Students need to move to avoid pains of sitting

Proper posture is not something on the minds of most university students, but the way you’re sitting may be affecting you more than you think.

“Sitting is an issue in the population at large, and so what we’re seeing, progressively, is a decline in physical capability and a progressive increase in muscular tension,” said Dr. Michael Vipond, a chiropractor for 26 years.

“I think the biggest issue, especially if you’re a student in their 20s, is that you just don’t think about it being an issue because you’re bendable enough that you think it’s no big deal.”

When a person sits for an extended period of time, some muscle groups are both shortened and stretched, creating muscle imbalance and weakness. Over time, this can reduce mobility and cause lower back and neck pain

“The classic places you will see it when you’re sitting are in the hamstrings, the hip flexors, the deep hip flexors and the anterior muscles of the neck and the chest,” said Vipond. “When you slump [in a chair], you’re reversing the curve of your lumbar spine, so that puts abnormal stress on it.”

The perils of the laptop

Working on a laptop computer can also cause added stress to the neck and chest.

“If it’s a desktop, at least you have the opportunity to create decent ergonomics, but with a laptop, you’re either too high with your hands or too low and then you have to drop your head down to see it,” said Vipond.

Years of sitting in a poor position and slumping in your chair, can cause a type of injury classified as progressive micro-trauma, a chronic injury that builds up over time.

“It’s not something that you do in a couple of minutes or even an hour, but you do it over day after day after day. What magnifies the effects of the postural change is when you hit deadlines, exams, all the things where you’re adding additional muscular stress or tension or anxiety, and that just ramps up the muscle changes all over,” said Vipond.

According to Vipond, students should be moving around every half-hour or at least changing their position while they sit. Performing a range of motion exercises to help combat imbalances created by sitting can be a big help, too.

“Range of motion is usually the key thing, so for your neck, that’s forward and back, turning left and right and tilting left and right. Even in your chair, you can do those same motions through your trunk, bending forward and tilting and turning.”

Vipond also suggests rolling up a towel or sweater and placing it between the small of your back and the chair to maintain the natural curve of your spine.

“Just getting out and moving around is one of the key things, and if they [students] aren’t exercising, at the very least what they should be doing is some stretching exercises to try and counter act those changes,” said Vipond.

Looking for research participants

Ann McBurnie, Operations Manager in the Library, is conducting an action research project entitled “Research Assistants at Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Positioning and Training for Success” in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University.

McBurnie is recruiting both Kwantlen faculty members who employ research assistants, either currently or within the past three years, for a focus group in November; and any Kwantlen research assistants (RAs), either currently or having worked as an RA in the past three years for a late-October small focus group.

Call McBurnie at 604-576-0904 if you are interested.

Yoga: moving, resting, calming

Students can release the stresses of school, work and relationships by dropping in for one-hour yoga sessions at Kwantlen’s Blossoming Lotus Studio.

Yoga continues to expand as a popular trend in the city and suburbs, and for good reason. You may not think you’re the yoga type, capable of devoting an hour to stretching and wearing spandex, but you’ll be glad you did.

Unlike watching TV, kick-boxing, playing video games, smoking or drinking, yoga works to relax your body and mind, by focusing on steady breathing and holding unique body postures and poses. These special exercises are designed to increase flexibility, enhance overall posture and, most importantly, calm the mind.

“It can be really stressful being in the environment of trying to learn and having to be at deadline constantly. So I hope to provide a relief,” says David Yao, 26, who teaches the class.

Although there are various levels of ability and technique, participate in one class and you’ll feel the effects. The first 40 minutes are spent synchronizing movements, which gradually become more technical and enduring. It’s not unusual to break a sweat. Then the last twenty minutes are focused on resting and laying in posture.

“I’m inspired to relax after a long day of school,” says Robyn Lord, 23, who studies graphic design. After a yoga session, Lord says she feels refreshed, centered and that her head is clearer.

“That’s what yoga’s really for. To calm the mind down and to see clear as to what your own body needs,” says Yao.

During these insanely hectic times, it’s important to have a positive outlet, as well as it is to try new activities.

“Between school and work and studying, there’s not much time to do anything, like go to the gym. So having a yoga session between classes is really good to relax and actually do something active,” says Darriya Plessovskikh, 22, who studies accounting.

Kwantlen’s classes are beginner friendly.

“It’s calm, soothing and relaxing,” says Plessovskikh.

Classes are held on Mondays (11:55 a.m.-12:55p.m. & 1-2p.m.) and Wednesdays (5:15-6:15p.m.). Cost is $25 – $35 per/month. For more information about yoga and intramural activities, contact the KSA.

Food fight at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus

Friends 4 Food is not friends with Sodexo.

The reactive Friends 4 Food was formed in opposition to what they see as “a corporate bully”, Sodexo, moving in as operators of Kwantlen’s cafeterias through what they say is an all-too-murky process.

Friends 4 Food is run by a small group of criminology students and serves vegan food to students in the Surrey campus courtyard four days a week, offering an alternative to what F4F sees as overly expensive and unhealthy food, provided by Sodexo at Kwantlen’s cafeterias.

