acts of hospitality: The community in community music.” Music education research. (2007).

8.

“Perceived benefits of active engagement with making music in community settings.” International Journal of Community Music. (2012).

photo: amy choi/awechords

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

We performed at Vietnamese Culture Night or VCN. It was a major event and our performances were a part of a skit as a message to the Vietnamese community. We hope that our performances helped deliver a part of that message. We also did smaller gigs like at the UCLA Asian Pacific American Gala, the farmer’s market, and at an acapella competition similar to those in Pitch Perfect. We also did elderly home visits and all of these events brought people together.

You Left Me On Read: Expectations for Instant Availability by melinda

lu

| design by bella hung

With the speed and convenience of modern

technology, we have come to rely on virtual communication now more than ever, especially due to the stay-at-home regulations of the pandemic. As the swiftness of technological communication has increased, however, so have expectations for the promptness of our response times. But simply because technology has enabled us to fire off messages in the span of a second doesn’t necessarily mean we should be expected to. This article will examine the circumstantial factors that induce technology burnout while discussing strategies to prevent it.

telepressure-induced burnout The pressure we feel to respond to messages immediately after we receive them is a phenomenon dubbed “telepressure.”1 This compulsion to dispatch speedy replies is a product of both society’s gravitation towards forms of high-speed communication and our perception of those we communicate with as being impatient for our responses. Because digital avenues that allow for instant communication like text, email, direct messages, and so on have become so heavily relied-upon, there are unrealistic expectations to render ourselves constantly available, ready to respond to messages immediately upon reception.

Virtual communication platforms that host multiple workspaces, like Slack or Discord, for example, can be sources of overwhelming pressure just from the sheer amount of notifications they send out. All this pressure can greatly heighten communication-related stress and can even lead to burnout, where we feel the desire to withdraw from or even avoid online engagements.1 According to Northern Illinois University psychology professor Dr. Larissa Barber, college students are one of the groups most highly affected by telepressure. Because we are so heavily engaged in social media and other forms of telecommunication and spend most of our time attached to devices that facilitate them, we feel it is expected of us to keep up.1

A fourth-year UCLA Human Biology and Society student added: “Because of the pandemic, there’s this pressure to be on devices at all times, which sometimes makes me feel guilty for taking breaks. I tell myself to unplug and relax, but even after I’ve logged off, I’m thinking about what I have to do the next time I log on.”

photo: anthony tran/unsplash

On top of the pressure we already experience as university students with multiple commitments, telepressure can lead to negative effects on our schoolwork or other activities. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, we can become distracted by the constant influx of messages and the pressure to respond to them. If we feel burnt out, we may also begin to withdraw from friends and social groups.

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One third-year UCLA Communications student said, “I feel like I always have to be on my phone for the fear of missing out on something important, which can sometimes distract me from living in the present.”

read receipts and why they can be a source of stress

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

“These are technologies we call asynchronous,” says Dr. Barber. They are supposed to be answered at the other person’s convenience.1 Think about the forms of communication that these technologies have replaced. Before emails, before text messages and DMs, people relied on letters and telegrams. These took weeks, days, and hours to send.

Nobody got a notification when the other person received their message, and several more weeks, days, and hours passed before they could even begin to expect a response.

Even phone calls were not so instantaneous. If you missed someone on the phone, you would leave a voicemail and expect a call back when it was convenient for the other person. Now when our phone calls go to voicemail, we shoot off a text instead and get to see the exact time that the other person sees it.

Read receipts, while a helpful tool in confirming the reliability of communication platforms, can serve as an additional source of stress for those already overwhelmed by the pressures of telecommunication. A recent study by Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversity in Germany surveyed a group of WhatsApp users and found that those who turned their read receipts on had higher perceived stress levels.2 Several UCLA students have had similar experiences.

A second-year Political Science student shares, “Read receipts stress me out because they make me feel like I have to respond to messages right away, or if someone reads my message and doesn’t respond, my anxiety kicks in and my brain automatically starts coming up with a million different scenarios of what went wrong.”

“I always turn my read receipts off,” says an anonymous first-year Global Studies student. “As an overthinker, sometimes I need a little bit of time to think of a response, and I don’t want people to think I’m ignoring them if they see that I’ve read their message but still haven’t responded.”

Fortunately, although it has become expected, especially for our generation, to be instantly available for digital communication, we have the power to set boundaries to preserve both our privacy and our personal time. Here are some strategies to help curb the effects of telepressure:

left: christian wiediger/unsplash right: nathan dumlao/unsplash

The utilization of “read,” “opened,” or “last seen” receipts in text messages, apps like Snapchat or Instagram, or other direct-messaging platforms only makes things worse. Knowing that someone else has seen that we have read and received their latest message can increase the compulsion we feel to respond to them quickly. Take Instagram direct messages, for example. When you receive DMs and know you are not able to respond right away, you might refrain from clicking on the message until you are able to respond so the sender cannot see that you have opened it. By perpetuating expectations for instant availability, read receipts undermine the benefit of virtual communication methods allowing for non-real-time communication.

tactics to alleviate stress 1. Turn off read receipts, if possible While it is definitely important to maintain social connection, especially during these times of isolation, knowing that people can see the exact time you read their messages can cause too much stress for some people. Turning off read receipts can help you maintain a sense of privacy and release some of the pressure of responding right away, giving you time to thoroughly consider the message and create a thoughtful response.

4. Communicate If you are going through a state where your response times might be slower than usual, reach out and let people know.

Don’t feel the need to apologize — there is nothing wrong with taking time for yourself — but make sure to communicate that with friends and loved ones so they aren’t worried if you do take a bit longer than usual to respond. The people who love and care about you will most likely understand!

2. Utilize “do not disturb” features The WhatsApp study also discovered that message notifications (pings, flashes, etc.) can amplify telepressure. If there is a period of time where you know you aren’t going to be responding to any messages and seeing notifications will only stress you out more, utilizing the “do not disturb” feature on devices or “mute” button for group chats can be a great way to help alleviate some of that stress. It’s a good idea to add important contacts to your emergency contacts list, so in case of an actual emergency, they will still be able to contact you even while the do not disturb feature is turned on. This is also a really useful feature for when you need to focus on a certain task, like studying or sleeping!

5. Set reminders Oftentimes it can be easy to forget about messages altogether if we read them and choose not to respond right away. If you receive a professional message that necessitates a prompt reply but do not feel up to responding right that minute, set reminders for yourself so you don’t forget. If you are someone who finds it hard not to constantly check your phone, utilize reminders to help distinguish set times of the day to check your devices and respond to messages without having to experience constant stress!

6. Remember, it is likely that the person putting the most stress on you is you!

3. Take advantage of reaction buttons

Although seemingly stemming from external expectations, the pressure to respond to others right away is usually pressure we place on ourselves! We psych ourselves up with our perceptions of other people and what we think they expect from us in terms of communication without considering that perhaps they are feeling just as burnt out as we are. In my experience, the people I communicate with are most often in the same boat, and they are usually more than understanding when I need to take a bit of time to respond to them.

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right: woamnizer wow tech/unspash left: sage friedman/unsplash

If you are feeling too burnt out to craft a response, feel free to acknowledge people’s messages by hitting the reaction button above their texts! With heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, “ha-ha”, exclamation mark, and question mark reaction options, the reaction feature allows you to express how you feel about someone’s message without having to respond in words. This is also a great way to end a conversation without making the other person feel like you are ignoring them.

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final takeaways Although telepressure and expectations for instant availability can be challenging, especially in the ultra-digital world we live in, the tactics above can help alleviate some of that stress to improve our focus and performance in both our education and our social lives, elevating our overall well-being. It may take a few tries to figure out what works best for you; just remember that it is completely okay to set these boundaries and take necessary steps to create the healthiest environment for you!

And remember, you don’t have to wait until you are completely burnt out to utilize these strategies! Although it might seem that the world revolves around our screens these days, taking some time to unplug is a valid and necessary component of self-care. Preemptively managing your technology-induced stress can not only help you avoid experiencing burnout in the first place but can also help you to be more present and engaged IRL!

References 1.

“The Pressure You Feel to Quickly Respond to Messages Is Probably Causing Burnout.” Chicago Inno. (2016).

“WhatsApp and Wellbeing: A study on WhatsApp usage, communication quality and stress.” BCS Learning and Development. (2017).

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photo: kelly skkema/unsplash

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2.

From Afar Discover the meaning of mental health in a virtual world with our latest photography zine

www.totalwellnessmagazine.org/print-magazines/ from-afar

Trendy with a Twist

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Put a healthy spin on lockdown’s best food trends with our first ever recipe zine

www.totalwellnessmagazine.org/print-magazines/ trendy-with-a-twist

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Supporting Small

PoCOwned

Businesses During COVID-19

BY KAYLA NGUYEN | DESIGN BY EMILY DONG

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Small Business Saturday, a widespread

initiative to shop at small businesses especially on Saturday, comes and goes every week. But why has this initiative taken off? The people— producers, consumers, and employees, connect both in front of and behind the scenes to create a thriving community of small businesses both locally and online. However, the onset of the pandemic affected everyone, including small businesses—many of which were forced to close their doors. People of Color (PoC)-owned small businesses in particular were faced with strenuous burdens, despite civic movements for equality and non-discrimination.While shopping at small businesses differs from the retail chain experience, doing so not only supports the business, but also you, your community, and the fight against economic inequality nationwide.

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What is a small business?

Small businesses are privately-owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships with less revenue than larger businesses. While the threshold for a small business depends on the industry, the maximum number of employees that qualifies for a small business ranges from 250 to 1,500. Local small businesses provide goods and services to local communities and are brick-and-mortar stores— physical stores where consumers make purchases in person. On the other hand, online small businesses are operated remotely, enabling them to provide goods and services worldwide.

OPEN

Large vs Small: The Benefits

For You

My family and I frequented a local farmers market before the pandemic, and the lively sense of community never failed to amaze me. Oftentimes, the person behind the counter was the producer themself. Being able to buy produce practically directly from the ground was a rare opportunity I cherished!

During the pandemic, however, rather than a full-scale farmers market, I’ve found the same solace in brick-and-mortar small businesses such as Flower Synergy, a local family-owned flower shop. The shop owner was able to quickly pick out flowers for every occasion while expertly explaining to me the meaning behind each flower while wrapping the beautiful bouquet. Transactions were fluid and COVID-friendly—orders could be taken online and the shop sent prompt updates on the order through text. As my household has high-risk individuals, this was an immense relief as there was no physical contact with other customers or employees, as well as an enforced mask and limited capacity policy.

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At a local shop, the owner of the business can offer expert or professional advice. For example, a local garden shop can give you advice or even offer a hands-on tutorial on how to tend to the fruits and vegetables in your home garden! Local small businesses also readily offer source information, so you know where your goods come from, who makes them, and the answers to other questions you may have. In both online and local small businesses, you can often chat directly with the person who makes your product. This direct line of communication allows you to easily personalize goods and confirm nutritional information to match your individual needs.

For Your Community Shopping at local small businesses improves community health, as they are essential to both gross and net job creation.

Furthermore, a study from American Economic Review suggests that in times of economic recession, “the net job creation of large employers slowed down much faster” than small businesses.1 By shopping at local small businesses, you can help create more jobs in your community during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it seems to be common knowledge that the opening of a new retail store creates more jobs, a study from Review of Economics & Statistics reveals that the opening of a new Wal-Mart induces an average loss of 20 wholesale jobs in just five years.2 This analysis contrasts Wal-Mart’s claims of adding 200-400 jobs to the market with every new opening of a Wal-Mart. In reality, new Wal-Mart openings may force local businesses to downsize or close completely from revenue loss. While the opening of a large retail store create more jobs initially, its effects over time can become detrimental to the health of the community.

This slow-down, or even decrease, of job market expansion is unfortunately not only caused by physical stores. In fact, an analysis of US Census data shows that while small businesses employ 57 people per $10 million in sales, Amazon only employs 14.3 That means that for the same amount of sales, Amazon only creates a little over a quarter of jobs that small businesses create, with the additional downsides of inferior pay and working conditions for workers.

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For the Environment Finally, shopping at small businesses is less detrimental to environmental health, as local shops source local goods Without having to transport goods from large producers to local chain stores, much less gas consumption is involved; thus, small businesses have much smaller carbon footprints compared to larger retail stores. In fact, residents of areas with more local businesses have been recorded to have 26% less automobile miles.5 Not only does shopping at local small businesses reduce gas emissions from transportation, the reduced shipping and transportation (enabled by local storage) prevents sprawl and natural habitat destruction! Shopping at local businesses is not only convenient and beneficial for both you and the business you are supporting, but doing so also better protects our earth from climate change and the loss of our animals’ homes.

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Once [the movement] was no longer on TV, things went back to normal”—the sudden increase of incoming customers subsided without leaving a major positive impact.

Local PoC-Owned Small Businesses

While starting a small business is already difficult in and of itself, continued discrimination in the United States creates an even more challenging situation for PoC-owned small businesses. Lemel Durrah, founder and owner of Compton Vegan, a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles, recounted the difficulty of becoming successful as a Black small business owner. He describes becoming a Black small business owner as “challenging,” and “a tremendous feat in America.”

With the surge of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Durrah observed “a lot of momentum to support Black businesses, a surge of incoming business, and an increase of followers.” However, he noted that “once [the movement] was no longer on TV, things went back to normal”—the sudden increase of incoming customers subsided without leaving a major positive impact. When asked how the movement impacted his community, Durrah recounted that there was “no major change” as he lives in a community where “things like the killing of George Floyd happen all the time.” Becoming a small business owner as a PoC, as Durrah explains, is no easy feat. As Black-owned and PoC-owned small businesses have reportedly lower revenue than non-POC-owned, the continued support of these businesses is essential in the fight towards equality.

Furthermore, media coverage of the pandemic influenced discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans as Trump labeled the SARS-CoV-2 virus as the “China plague” and “Kung flu”.6 Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year old immigrant from Thailand, was killed in San Francisco on January 28th, 2021 in an unprovoked attack on the basis of his Asian

race. Unfortunately, many more attacks on Asians and Asian Americans have swept across the U.S. since Ratanapakdee’s muder. As the oldest Chinatown in the United States, San Francisco’s Chinatown holds much of the fundamental history of Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans. Eastern Bakery, which opened 1924 and stands as the oldest bakery in Chinatown, is known for their mooncakes (among other popular pastries); they even prompted a visit from former president Bill Clinton. However, the historical bakery faced a 70 percent drop in sales as the result of the pandemic.7 With increased discrimination towards Asians and Asian-Americans, many small businesses in historically Asian towns are left with no option but to close their doors.

The onset of COVID-19 struck small businesses worldwide, but in the United States, PoC-owned small businesses suffered considerably larger setbacks due to coinciding social justice movements and hate crimes which have compounded the negative impacts of the pandemic alone. While the number of small businesses plummeted by 22 percent from February to April 2020, “African-American businesses were hit harder, experiencing a 41 percent drop in business activity. Latinx business owner activity fell by 32 percent, and Asian business owner activity dropped by 26 percent.”4 With continued losses as the pandemic continues, the increased loss of PoC-owned businesses puts forward an unfortunate perspective on economic inequality. When shopping at local small businesses, there are many easily-accessible online and physical sources that offer lists of PoC-owned businesses, including www.supportblackowned.com, www.hispanicya.com, www.helpasianbiz.com, and various newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times.

The Bottom Line

Shop Local!

References 1.

“The Contribution of Large and Small Employers to Job Creation in Times of High and Low Unemployment” American Economic Review. (2012).

2.

“Job Creation or Destruction? Labor Market Effects of Wal-Mart Expansion” Review of Economics & Statistics. (2005).

3.

“The Truth about Amazon and Job Creation” Institute for Local Self-Reliance. (2013).

4.

“The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months after Social-Distancing Restrictions” National Bureau of Economic Research. (2020).

5.

“Why Buy Local?” Sustainable Connections. (2021).

6.

“Attacks on Asian Americans during pandemic renew criticism that U.S. undercounts hate crimes” The Washington Post. (2021).

7.

“The country’s oldest Chinatown is fighting for its life in San Francisco” The Washington Post. (2021).

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Shopping at small businesses both locally and online offers benefits that include better access to product information and expert advice, supporting job stability in your community, decreasing the release of air pollutants into the environment, and supporting the fight against discrimination towards PoC. While small businesses worldwide were largely affected by the pandemic, PoC-owned small businesses suffered significantly larger setbacks, with Black-owned businesses closing nearly double the average percentage of small businesses overall. With the rising popularity of Small Business Saturday, shopping at small businesses has become more accessible. Perhaps there have been small businesses near you that you want to check out. If not, there are plenty of online small businesses to support, too!

navigating a quarantine relationship ashley kim

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

by

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| design by madeline pineda

Healthy relationships can already be

difficult to maintain, whether it be a relationship with a family member, friend, or romantic partner. However, quarantine just seems to make it harder than ever to keep relationships in check—these connections with others may seem like they’re falling apart amidst the pandemic.

In this article, we will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on people’s relationships and include tips to maintain healthy relationships during this time. The article will also talk about dealing with a breakup during quarantine and maintaining other types of relationships, such as those with friends and family.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made life more difficult in general. For example, individuals may have more mental health and financial issues, and these issues may exacerbate relationship problems. As a result, this pandemic presents challenges to a couple’s relationship in disparate ways.

Destructive reactions can include raising one’s voice and using harsh words, while excessive reassurance seeking is defined by the constant need to check in with someone. The pandemic can also affect the sexuality of couples, leading to dissatisfaction with their relationships. Ultimately, these two factors — attachment anxiety and relationship dissatisfaction — can lead to conflicts in romantic relationships during the pandemic.

19 photo: owen michael grech/pexels

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One way it could impact relationships is by heightening attachment anxiety.1 Attachment anxiety is defined as inconsistent caregiving that results in distress, destructive reactions, and excessive reassurance seeking which leads to relationship problems such as jealousy and poor communication.2 People with existing anxieties are vulnerable to stressors like the pandemic and risk developing relationship dissatisfaction.

Tips to Maintain a Quarantine Romance: When social distancing or navigating a long-distance relationship, maintaining a quarantine relationship can be even more difficult, especially to those who value physical touch.3 Physical touch is a love language that is important to many relationships as it releases the “feel-good” hormone oxytocin.

Affectionate touch can promote the feelings of attachment with a significant other.3 However, with social distancing during quarantine, it can be harder to get the physical touch you desire in a relationship. Here are four tips to maintaining a healthy relationship during quarantine and dealing with the lack of touch when you desire physical affection.

Tip #2: Make sure you have alone time While you might want to be with your significant other all the time, you should allow yourself and your partner some alone time throughout the day.4 Just because you need space does not mean that you do not love your partner. Having regular alone time is essential for everybody. Give yourself some space so you can understand your own emotions instead of lashing them onto your partner in an argument; these problems and arguments can be amplified without alone time.

By setting aside time for yourself, you can have the freedom to pursue your own interests while being committed to your relationship.

Tip #1: Create a quarantine routine Creating a routine with your significant other can help establish stability and dependability. By following a regular schedule, you can take away the pressure and anxiety of deciding what to do with your partner and become more time-efficient. By having a structured plan, you can also minimize conflicts in your relationship. Maybe for some couples, a routine could be video calling once a day or a few times a week. Additional options for spending time over a call could be eating lunch together over Zoom and watching a movie on Friday nights.

Tip #4: Remind yourself of how far you’ve come While isolation from your partner (assuming you’re not living with them) can be difficult, remind yourself that this situation won’t last forever. There’s a brighter side, and the situation may actually strengthen the bond between a couple, because of the challenges you and your partner may need to overcome. A majority of people (51%) believe that their relationship with a significant other will emerge stronger once the pandemic is over.6 You can try to take this stage in life as a silver lining in your relationship.