In the first week of operations, F4F was shutdown by Fraser Health Authority and slapped with $615 in fines for various health code violations, but not before being warned by Kwantlen administration of the potential health violations and of not properly booking space in the courtyard at Surrey Campus.

The idea was to serve vegan food by donation to students who don’t wish to spend their money at Sodexo.

“We thought we’d call for a boycott, but we can’t really call for a boycott if we have no means for students to boycott it,” said Eva Botten, who is a lead organizer of F4F.

Started as a research project for a criminology class, F4F organizers looked into the history of the company now running the cafeteria at the school.

“So we’re trying to get [Sodexo] out,” Botten said.

On the Surrey campus, there are other food options, such as the student-run Grassroots Café, but campuses in Richmond, Langley and Cloverdale only have Sodexo-run cafeterias.

F4F has gained wide support from Kwantlen’s criminology faculty in its vocal protests against Sodexo on one side, but has been dealing with Kwantlen aministration and policy on the other.

“In an era where there is so much student indifference or apathy, to have a student who is smart and politically engaged and have some political moxie, is a student to be celebrated,” said Hollis Johnson, the criminology professor who assigned the project.

Johnson also harkened back to an incident over the summer when Emery Warner, another Kwantlen criminology student, was booted off campus for refusing to show identification while handing out leaflets protesting Sodexo’s (at the time) new place on campus.

“Why would anybody get in trouble with the university and members of Sodexo for leafleting, handing out pieces of paper on a university, which to my mind is an open, public institution?” Johnson asked.

“Does that mean that anybody who walks on campus who we don’t like what they look like, or have to say, have to identify themselves?”

Joanne Saunders, Kwantlen’s Director of Marketing and Communications, said,”everyone is allowed to voice their opinion, I don’t have any concerns about that at all.”

“We’re just a university. The only reason we’re really involved, is we need to make sure that everything that the students are involved in, they’re in a safe environment… the proper space has been booked if they’re planning an event,” Saunders said.

Saunders said Kwantlen’s concerns were solely to do with the booking the required space and making sure the group meets the required Fraser Health regulations.

“We’re not there to hound the students to take up their time and ask them to do unreasonable things, but that is the procedure here at the university,” she said.

Jody Gordon, associate vice-president, students, wouldn’t comment on F4F, even though Friends 4 Food has singled out her office as the source of its troubles.

They believe that someone in Gordon’s office is responsible for tipping Fraser Health off, meaning that F4F was inspected even before the newly-opened Tim Horton’s on Surrey campus.

But according to Gordon, during the first week that F4F was set up serving food, Fraser Health Authority was alerted by an article that appeared on The Province’s website, prompting the health to shut F4F down amid concerns over food safety.

“Fraser Health [Authority] was involved… because of the much stricter regulations that Fraser Health has now on serving food. There’s other things that get involved with more than just occupying a small corner of a very large area,” Gordon said.

Johnson agrees.

“What about free speech? What about freedom of academic inquiry, just to name a few,” he asked.

And for Friends 4 Food, it’s a simple choice — a choice between student-made, vegan food — or not. “We’re only serving vegan food, and they do not offer vegan food,” Botten said.

“They offer carrot sticks, celery and French fries for vegan options.”

Lack of interest cancels road hockey tournament

It was the beautiful Saturday morning. Warm. Sunny. The perfect morning to play some road hockey.

But, instead of the sounds of hockey sticks hitting pavement and the cheers of spectators, the only sounds in the parking lot at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus was the occasional passing car.

Thee Kwantlen Athletics and Recreation department was forced to cancel its road hockey tournament that was suppose to take place on Saturday, Oct. 2.

“There wasn’t enough teams,” John Stewart, recreation events coordinator, said. According to Stewart, only three teams and three individuals registered for the tournament.

“We wanted this to be a viable tournament. We actually lose money on this event. So, we needed a minimum of six teams for the tournament to go ahead,” Stewart said.

Unfortunately for Kwantlen Recreation, failed sporting events are becoming a recurring theme.

“We’ve had some successes, but it’s pretty hit and miss,” said Stewart.

Stewart believes that the struggles the department has had in generating student support for these types of events, is their inability to get their message out. With very few people following them on either Facebook or Twitter, flyers posted around campus, announcements on myKwantlen and word of mouth aren’t doing enough to get students interested and participating in these events.

“We have such a small [recreation] area down here,” said Stewart. “A lot of people don’t know what things are happening.”

To combat this, Stewart and the recreation department are trying a new strategy in order “to bring rec to the students.”

According to Stewart, the department is going to set up a recreation committee, made up of members from the recreation department, the KSA and volunteer students. The idea is to get the students more involved in the process and tell the recreation department what kinds of events interest them.

Stewart hopes that by getting students involved, it will create more enthusiasm in the student community for events such as the road hockey tournament.

Speaking Session in Surrey: Don’t follow Rick Osborne’s path

Rick Osborne will be speaking about his about his real-life experiences with criminal activities, drug abuse and two decades in penitentiaries on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at the Surrey campus.

Who is Rick Osborne?