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You and your partner should always set aside some time to check in with each other. Refrain from keeping your feelings about your relationship to yourself, and try to be more compassionate and vulnerable about difficult feelings, no matter how hard it can be to express them. You can also try to have more deep conversations, which is a fun and intimate activity that can help you learn new things about your partner.5 These conversations could include conversations about your dreams, family, challenges in life, or favorite memories. To have deeper, more intimate conversations, make sure it’s a good time to talk and to set the tone. You can ask questions about topics that your partner can be interested in, but also don’t push them to see your perspective.

left: vlada karpovich/pexels; top right: audrey walsh/pexels bottom right: cottonbro/pexels

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Tip #3: Communication is key

Dealing With a Quarantine Breakup

Going No-Contact The first step you should take is to acknowledge the grief.

While the pandemic can exacerbate your feelings, you should not be too hard on yourself. You can follow the no-contact rule, where you avoid calling, texting, or messaging an ex in any way after a breakup.8 You should recognize that it’s okay to feel disappointment and stress after a breakup and to give yourself a break. However, you should also remind yourself that you can get through this emotional circumstance. You can go no-contact with an ex by blocking them on social media or removing any physical triggers that can remind you of that person. Although it can hurt, going no-contact can be one of the most efficient ways to move on from an ex. You can think of going no-contact as a detox from your past relationship as you step into a new stage of life.

Keeping in Touch You may start to feel desperate for physical touch, which is especially difficult during the pandemic. However, you do have several other options to keep yourself company. You can video chat with your friends and family and share your feelings with them—you don’t have to go through this alone.

By connecting with others through video calls, you can remind yourself that you’re loved and that people are always there to support you. Another option is to re-enter the dating pool by joining some dating apps. However, you do not need to rely entirely on others to overcome this situation, as self-care is just as meaningful and important.

Ways of Self-Care During this period of time, self-care can be helpful for alleviating anxiety or stress. By taking care of yourself, you can improve your mental and physical well-being. During COVID-19, you can treat yourself in numerous ways. One example is a simple self-massage.9 These massages can increase the hormone oxytocin and reduce the stress hormone cortisol. Oxytocin has been shown to have a positive impact by increasing feelings of relaxation, trust, and overall psychological stability.10 In addition, self-massages can ease stress, anxiety, and headaches. By taking care of yourself, you can think and feel better too.

Self-care also includes taking care of your body during a period of immense stress. This can include getting enough sleep—typically seven to eight hours—but not sleeping excessively.11 You should also maintain a healthy diet by eating nourishing foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. During a breakup, you should remember the importance of nourishing and delicious foods! Nourishing foods with large amounts of healthy properties such as antioxidants can improve your mood and reduce anxiety.11 You should also consider going outside to go exercise, which can improve mental health and self-esteem by reducing anxiety and depression. Getting over a breakup is difficult, but you can use this period as a time to become a better version of yourself by taking care of your mind and body.

photo: mikotoraw/pexels

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

On one hand, quarantine can cause relationships to fall apart.

Breakups can be an unbearably painful and stressful experience, but a quarantine breakup can feel even worse because you may feel like you’re all alone.7 The usual methods of getting over an ex and coping would include working on oneself by investing in their daily routines or getting out there and meeting new people, but that doesn’t apply during our current circumstances. Here are some ways you can alleviate the pain and move on from a broken relationship.

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left: vliza summer/pexels; top right: karolina grabowska/pexels bottom right: ketut subiyanto/pexels

Friendships, Family, & Other Relationships There are other types of relationships beyond romantic ones, including those with your friends and family.

Maintaining these relationships is just as meaningful and important during quarantine, and you may feel like your social circle has been narrowed down by the pandemic.

You may also be frustrated with the social distancing regulations that limit your ability to see your close friends and family.12 While we have adjusted to this setting with online friendships, we may feel the screen burnout of seeing our loved ones with endless Zoom or FaceTime calls. However, there are other ways to stay in touch with your kin and create authentic relationships through the pandemic.

Even during a pandemic, you can still foster the important relationships you have with friends or acquaintances.

You can connect with your friends with everyday, casual methods, such as simply tagging a friend in a meme that reminds you of them or playing a game together over Zoom. Friendships can also be strengthened when you remember and acknowledge big moments, such as birthdays.13 You can show that you care for another person by sending them a nice message, or even calling them to wish them a happy birthday. Another way to show your appreciation to your loved ones is by sending cards to your friends and family with whom you want to stay in touch. While we’ve gotten used to connecting via technology, it can be meaningful to handwrite your words to communicate to a friend.

During the pandemic, you can also enjoy several fun outdoor activities with your friends and family. You can explore new places outdoors to take a break from being quarantined, as long as you practice social distancing and wear masks. You can engage in low-risk outdoor activities such as jogging, walking at the beach, or setting up a picnic.14 By spending time outdoors, you can reap several positive benefits including reductions in stress and anxiety and elevated mood. With these activities, you can hopefully bond with your friends and family even during the pandemic.

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The Bottom Line I hope you find these tips useful and feel inspired to strengthen the connections you have with your loved ones.

In the end, you’re not alone regardless of your relationship status, and others are likely feeling similar emotions as you. The pandemic will eventually end and the quality relationships you have with your loved ones make your experience in quarantine worthwhile. It is important to foster our long-distance relationships, even though we know that everything will eventually return to normalcy.

Although quarantine has impacted our significant relationships, we can still maintain healthy relationships with others which play an important role in our mental health and emotional well being. During quarantine, don’t forget that your mental health also matters.

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References 1.

“Relationship Functioning During COVID-19 Quarantine.” psyarxiv.com. (2020).

2.

“Changes in Sexuality and Quality of Couple Relationship During the COVID-19 Lockdown.” Front Psychol. (2020).

3.

“Why Physical Touch Matters for Your Well-Being.” greatergood.berkeley.edu. (2018).

4.

“6 Tips for Keeping Relationships (Romantic or Platonic) On Track in Close Quarters.” massgeneral.org. (2020).

5.

“Quarantine Might Be Ruining Your Relationship. Here’s How To Save It.” refinery29.com. (2018).

6.

“Q: Will My Relationship Survive Quarantine?” monmouth.edu. (2020).

7.

“How to Handle a Breakup During the Coronavirus Pandemic.” them.us. (2020).

8.

“Why breaking up during coronavirus is a ‘double dose of grief’.” thelily.com. (2020).

9.

“How to Ease Pain with Self-Massage.” healthline.com. (2020).

10.

“Why Is Oxytocin Known as the ‘Love Hormone’? And 11 Other FAQs.” healthline.com. (2018).

11.

“Your Step-By-Step Guide To Getting Over A Tough Breakup” mindbodygreen.com. (2020).

12.

“How to Maintain Healthy Friendships During Quarantine.” joinonelove.org (n.d.).

13.

“Caring For Our Friendships During Covid-19.” shondaland.com. (2020).

14.

“Nature’s Role in Mental Illness: Prevention or Treatment?” psychologytoday.com. (2019).

Getting the Upper Hand in Skincare

BY NANCY ROMO | DESIGN BY KATERA LEE

We have been through a lot of changes in the past several months. A long

photo: youssef naddam/unsplash

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

time from now, we will look back and remember measures like maskwearing, social distancing, and a lot of hand washing. While trying to minimize COVID-19 infection, the risk for another condition—eczema—has increased. Although quarantine may have challenged our well-being, we shouldn’t have to disregard one health aspect for another. This article will explore what I wish I knew about skin care before the pandemic and what we should know about eczema as we all look forward to a healthier future.

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The Situation

To understand how eczema affects the skin, we should first familiarize ourselves with the basics of our skin. The skin is an organ with many purposes, and can be broken down into three main layers: the epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis.1

The epidermis is the outermost layer and it acts as the main “barrier” of the skin. The epidermis has a tightly-bound “brick-and-mortar” cell structure, fulfilling a purpose similar to that of the walls of a house: keeping the external substances out while regulating the internal environment. The keratinocytes that make up the epidermal “walls” are shed and replaced regularly (usually each month), and are not as likely to be infected as interior cells.2 Substances that do manage to pass through this layer are identified by the Langerhan cells, which attach to the invading substances and alert the immune system of their presence.2 As the densest layer of the skin, the dermis makes up most of the skin’s thickness and maintains many of its functions.3 With its vast vessel system, the dermis allows for the transportation of nutrient-rich red blood cells throughout the body as well as the transportation of white blood cells through the lymphatic vessels to fight off infections. The dermis also includes our sweat glands and hair follicles, which help regulate our body temperature through sweat evaporating and cooling off our skin.

The hypodermis, also known as the subcutaneous or fatty layer, acts as an insulator to the body and preserves heat.

Now that we’ve had a crash course about the skin’s biology, we can describe how eczema challenges the skin.

What is Eczema?

Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is characterized by inflammation (redness) and/or irritation of the skin.

Symptoms include visible redness and the emergence of a web-like skin pattern on the back of the hands that eventually forms into dry, cracked regions. This scientific description is exactly what I experienced, down to the webbing pattern. For me and many others, this irritation was exacerbated by excessive hand washing, unaccompanied by proper skin care.

As a matter of fact, a study by researchers of the British Journal of Dermatology revealed that after the initial COVID-19 impact of March 2020, 40% of Danish children developed hand eczema after returning to school.3 Although the study is limited to Denmark, people around the world (including myself) could relate to this trend. But what actually causes eczema, and how have the COVID-19 precautions further exacerbated it?

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left: alex loup/istockphoto; top right: nsu mon/ipexels bottom right: katie harp/unsplash

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

It is further labeled as either “irritant contact” dermatitis (such as with a foreign substance to the skin) or allergy-related dermatitis—both of which cause our defensive immune system to act up.

What Triggers Eczema?

The exact cause of eczema is unknown, but there are many factors that may trigger it.

1. Irritation: As mentioned before, the outermost epidermal layer tries to block out pathogens (i.e. viruses, bacteria, and fungi) while retaining moisture. People with eczema reveal “loosened up” tissue in the outermost epidermis layer, allowing substances to more-readily penetrate the skin.

Once infiltrated, the skin’s immune system responds swiftly to get rid of the invaders, triggering inflammatory symptoms such as redness, swelling, blister formation, scaling, and roughness.

Frequent hand washing is classified as an irritation, since prolonged washing causes swelling of the outermost skin layer and increases the skin’s sensitivity to physical and chemical irritants.5

2. Dehydration: It is no surprise that dehydration can cause dryness of the skin: low hydration means lower skin moisture and thus, a weaker epidermal barrier.6 3. Overhydration: A less-obvious suspect, overhydration by sweat trapped while wearing gloves for long periods of time can also lead to eczema. Like taking a longer-than-necessary bath, exposing the skin to extreme temperature and environmental conditions can affect its natural composition.

4. Environment: The exposure to new settings (i.e. changes in the environment due to traveling) leads to the development of another potential change to the skin’s structure. Our immediate environment (eg. a sauna or hot shower) or local environment (eg. living in a dryer region) causes our skin and immune system to adapt to certain settings, so the skin reacts when the setting changes.

Eczema and COVID-19

Generally, damaged skin brings upon more viruses and diseases than healthy skin. Washing damaged skin is less effective for disease prevention than washing healthy skin since viruses like the infamous SARS-CoV-2 can more-readily enter the skin’s blood vessels and make its way throughout the body.5 With higher vulnerability to diseases, over-washing defeats the very purpose of hand hygiene, which is why awareness of skin hygiene is important.

Reading all of these potential causes can be discouraging, but fortunately there are just as many possible resolutions.

The Solution

After getting more familiar with the causes and nature of eczema, we can discuss ways to combat it and take some weight off of our immune systems. Let’s look at some examples and learn how each of them can promote healthy practices.

Products for Preventing Eczema 1. Soaps When we think of soap, we might think of cleanliness. Soap is a fundamental cleaning staple since it has both hydrophilic (water-“loving”) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) properties, allowing for the mixing of water and oil. Building a lather (from rubbing your hands together) allows the soap to attach to hydrophobic oil, grease, or debris; then, rinsing away with water washes debris all away thanks to soap’s hydrophilic property.7 When buying soap, watch out for the words “perfume” or “fragrance” in the ingredients list, since they may introduce more irritants into the skin than necessary.8 Make sure to look for “hydrating” or “moisturizing” hand soaps. After developing eczema, I was advised by my primary care provider to use such hand soaps, and I have experienced smoother skin ever since.

2. Moisturizers A moisturizer is any product that replenishes the skin from feeling dry.9 Moisturizers typically have a 50:50 water-to-oil ratio, meant to create a hydrating skin barrier and relieve severely dry skin.9 Vegetable oils (coconut oil, olive oil, etc.) and products such as skin jellies are inexpensive and easily accessible alternatives.

3. Lotions Lotions are a type of moisturizer meant to relieve dry, ashy skin. Lotions have a higher water content than moisturizers and feel “lighter” on the skin. Due to its lower viscosity, lotion is more readily-absorbed by the skin and is suitable for daytime use since it feels less greasy than moisturizers while still sealing in moisture.10 There are also different types of lotions for different parts of the body. I like to use face-specific lotion, which is even thinner than body lotion, and lowers how much product build-up feels on my face while still fulfilling its purpose.

4. Hand Sanitizers Hand sanitizers serve to rid our hands of germs and bacteria. Although hand washing is the best way to remove all types of germs and chemicals, hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol work to immediately get rid of germs and contamination, especially when you’re on the go. Sanitizers come in different types, including ethanol-based and alcohol-based.

Of the two, ethanol tends to be less irritating than pure alcohol without sacrificing effectiveness.

As a tip, when applying hand sanitizers, remember to rub it thoroughly over your hands and fingers until dry to prevent germ transmission during application.

5. Disposable paper towels Regarding hand drying, the best product to use is a disposable paper towel, since traditional cloth towels can accumulate bacteria with each use.

6. Gloves Gloves physically prevent the skin from exposure to chemicals and other substances. People with hand eczema should look for “latex-free” gloves since latex can be allergy-inducing and irritate the skin. Nitrile gloves, made of latex-free synthetic rubber, protect against most chemicals and infectious agents. Rubber gloves are the next-best option, since they still protect against mildly-corrosive products such as bleach.

I like to use latex-free rayon (fabric) gloves for washing the dishes to lower the risk of overwashing my hands. You should wear gloves whenever handling water or cleaning substances to reduce chemical overexposure.

top right: jocelyn morales/unsplash; left: nathan raboucas/unsplash bottom right: clay banks/unsplash

Try to be thoughtful of how much paper towels you use! You can refer to the “shake-and-fold” method when drying hands: shaking wet hands 12 times to get rid of excess water, then using one folded paper towel to dry your hands.11

Practices to Preventing Eczema

Now that we have the knowledge, let’s discuss what we should—and shouldn’t—do for our skin.

Do... ...Wash and dry your hands gently and softly. Patting your hands dry rather than harshly rubbing them will lower risk of skin abrasion. ...Moisturize your hands at night. A healthy bedtime routine to adopt is to moisturize your hands so they have time to absorb the benefits overnight. ...Moisturize your hands whenever they are exposed to a substance or an activity. This includes after hand washing, hand sanitizing, or wearing gloves for a long time throughout the day when convenient. To keep your hands refreshed after washing your hands, apply moisturizer while they are still slightly damp with a fragrance-free, light moisturizer or cream.

I personally don’t like my hands feeling slippery since I write a lot of notes, but light moisturizers or lotions that dry quickly are in my favor for both my hands and face. Moisturizer should also be applied after putting on hand sanitizer, once it has been rubbed in and the skin is dry. Contrary to what you may think, moisturizers do not make the sanitizing less effective!

top: shiny diamond/pexels bottom: the creative exchange/unsplash

...Eat foods rich in essential fatty acids or supplement your body with them. Fish, nuts, seeds, and plant oils are all examples of foods rich in fatty acids, which have natural anti-inflammatory properties which can help the body fight off disease.12

Do not… ...Wear rings or jewelry for long periods of time, since they can trap soap and chemicals beneath them and congest the skin. ...Take too many long baths in a short time span. It is recommended to take around 5-minute showers that are warm, not hot, since excessive heat dries out the skin. Time-wise, dermatologist Dr. Anderson claims that no more than 30 minutes of a week should be devoted to bathing.12

Conclusion

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If you think you may be developing hand eczema, seek a dermatologist’s advice either in person or through telehealth appointments. The statistics regarding global health can seem grim at times, but fortunately we have the power to take care of ourselves and our skin.

We’ve had a lot on our hands for a while; it’s time we start catering to them.

References 1.

“The Dynamics of the Skin’s Immune System.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2019).

2.

“Layers of the Skin.” National Cancer Institute. (n.d.).

3.

“The skin is an immune organ.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. (1994).

4.

“High incidence of hand eczema in Danish schoolchildren following intensive hand hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide questionnaire study.” Wiley Online Library. (2020).

5.

“Hand Hygiene Practices and Risk and Prevention of Hand Eczema during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2020).

6.

“Hand hygiene and skin health.” Journal of Hospital Infection. (2003).

7.

“How Does Soap Work?” Hackensack Meridian Health. (2020).

8.

“How to make sure a product is really fragrance-free.” Best Health Magazine. (2014).

9.

“Moisturizer vs Lotion: What’s the Difference & Which Should You Use?” Epiphany Dermatology. (2016).

10.

“Moisturizing 101: Cream vs Lotion.” Hutton Klein Dermatology. (n.d.).

11.

“How to use a paper towel.” TED Conferences. (2012).

12.

“Dry Skin, Eczema and How To Treat It [Dermatology].” Colorado Dermatology Institute. (2018).

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Farm LA:

Fostering Improved Health through Community Gardening

BY FIONA OSBORN | DESIGN BY EMILY XING

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Our health has always been intertwined with the environment. One way we are reliant on the environment is through “ecosystem services,” or all of the benefits we get from nature such as food, clean water, and clean air. Our relationships with the environment are often quantified in economic terms, yet the environment can also have a profound effect on mental well-being.

Studies have shown that experiences in nature positively correlate with mood improvements.1 Not only can nature improve mental health, but these outdoor experiences can also be ways to create connections with others and build a sense of community.

There are several local organizations that are trying to bring these environmental benefits to their communities. By shaping our relationships with the environment to better harness these advantages, these organizations play a critical role in preserving environmental advantages for future generations.

Among these many organizations is Farm LA, a local community garden serving the greater Los Angeles (LA) area.

For Emily Gleicher, the founder of the nonprofit Farm LA, starting a community garden does not have to be a daunting task. In fact, hers grew out of a simple last-minute Valentine’s day gift of lima beans from the CVS garden section.

From these seeds—gifted to her by her partner seven years ago— and the inspiration to turn vacant lots into donation-only farms, Farm LA sprouted. Farm LA is a Los Angeles-based organization that works to convert vacant lots into community gardens with the capacity to feed its neighbors. Over the last six years, they have produced over 600 lima bean donation kits from their lot—all from the original CVS lima beans. These kits include dried lima beans and a dual Spanish/English instruction manual on how to prepare them for an interesting dish or use them to start your own garden.

icons: iconfont.com

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Farm LA is located in a very urban setting; their backdrop consists of two freeways, yet this is what Emily imagined when first developing her organization. She wanted to serve communities who could truly benefit from having newfound access to nutritious, locally-grown food, rather than those who have the resources to build a garden themselves. The surrounding community is always on her mind when making decisions about what to grow or how to manage the garden.

She is continuously in awe of the amazing Farm LA volunteers, and says “it’s been a joy dealing with the amazing people that want to do great things for their neighbors, and maybe also want to get their hands in the dirt.” It is these volunteers who form the basis of the organization and bring a sense of community to their garden. Though Farm LA’s doors are always open, they are conscious of not putting the responsibility of garden maintenance on the immediate neighbors.

Instead, they hope for these neighbors to be the main beneficiaries of the plot, and in the future want to further engage the surrounding community in the fun aspects of gardening, such as the harvest.

Inherent in Farm LA’s mission is promoting community wellness. They are adamant about the high nutritional value of lima beans—they are rich in micronutrients and fiber, associated with lowering glucose levels to help prevent diabetes, and contain proteins that may help fight colon cancer.2,3 More than that, lima beans grow fast, produce large quantities of food, and do well in drought-tolerant conditions. All of these factors make them the perfect crop for fulfilling Farm LA’s mission of feeding people from food grown locally in Los Angeles, California. Furthermore, all of the recipes included in donation kits focus on healthy, simple recipes with minimal ingredients in an attempt to make healthy dishes more accessible. In her free time, Emily loves experimenting with the versatility of lima beans, making everything from lima bean hummus to lima bean waffles!

Mental well-being is also at the forefront of Farm LA. Gardening has been shown to be beneficial for your health in a variety of ways, such as reducing stress and anxiety, increasing quality of life, and promoting social connections.4 According to Emily: “We really try to make it a part of our mission statement on how getting headspace, coming to the farm, focusing on something other than yourself, taking over a [garden] bed...is definitely worth gold in mental wellness.” A large part of what the organization emphasizes in relation to mental health is the antidepressant capabilities of soil: Emily believes that “there’s something so medicinal about touching the soil.” The calming sensations associated with physically touching the soil and getting your hands dirty has a scientific basis—a 2007 study published in Neuroscience found that naturallyoccuring bacteria in soil stimulates the serotonin systems in the brain that are responsible for feelings of happiness.5 This finding underscores the impact gardening can have on mental well-being, which ties into one of Emily’s few highlights of 2020: watching close family and friends discover the excitement of gardening. For Emily, “seeing friends and family come around and order their home mushroom kits and their own backyard gardens...that’s been really gratifying to see everyone figure out how important [gardening] is.”

References 1.

“Nature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective.” Science Advances. (2019).

2.

“Nutritional and health benefits of dried beans.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (2014) 3.

“Legume seeds and colorectal cancer revisited: Protease inhibitors reduce MMP-9 activity and colon cancer cell migration.” Food Chemistry. (2017).

4.

“Gardening is beneficial for health: a meta-analysis” Preventative Medicine Reports. (2017).

5.

“Identification of an immune-responsive mesolimbocortical serotonergic system: Potential role in regulation of emotional behavior.” Neuroscience. (2007).

For Emily and the people around her, gardening has offered an outlet to help them get through this challenging time.

Emily’s advice for people interested in gardening themselves: join a community garden. Not only is it a great way to support gardening in your neighborhood, but it is also a great way to get involved in your community and learn from others gardening in the same space as you. If there is not one near you, start a sidewalk garden in that little patch of green space along the street, or talk to your landlord about creating a rooftop space. At the end of the day, gardening can be as easy as planting herbs on your windowsill, or going to your local CVS and buying lima beans as a last-minute Valentine’s gift. The most important thing to remember is that gardening is a journey, and there is always more to learn. Even after seven successful years at Farm LA, Emily still believes there is more to know; she hopes to expand her knowledge and organization to more vacant lots around Los Angeles in the near future.

A Guide for Diversifying Our Social Circles and Keeping in Touch with Reality by nicolette

tour

| design by rachel kwan

In our current world, socializing looks significantly different from before. While social distancing has granted many of us the time to discover more about ourselves and recognize the activities that captivate our minds, it has also caused us to selfisolate to some extent. Given today’s unique circumstances, it is important to be aware of the benefits that social connection has on our well-being, but it is even more important to recognize that remaining connected with others during this time is far from impossible.

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photo: fabio bracht/istockphoto

As humans, we thrive on social interactions.

While you may feel like you are constantly surrounded by the same people, it is possible to diversify your social circle, both by fostering new relationships and by doing different activities with the people you already know. This article will suggest social activities to share with the people you already know as well as conversation starters to foster new relationships with individuals of all backgrounds and interests.

It will dive into the benefits of maintaining your relationships and diversifying your social circle. As we transition back to our pre-pandemic social lives, it is important to build on the connections we have and get ourselves reaccustomed to engaging with a variety of people.

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The Social Aspect of Our Well-Being We have all been told time and time again that incorporating movement and a healthy diet into our routines will set us up for good health. Many of us have become so focused on diet and exercise that we only pay conscious attention to these two components of our well-being. In reality, health goes far beyond nutrition and exercise. How many of us acknowledge that social connection is just as critical? Our "peace and security is dependent on the complete cooperation of individuals," and it is only in our power to provide this imperative social support for others and ourselves.1 In fact, a Stanford Medicine research article found that “higher self-esteem and greater empathy” resulting from increased social connection is associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression.2 A reason for this positive association between social interactions and mental health is that humans are more likely to trust individuals who prioritize social connection. This results in a positive feedback loop of social support and increased emotional and physical well-being: the more devoted we are to nurturing our relationships, the more likely we are to receive that same social support. This boosts our mood and lowers our stress levels, prompting us to engage in social situations more often and partake in this cycle of reciprocated trust and connection.

top: jefery erhunse/istockphoto; bottom: toa heftiba/stockphoto

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Our development as social beings can be further explained by evolutionary factors. We have been conditioned to need some level of social connectedness, because of the necessary benefits of human connection. Psychologist Susan Pinker explains that when we communicate with people face-toface, “parts of our nervous system release neurotransmitters that lower our cortisol to regulate our response to stress and anxiety.”3 In this way, increasing our social interactions makes us more resilient to stress factors in the long run. This strong connection between social interaction and well-being gives clear evidence that we cannot let socializing fall to the bottom of our priority lists. Instead, it is important that we stay connected to our communities, and create quality relationships that will help us feel supported in the long-run.

The community that we are born into and the societies that we navigate throughout our lives shape our outlook on the world; It is important to expand this outlook so that we could expand the resources with which we approach life. Research specifically supports that it’s not only social interaction that improves our health, but also membership in a diverse social network. The association between expanding our social circles and our health is said to be driven by two processes: (1) being a part of more than a single community, each devoted to a specific interest or background and (2) expanding one’s social network over time.4 The first stresses the importance of exposing ourselves to various value systems and approaches to life. The latter is where the ability to hold conversations with a diversity of individuals comes into play. Keeping both processes in mind, if we commit to diversifying our social circles and become open to interacting with people of different backgrounds than our own, we can develop a curiosity that has the power to change our perspectives.

By expanding my horizons, I have been able to witness the opportunities and pathways that exist among many different cultures and communities, and I have been inspired by the strength and independence of individuals of upbringings far different from that of my own. The more that I expose myself to individuals who pursue life in different ways, the more open minded I become when approaching hardship or when making impactful decisions. By expanding our views of the world, we will be able to take a step back, rearrange our priorities, and gain a sense of freedom to determine our own happiness.

By expanding my horizons, I have been able to witness opportunities and pathways that exist among many different cultures and communities, and I have been inspired by the strength and independence of individuals of upbringings far different from that of my own.

“

I experienced this shift in perspective while entering a new phase of my life at UCLA. Having grown up in a tight-knit community where I attended a religious private school, I was never fully aware of communities beyond my own. I was unaware of the different cultures, value systems, and lifestyles that people held just a few miles from my small bubble in Los Angeles. At times, I felt stuck in this bubble. I hadn’t questioned the beliefs that my tight-community had instilled me with, and as a result, I felt a lack of freedom of choice to pave my own path. I yearned to break out of this bubble and enter new social circles, as my mental health was on the line.

I needed to meet new people of all backgrounds, and when joining the diverse community at UCLA, I was determined to join any club that piqued my interest and start productive conversation about topics as heavy as the pressing racial injustice taking place around the world or as light as our favorite shops in town. By expanding my social circle, I was able to gain a wider perspective of the world around me; this new perspective gave me the knowledge and tools to increase the quality of my relationships, my overall happiness, and my quality of life. Only when I had expanded my knowledge of the different individuals and communities around me was I able to recognize that although I come from a particular community or background, that background is a part of me but should not limit my mindset in life; I learned to only take with me the values that served me and let go of those that prevented my growth and happiness. I was able to acknowledge all the customs and values that my community had given me, rather than feel trapped by the tightness of it, and simultaneously find new beliefs that aligned with my individual values.

Expanding my social circles and observing how people from different backgrounds approached life allowed me to not only expand my support system but also find a new sense of freedom.

Just as I had grown up in a bubble, many of us currently feel like we are living in a tiny bubble, closed off from the world as we await a return to normalcy. How can we break free when we are physically stuck at home for the majority of our days?

What tools can we use to activate dormant social domains and discover new social domains, all while staying sociallydistanced? After doing my own research, I have discovered multiple virtual resources that could provide an activity to bond over or facilitate fulfilling conversations. In the age of the internet, it isn’t too hard to think of creative and fun ways to socialize with friends and family while social distancing!

Expanding my social circles and observing how people from different backgrounds approached life allowed me to not only expand my support system but also find a new sense of freedom.

”

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photo: omar lopez/stockphoto

The Importance of Diversifying Our Social Circles

bottom: johnathan kaufman/stockphoto; top left: priscilla du preez/istockphoto; top right: kari shea/stock photo

How to Build Your Existing Relationships 1. Have a virtual game night with these conversation-focused games: We’re Not Really Strangers, Cards Against Humanity, 20 Questions, or Two Truths and a Lie. 2. Set up a virtual book club where you and your club members explore works by authors from a variety of backgrounds and on eye-opening subjects. Book clubs may also already exist in your college or hometown community.

3. Schedule a Zoom workout session with a friend Workout videos can be easily searched on YouTube, but some of my favorites are by Pamela Reif, MadFit, and Natacha Oceane. Many gyms and studios now offer live virtual classes as well, many of which are free.

4. Bake over Facetime or Zoom.

5. Simply video call a friend during lunch or on a walk.

How to Expand Your Social Circle to Engage with Individuals of Diverse Interests and Cultures 1. Join interest groups online. This includes fitness groups, social clubs at your university or at a religious institution, sports teams, magazines, or cultural clubs.

Clubs and Organizations at UCLA: Join an ethnic club or a preprofessional club. Write or design for one of UCLA’s magazines, seek programs run by UCLA’s religious organizations, or join a community service organization.

2. Join a non-profit organization. Many organizations at UCLA or your local community have shifted to an online format, and this is a wonderful opportunity to connect with people who have similar passions as you do. Interested in tutoring students affected by the pandemic? Interested in fighting food insecurity in your neighborhood? Look into dosomething. org or LAcovidvolunteers.org if you are currently living in the LA area. Find a food bank, a program for assisting disabled persons, a religious organization, or another community service program in your local community.

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3. Attend talks or webinars on a topic of interest, through a university or find one online.

4. Join a club sports team, a dance club, an acapella group, theatre group, etc., either at your university or near your neighborhood

How to Have a Fulfilling Conversation

These questions can break the ice when meeting someone new, whether it be during conversation at a club meeting, organization meeting, or during a casual conversation in any setting.

While presenting these deeper questions during conversation may at first seem uncomfortable, they will allow you to better connect with your peers and will eventually seem natural.5 1. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?

2. What activity or topic has been filling the majority of your free time recently?

3. What’s an ideal weekend for you?

4. What’s on your bucket list this year?

5. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

6. What did you want to be when you were younger?

7. What’s your favorite hobby to do alone?

8. What accomplishment are you most proud of?

9. What food could you not live without?

It is especially important to maintain our social connections now, so that we are not too overwhelmed when returning to social settings. Rather than isolating ourselves, we can use the present time to expand our understanding of people living beyond our own communities and our awareness of issues that may not surround us in our daily lives. By surrounding ourselves with positive individuals, we will find that their positivity will spill over into all other areas of our lives. I urge you to use the social networks and interest groups as well as the conversation-starting questions listed above to facilitate further socialization and expand your perspective of our world.

The effort required to engage in a couple of the many virtual opportunities out there will certainly pay off.

References 1.

"Constitution." World Health Organization. (2021).

2.

“Connectedness & Health: The Science of Social Connection.” The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. (2017).

3.

"Socialization: How Does It Benefit Mental and Physical Health?” Medical News Today. (n.d.).

4.

"Can We Improve Our Physical Health by Altering Our Social Networks?” Perspect Psychol Sci. (2009).

5.

“205 Philosophical Questions - A Huge List of Thought Provoking Questions.” Conversation Starters World.

(2020).

outdoor immersion and our health katragadda

| design by nicole huang

photo: justin koffman/unsplash

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

by kavya

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the outdoors as an escape I hardly remember the summer that was swept away by COVID-19, other than it being marked by such monotony that each day blended into the next. With limited indoor activity options and in-person social interactions, the pandemic of COVID-19 became a pandemic of boredom, and my subsequent restlessness eventually drove me to escape to the outdoors.

Bike rides and long hikes became my choice retreats— sometimes I’d bike 30 miles or drive to a pretty oceanside hiking trail two hours away just to pass the mornings and afternoons. I don’t think I’ve spent so much time outdoors since I was younger, when I would play tag in our neighborhood cul-de-sac through breezy summer evenings, stare at the starry skies while away at camp, run during track practices on spring afternoons, and bike ride with family on Saturday mornings.

It’s easy to forget the outdoors in the bustle of modern life, but the pandemic has brought out a renewed enthusiasm for the outdoors in many. More people have been going hiking, running, and biking. In fact, bicycle sales have spiked so much that suppliers are experiencing extreme shortages that may take months to resolve.1 This shift is dramatic, particularly because pre-pandemic society was increasingly relying on indoor entertainment activities such as TV, social media, e-sports, and online gaming.

While not all negative, this turn to the indoors has been accompanied by a neglect of the outdoors. We are often immersed in man-made environments, such as offices, cities, malls—away from plants, and forests, and trees, and nature. Loss of outdoor time may lead to “nature-deficit disorder”—a medley of psychiatric disorders, obesity, and other afflictions.2

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photo: ali kazal/unsplash

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The rekindling of our relationship with the outdoors has been a positive side effect of the otherwise negative COVID-19 pandemic.

health benefits of outdoor immersion Spending time outdoors has been scientifically shown to be very beneficial and even necessary for physical and mental health. Outdoor immersion contributes to strong cognitive functioning, stress and anxiety reduction, immune system function, and speedier healing.3

attention, but it can also contribute to relaxation and the perpetuation of fewer negative thoughts. In this way, an outdoor park walk can be a perfect reset from study or work, particularly for those who may spend much of their time working indoors (on “Zoom University” or otherwise).

Japanese researchers who have studied forest bathing—a more evocative name for walks in the forest—hypothesized that forest aerosols might be associated with elevated natural killer cell counts, which help fight infections and tumors in the immune system.3 Particularly in this pandemic period, a possible immune system boost from spending time outside is particularly desirable.

For those who are unable to escape to unadulterated nature, away from urban bustle, not all hope is lost: listening to the sounds of nature—even while indoors—can be a great alternative.

Additionally, according to a 2015 study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 90-minute nature walks were correlated with reduced activity in humans’ prefrontal brain cortex—a part of the brain that contributes to continuous rumination over negative thoughts and emotions when people are stressed.5 So, not only can walking in forests improve memory and

The growing plethora of research regarding the beneficial effects of outdoor immersion has supported the emergence of ecotherapy, which prescribes “nature” during healthcare delivery. One such organization, Park RX America, has 10,000 parks on its shelf of nature prescriptions. Doctors who participate in the program write prescriptions for patients to visit a nearby park regularly to help mitigate the burden of chronic disease and promote health, happiness, and environmental stewardship.7

photo: diego borja/unsplash

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In addition to physical health benefits, there are many cognitive health benefits correlated with outdoor immersion. However, not all time spent outside elicits equal benefits. A natural environment is potentially crucial. University of Michigan psychology researchers sent some adult subjects for a walk through a park and sent others through a busy city walk, finding that cognitive skills—including memory and attention span—were restored in adults who walked through the park but not in those who walked through the busy city.4 This difference could potentially be attributed to the fact that, in natural environments, people pay attention more broadly and effortlessly compared to in bustling cities where they are forced to pay effortful attention. The less-intensive attentiveness promoted by nature’s tranquility contributes to greater mind and bodily relaxation.3

An online 2017 study published by Scientific Reports used an MRI scanner to measure brain activity in people who listened to sounds from both natural and busy environments. The researchers found that the group that listened to natural sounds experienced an “outwarddirected” focus of attention—what people experience during wakeful rest periods. The group that listened to nonnatural sounds, on the other hand, experienced “inwarddirected” focus—what people experience during stressful periods of anxiety and depression. This difference, in the types of focus people experienced, could be due to the fact that hearing nature sounds and outdoor silence can lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.6

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getting outside!

Though Malia said she was very active before the pandemic, she had to find new strategies to get outside. She now views going outside as all the more important because of the stagnancy created by the pandemic.

Malia says she motivated herself to spend time outdoors by participating in the November Project’s Miles Challenge, which groups people in virtual teams of eight to ten.8 Each team seeks to accrue the most mileage through team members’ walking, running, and biking as much as possible in order to gain more points, and aligning outside immersion with the motivation of virtual socialization and competition.

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Setting a specific, attainable daily goal was another way Malia motivated herself to get outside. Malia’s daily goal is going on a little walk. “I know I can achieve this goal,” she said. “It’s a one-mile out-and-back walk that I do every day. Even if I start off stressed, by the time I get to the end point and turn around, I feel more calm and a lot more ready to focus.”

She added: “When you’re completely surrounded by nature, it’s easier to be completely focused in the moment, and more in touch with what’s in front of you rather than in your head. Her number one tip for getting outside is simple: a short daily walk. “Walks are underrated, walks can do amazing things for you, and I didn’t really realize that until COVID, so maybe something good came out of this.”

Though I’ve been going on fewer lengthy hikes and bike rides now that my classes have started up again, I have found ways to continue spending time outdoors. This is especially important for me because I’ve realized that when I don’t take at least half an hour to run or walk around outside, I feel particularly drained, especially after hours of staring at my laptop. I do sometimes fall prey to the trap of indoor dormancy set by laziness, but I never regret it when I push myself to venture outside.

While getting outside can be daunting, and can sometimes seem too effort-intensive, the benefits are worth it. And according to current research, it only takes about 120 minutes a week—just 17 minutes a day—to get an effective dose of outdoor immersion to promote health and wellbeing.2 Grabbing a pair of walking shoes and stepping out your front door for a quick stroll is all it takes.

References 1.

“Bicycle Sales Boom during Coronavirus Pandemic: ‘They’re Buying Bikes like Toilet Paper’.” chicagotribune.com. (2020).

2.

“More Time Out in Nature Is an Unexpected Benefit of the COVID-19 Sheltering Rules.” scientificamerican.com. (2020).

3.

“Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health.” e360. yale.edu. (2020).

4.

“Going Outside-Even in the Cold-Improves Memory, Attention.” news. umich.edu. (2008).

5.

“Nature Experience Reduces Rumination and Subgenual Prefrontal Cortex Activation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(2015).

6.

“Sour Mood Getting You Down? Get Back to Nature.” health.harvard. edu. (2018).

7.

“U.S. Geological Survey.” usgs.gov. (2020).

8.

“November Project.” november-project.com. (2020).

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photo: amy humphries/unsplash

Malia, a co-staff member of the UCLA Backpacking Club, shared with me how the pandemic and closure of the UCLA campus changed her activity levels and the time she spent outdoors. “Because you don’t go to class in-person, you no longer walk five miles every day, and you spend most of the time inside, attending virtual classes,” she explained.

“Sometimes I really have to remind myself to go outside and take a break.”

the recipes that brought us together: plant-based edition

photo: taylor kiser/unsplash

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

by anisha chandra | design by candice lau

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photo: prachi palwe/unsplash

If I had to find the silver lining in my unexpected living situation this year, it would be gathering around the table with my parents every night. It’s comforting to know that no matter how the day has gone, when the clock strikes 8, everyone in my family performs the choreography we know quite well: I yell “Dinner?” from my room, my dad responds affirmatively from his room, and my mom begins to roll out rotis on the kitchen counter. Once we’re all at the table, we immerse ourselves in the moment. Eating good food is one of the few interests all three of us share. Inevitably, we often end up having passionate discussions about dishes we want to try, our favorite spices, and the regional differences in Indian cuisine.

Whether we’re eating something exciting or not, I look forward to this small comfort every day.

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Given how much I cherished these dinners, I was a little nervous about transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle. No more mutton biryani? Matar paneer? Ghee on my crisp rotis?

I wasn’t so much concerned that I wouldn’t be eating these foods, but that I wouldn’t be sharing them with my family, as part of the joy of eating together is being able to comment on the food we’re sharing. Fortunately, this concern of mine hasn’t been an issue and has instead opened all of us up to exploring our ingredients. While there are some dishes we don’t share together, there are still plenty of delicious options for everyone—which is one of the joys of plant-based food.

Food provides a major avenue to maintain and express culture, and it is undeniable that meat-centered dishes are a significant part of several cultural cuisines. However, there are numerous ways to express pride for your culture through foods that are compatible with a plant-based lifestyle. Culture can be maintained through the spices you add, the kitchen stories passed down to you, and the techniques you use to prepare the dish.

Personally, I’ve been aware of the idea that food from any culture can be vegan. I grew up eating plenty of my mom’s dal (lentils) and rice, so when I first heard about veganism, I connected it to my own plate. However, at the time, the media hadn’t done a good job of recognizing the diversity in plantbased cuisines, so there were definitely stereotypes about what veganism entailed.

Veganism has been characterized by Western food trends— think kale caesar salads and smoothie bowls.1 While salads may be delightful, this image of plant-based eating is limiting, as it does not take into account the hundreds of cultures that have incorporated plant-based meals in their diets for years. It portrays veganism as a Western health food trend for people who exclusively eat basic foods, rather than a sociocultural movement that has the ability to transcend borders. As a result, many may feel deterred from plant-based eating because they do not see how the foods and flavors they enjoy fit into it.

Today, plant-based eating is gaining popularity as a way for people to express their beliefs about ethics, the environment, or wellness. Whether you’re interested in making a permanent switch to veganism or simply incorporating more meatless Mondays in your life, there are ways to tie your family’s cultural background into your meals and build community when you share food with others. It may seem daunting at first, but hopefully these recipes and perspectives from food bloggers Lisa Kitahara and Murielle Banackissa can inspire you!

Vegan Jackfruit Kofta

For instance, one of the dishes I knew I would miss most as I transitioned to plant-based eating was palak paneer—soft cottage cheese cubes in a creamy spinach gravy. As my mom and I worked on making a plant-based version, I realized my favorite part about palak paneer was the flavor of the spinach gravy, so I simply replicated it with tofu!

I don’t strike gold with every plant-based substitute, but there is an element of excitement that comes with experimenting to find what I like. In the process, I’ve learned more about cooking with Indian spices and techniques than I ever knew before.

www.upbeetanisha.com/indian-jackfruit-kofta

1.

“The White Vegan Myth: The role of global culture in creating plant-based eating.” joro.tech. (2020).

top left: andra ion/unsplash bottom left: anisha chandra right: gaelle marcel/unsplash

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By the time I was in grade 11 or 12, my family didn’t eat together often because of everyone’s separate schedules.

Whenever my mom brought me dinner I would put the meat back in the pot and since I was one of the first people to eat, she didn’t really notice. If I had the opportunity to go back in time, I definitely would have told them. When I eventually told my parents, they were against it, but I was in university and they knew they couldn’t change what I wanted to do.

So I totally understand when people say they can’t go vegan because their family won’t let it happen. Meat and fish are a big part of Asian culture, so saying that you’re not going to eat meat may result in concerns about whether you’re getting enough protein. If your lifestyle is going to cause major arguments, slowly introducing veganism to your family through good vegan food is a good first step.

What do your parents think about your vegan lifestyle now?

@okonomikitchen Lisa is the voice, photographer and recipe

developer behind Okonomi Kitchen, a plantbased food blog sharing simple feel-good recipes.

She specializes in mostly East Asian-Inspired recipes but also loves to share western comfort classics (with lots of gluten-free options!). She hopes to share that transitioning into a plant based or vegan lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to give up your favorite food from your culture, it just takes a little time and love in the kitchen.

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Why did you go vegan? How did going vegan affect both the cultural dishes you enjoy and how you share that food with other people?

I first went vegan when I was 16. It literally happened overnight after watching Earthlings. When I was younger, I didn’t eat that much meat anyways; my mom was Japanese, so we ate more fish. Fish was comfort food to me, especially because of the flavors my mom prepared it with. Even when you go to Japan, everything is cooked in fish broth. So giving that up was pretty hard at first. I couldn’t use dashi (fish-based) anymore and Japanese baking heavily relies on eggs. So when I first went vegan, I was mostly making easy, classic American comfort food. It was the first time I was cooking for myself, so that was a huge stepping stone on its own. But after a lot of trial and error, I learned how to make dashi vegan, and after that, it wasn’t as hard. As for how it affected other people...funny story: I hid that I was vegan from my parents for about 3 years.

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My dad doesn’t care as long as I’m staying healthy. In the beginning, my mom would be critical about my food, especially because I was really into vegan and gluten-free baking and wasn’t great at it. For someone who is used to fluffy and delicate Japanese desserts, the vegan gluten free desserts are completely different. But now, my mom has tried my dishes and she really likes them! She’ll even send me a picture of a meal she sees on TV and tell me to make it vegan. Or she reminds me of something my grandma made and works with me to make it vegan. Sometimes when I’m preparing a recipe, I’ll call her and she walks me through it over the phone.

What inspired you to start your online platform?

I was the only vegan person in my town, which got lonely. I wanted to connect with other like-minded people, so I just made a new Instagram account to share my vegan food.

Honestly, it was just for fun. I mostly posted smoothie bowls and comfort classics like pasta at the beginning. Eventually I started meeting other vegans!

photos: lisa kitahara

Lisa Kitahara

How did you manage to hide that you were vegan for so long?

photos c/o lisa kitahara

So I remember you used to have another account (now @bylisakitahara), but then you switched to your current account (@okonomikitchen) because you wanted to share more cultural recipes. Could you talk more about what led to that switch?

What is your favorite cultural dish to veganize?

I’ll choose one Japanese and one Chinese. I think Japanese has to be either Japanese curry or karaage (vegan fried chicken).

The curry wasn’t the hardest thing to veganize, but it was the best. For Chinese, it has to be the chao siu bao.

When I was in university, I didn’t cook a lot of Japanese or Chinese food. I always knew Japanese cuisine was my favorite, but I was so wrapped up in what other people were sharing and posting that I felt obligated to share similar recipes. But once I came home from university and realized how much I missed my mom’s Japanese food, I knew people had to try this. I also started seeing more Asian people and food come up on my feed. And I noticed that whenever I shared Asian food in my stories but didn’t share a recipe, people would DM me asking how I made that. I mostly experimented with Japanese food, but with all the hate Chinese people were receiving because of COVID last year, that’s when my interest for Chinese food came out more. I started to reconnect with my grandma and asked her about Chinese recipes.

On my previous Instagram account, I realized people could be confused by what I was sharing, because I shared vegan and gluten free baking and American comfort food, but then all of a sudden I’d drop an Asian recipe. That’s totally fine, but I wanted a platform focused solely on Asian-inspired recipes so people knew what they were coming for. Right now my heart is in Asian-inspired recipes so people know that just because you go vegan, you can still enjoy the foods you grew up eating.

Have you ever felt like there was a stereotype for veganism? Did that stereotype ever affect what you chose to eat or share?

Oh yeah, 100%. When people at my university found out I was vegan, they often responded with “How are you vegan? You’re Asian.” I was shocked whenever anyone said that. I didn’t know you had to be a particular race to be vegan. The stereotype is that veganism is for white people and hippies. In the past couple years that has definitely improved, but it still exists, which is really interesting to me because a lot of vegan dishes come from Asian culture. Tofu is the perfect example.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in eating more plant-based but is afraid of losing the foods they grew up on or the sense of culture and community that comes from those foods?

First, don’t be afraid. If you think you’re never going to eat what you ate growing up, that isn’t a good mindset to start with. if you truly feel like you are missing out on cultural dishes, then experiment!

After multiple rounds of getting used to the ingredients, you naturally become better at cooking. If you really want to give veganism a chance, don’t give up after just one round of eating something gross. Give it at least a month. Today, it’s so much easier to go vegan because of all the amazing products coming out and continuing to improve.

Vegan Japanese Curry

www.okonomikitchen.com/vegan-japanese-curry/

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Murielle is a food photographer, recipe

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

developer and educator based in Canada.

Through her various platforms she aims to make food photography accessible to everyone while also trying to democratize veganism!

You talk a lot about photography on your platform and part of photography is telling a story! How do you go about planning a shoot for a cultural dish that is particularly special to you?

When I shoot a recipe that is close to my heart or one that I grew up with, I always think of the emotions that dish evokes for me first. I think about how the dish made me feel and try to remember any memories associated with it. Let’s say I am shooting a frozen dessert I used to have as a kid growing up in Africa: memories of sunny warm days will come to mind.

This will influence the aesthetic I choose for my shoot. I will incorporate a warmer light, use tropical fruits as props and maybe incorporate some of my Congolese patterned fabrics to convey those childhood memories.

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Why did you go vegan? How did going vegan affect both the cultural dishes you enjoy and how you share that food with other people?

I went vegan after watching Earthlings, a movie about industrial farming and the horrors that happen to animals behind closed doors. I realized I could no longer support a system that was so violent towards sentient beings. Going vegan definitely made it harder for me to eat childhood classics, but as a recipe developer, it also gave me a wonderful opportunity to recreate some of my favorite childhood foods and make them vegan.

Have you ever felt like there was a stereotype for veganism? Did that stereotype ever affect what you chose to eat or share?

Absolutely! That stereotype for me was a smoothie bowl lover, living in California who ate jumbo salads every day! Trust me, I tried that and it left me hungry so at some point, I just decided to turn away from that stereotype. I sought out other creators of color (which was sometimes much harder to find, especially a few years ago!) who were vegan and that helped me with redefining veganism. The vegan stereotype did affect the type of food I shared on social media for sure. Although my food is not super culturally rooted, I did question if there would be a market in the vegan community for recipes that were not as veggie forward as other creators or that did not contain tons of superfoods. However, with time, I realized that there is a place for everyone and as long as I stayed true to my vision, I would connect with like-minded people.

photos: murielle banackissa

Murielle Banackissa @muriellebanackissa

What is your favorite cultural dish to veganize?

My vegan Napoleon. It is made of layers of vegan puff pastry and a silky rich vanilla cream and it is one of those childhood delicacies that I am so happy I veganized because it is truly a crowd pleaser and my go to for any special occasion.

What inspired you to start your platform? What message do you want to send to your audience?

I started on Instagram at first without any real plan for it. I never thought my account would grow as much as it did and that one day I would be part of such a wonderful community of like minded people. With time though, as my business as a photographer grew and so did my platform on Instagram, my purposes became a little clearer. With my platforms, I want to (1) help people realize that food photography is accessible to anyone; (2) share my knowledge about food photography with aspiring food photographers and content creators; and (3) help change the image of veganism. I want people to realize that vegan food does not have to look a certain way! Vegan food can be as beautiful, as appealing, as sophisticated as nonvegan food without any animals being hurt and while being absolutely delicious!

Who did you learn to cook from? What inspires your current creations?

My mom and the internet! My mom is an incredible cook. She is very intuitive, cooks with tons of spices and is not afraid to try new things and that has definitely inspired me in the type of dishes I create. The internet, especially as I became a vegan, because no one in my family or my circle was vegan. The internet taught me how to replace eggs in different recipes, which ingredients were vegan and which were not. It also taught me that veganism does not mean lack of flavor and that even people who are omnivores could be convinced of that with a very good chocolate chip cookie ;)

Vegan Napoleon Cake

top

+ bottom c/o murielle banackissa middle: annie spratt/unsplash

www.muriellebanackissa.com/blog/vegan-napoleon-cake

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Why You Should Join a Book Club

BY ISABELLA CHAIKEN | DESIGN BY NIKHITHA NAIR

Right now, you may be miles away from friends and family. You can text and

call them, but we all know it’s just not the same as seeing them in person. You are also likely staying at home and have a lot of newfound free time. You’ve tried multiple different new hobbies, but nothing has stuck. How about joining a book club?

total wellness ▪ spring 2021

Being an ‘honorary guest’ at my mom’s book club was one of the most fun things I’ve done since the onset of the pandemic. While I was skeptical at first to attend a real book club, my mom convinced me that I might as well go, because it was better than just sitting on the couch. Through open discussion about their assigned books, she has learned a lot of new perspectives and been exposed to ideas she would have never thought of! And, thanks to her, I’ve stepped outside of my comfort zone and read a lot of great books I would have never even thought to pick up.

47 photo: christina morillo/pexels

Why Should I Join a Book Club?

Being involved in a book club brings on a myriad of benefits.

If you’re anything like me, you always try to start to read again, but quickly give it up. As a member of a book club, you are held accountable by others to actually read the book and finish it.

Additionally, if you know that you’re going to have to speak about the book, you’re more likely to pay greater attention to the content and try to understand it on a deeper level.

It’s a great way to start reading more and perhaps even develop a valuable new habit. Consistently reading helps to build your vocabulary, broaden your knowledge, and think more analytically. It can even help to improve your grades!

In a study done in 2016, researchers found that students who read for their own pleasure scored higher on tests in english, math, science, and history than their counterparts who didn’t read by choice.1 Reading can actually benefit your academic performance in a wide range of subjects, not just English!

In 2018, researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of California, San Francisco carried out a study on the effects of book clubs on medical professionals that highlighted the importance of reading for career performance. The researchers found that reading a recreational book unrelated to medicine helped to decrease their burnout symptoms and positively influenced their current ways of practicing medicine.2 While this study only looked at medical professionals, it can be reasoned that recreational reading can benefit any profession.

So if you’re looking for a way to enjoy yourself and further your career goals, try reading!

Besides simply encouraging you to read more, joining a book club can boost your mental health. In a 2017 study, researchers in Australia discovered that being in a book club can greatly reduce a person’s stress levels.3 For those struggling with life pressures such as from their family or their work, having an outlet away from those stressors is extremely helpful.

Partaking in a book club provides a designated space to forget about the rest of the world, and just focus on the book that you read! Being a book club member helped my mom to “develop closer relationships with her friends and took her mind off of everything else.” When you are reading a fictional story, for example, you can likely escape your current reality.

Plus, taking part in an activity that meets consistently helps to facilitate a solid routine. My mom and I are always counting down the days until the monthly Wednesday meeting when we get to finally see everyone and talk about our book.

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How Can I Join a Book Club?

One of the best ways to stay connected with your loved ones is to take initiative and start a book club with them! Even if you are physically far apart, a book club allows you to have a designated time to get together virtually and become emotionally closer. With a set book club schedule, it’s harder for people to back out of your zoom call at the last minute, because it will already have been planned in advance.

Reading and discussing the same works sparks an instant conversation, so you’ll always have something to talk about.

By discussing your thoughts and opinions on books, you can learn a lot about another person. Even if you are already close, reading the same book can help the two of you bond and get to know each other even better. For example, pre-COVID, my mom’s book club met once a month in order to discuss their thoughts on their monthly read. In order to adapt to the suggested safety guidelines, their 12 person book club began meeting over Zoom.

While my mom acknowledges that Zoom book club meetings are not the same experience as those in-person, she did note that the virtual format “prevents people from talking over one another,” which is an added benefit! My mom always looks forward to making her own cheese plate and seeing her friends on her book club meeting days, as it gives her a little sense of relief during these strange times.

Another avenue to facilitate a book club is by starting one with your roommates. Whether it’s family or friends you’re living with, a book club can be a great shared activity. In addition to learning more about one another, it’s a great way to simply pass the time with the people you are currently living with.

Roommate bonding is super important right now, as you are probably seeing a lot more of them than usual. Picking a book you are all interested in and getting to talk about it can be a great way to strengthen your emotional bond. Additionally, you do not have to pick a crazy challenging read—make sure it’s a book that you will enjoy and want to finish!

Although my roommate and I have yet to start an official book club, we have been reading some of the same books and talking about them with each other. Right now, we are both reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and it’s been so fun to share our opinions over the breakfast table. A book club doesn’t have to be an organized event with structured outlines; it can also just be you and a friend talking about a book you like! left: sincerely media/unsplash right: ying ge/unsplash

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total wellness ▪ spring 2021

You can also make it a fun event by planning/meals that go along with the theme of the book. For example, if your book club chooses Harry Potter, each member could make and enjoy their own Hogwarts themed food to share while you discuss the book!

Lastly, you could go outside of your comfort zone and join an online book club with all new people. There are currently countless online book clubs that are super easy to join.

Although potentially intimidating for some, joining an online book club with strangers is a great way to hear a lot of diverse perspectives and meet people from different backgrounds than your own.

When you are stuck at home, it can be refreshing to meet some new faces. This kind of book club can help to remind you of how big the world really is outside of the comfort of your home.

The Bottom Line No matter your reasons for wanting to join a book club, doing so will surely bring a great payoff! Staying connected online can be a real challenge, but if you put in the effort, it can all be worthwhile. It’s a simple way to develop a new, beneficial habit, engage with people on a deeper level, and is just a great way to pass the time.

References 1.

“The Impact of Pleasure Reading on Academic Success.” J Multidiscip Grad Res. (2016).

2.

“What’s a book club doing at a medical conference?” MedEdPublish. (2018).

3.

“Reading in Community, Reading for Community: A Survey of Book Clubs in Regional Australia.” J Aust Stud.

(2017).

4.

“The Quarterly Group Read.” Book Riot. (2021).

Recommended Book Clubs If you want to join a large, diverse book club, try joining a celebrity book club. Whether it’s Reese Witherspoon’s or Oprah’s, these book clubs select a monthly read, and then people can discuss the book on an open forum. There are also interviews with the authors in order to get a better understanding of the book.

If you’re looking for a book club through a designated organization, check out The Los Angeles Times book club or the New York Public Library book club. Through these organizations, you can view livestream events with authors and even submit your own questions!

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photo: cottonbro/pexels

If you’re looking for personal interaction, try out some online groups. The Book Riot hosts a quarterly meeting that culminates in a video chat discussion with other people who have read the same book as you. Another option is through the Curl Up Club on instagram. Hosted by YouTuber Jenn Im, you can enter for the monthly discussion, and the participants are selected at random to ensure a small and organic conversation.

cheers to health, the total wellness team

credits We would like to acknowledge the following people for their contributions to this edition. We would also like to make special mention of the following UCLA physicians, professors, and faculty members who donated their time and expertise to ensuring the accuracy of content published in the following articles:

running into a community

Elisa Terry, NSCA-CSCS, Associate Director - Fitness & Wellness, UCLA Recreation

sharing music

Ami Kunimura, MA, MT-BC, Founder, The Self-Care Institute; Instructor, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

navigating relationships

Theodore Robles, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology

diversifying our social circles

Eboni Martin, M.Ed., Program Manager, UCLA Resilience In Your Student Experience (RISE) Center

outdoor immersion

Jon Christensen, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Founder, Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies

copy-edits and review

Anisha Chandra, Melissa Bu, and Nicholas Carpo

layout revisions

Bella Hung, Eleanor Pae, Hannah Chew, Nicholas Carpo, Nicole Huang, and Rachel Kwan

cover

Bella Hung, Karissa Shuck, Niharika Duggirala, and Nicholas Carpo

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