As a teenager in Ontario, Osborne fell in with the wrong crowd and drug addiction and street gang involvement ensued. At 21, he was a full-patch member of one of the world’s largest and powerful outlaw motorcycle clubs. Because of his criminal activity, he entered the federal penitentiary system and spend more than 24 years of his life — longer than most of Kwantlen’s students have been in this world — in penitentiaries all over Canada.

During his imprisonment he kick his drug addiction and parted with his gang life. While a federal inmate in maximum security, Osborne earned his bachelor degree in psychology from Queens University.

Since he left prison in 1993, he has travelled across Canada sharing his experiences about the dangers of gangs, drugs and criminal activity with kids and youth to prevent them following his path.

In 2008, he joined Astwood Strategy Corporation and the mentorship program Ozzy’s Garage was established. In this intervention program, at-risk kids build custom motorcycle choppers with Osborne and benefit from his experiences as a gang member.

His presentation, at 4 p.m., in room D128, is not just for Kwantlen students. “Any community member who is interested will be able to take away something from this session,” said Rob Rai, manager of Surrey Wrap Program and assistant manager of Safe Schools.

Osborne will tell how he got past his drug addiction and was able to break with his life in a gang. “It will be a combination of his journey and of his work with kids at Ozzy’s Garage”, said Rai. Osborne’s presentation is followed by questions and discussion. Admission is free.

The Speaking Session is hosted in collaboration with Safe Schools, Acting Together and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research: Community Learning and Engagement.

Surrey campus waits in line for Tim Horton’s

Some students aren’t thrilled but others are lining up for their “double-double” at the recently-opened Tim Horton’s on the Surrey campus. The Tim Horton’s outlet opened at the end of September and has had a steady line of customer, both faculty and students, ever since.

“I think it’s a great idea. It’s cheap and they have a good variety of choices, and it helps that it’s right on campus because now I don’t have to drive somewhere to get a coffee or food,” said Tyler Morton, 20. Most other students agree with Morton about the Tim Horton’s addition to the campus, but there are the odd students aren’t jumping into the line-up.

“I love Tim Horton’s, but when all of the high school kids come over on their lunch break, it’s really annoying. There is already a huge line, and the extra people are not exactly helping,” said Stacey Armstrong, 21. “I wouldn’t be so annoyed by it if they went back to school right after, but some of them sit in the courtyard. They aren’t exactly conscious of other people trying to study or work.”

When asked if the students would prefer a Starbucks at the campus to than a Tim Horton’s, the answer was unanimously for Tim Horton’s. Starbucks wouldn’t be the best choice, price-wise, for students and Tim Horton’s has more options for something to eat, students said.

“It’s convenient, and way better than the cafeteria,” said Tracy Vander, 25.

Students who aren’t coffee drinkers also say that they enjoy having the addition. “I don’t drink caffeine and I still go there. It’s probably not the healthiest thing, but it comes in handy. You can only eat the cafeteria food for so long,” said Rachael Hutchison, 19.

According to most students interviewed for this article, the food at the cafeteria isn’t horrible, but they would rather bring something from home or wait in the line for something from Tim Horton’s.

Kwantlen student union building still at talking stage

The Kwantlen Student Association’s planned student union building (SUB) at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus, fees for which were passed in a KSA referendum last September, is still being discussed by the KSA and the university.

Although it has been a year since the referendum, talks are still on as to what role Kwantlen will play in the creation of the SUB.

“Following that successful [referendum], the university formed a joint working group with the KSA to discuss this initiative. The university is considering a joint project with the KSA for this building,” said Jody Gordon, associate vice-president, students.

The SUB would likely be home to student-oriented services run by the KSA and other services that would appeal to students. However, exactly what all of these services, or possibly programs, will be, hasn’t been determined.

“[Kwantlen and the KSA] are currently reviewing the type of programming that they would like to see in the building. At this stage neither party has finalized that programming,” said Gordon.

Though this may sound worrying to students who had to pay a little more for their school fees this year, an end to the discussion and a beginning to the construction is in sight.

“Over the next two months it is our hope that we will come to a joint resolution on the location, the size of the building and the applicable programming,” said Gordon.

KSA intramurals at Kwantlen’s Richmond campus

KSA offers at Kwantlen’s Richmond Campus five fitness classes: Yoga, Boot Camp Circuit Training, Kickboxing, Group Groove and Group Centregy. All classes are held at the Blossoming Lotus Studio (Room 1320) in Richmond. Membership is $25/30 a month, drop-in purchases are available at KSA Member Services.

Social media: a status update

The halls of Kwantlen have no lack of social-media-frenzied students.

Somehow, between living and breathing, eating and sleeping, another aspect of life necessary to survival was added to the human race. Survival is no longer the primal simplicity that is lost in history textbooks, but an evolution of not only technology, but communication.

Have you noticed that people do not speak anymore? A person-to-person conversation is not kept between the lips, but thereafter spread by fingers tapping furiously on keyboards, cell phones, smart phones, iPads and — gasp — perhaps in a telephone call.

Words are spread through cyberspace, made public on Facebook and Twitter. Friday night plans are advertised on your Facebook status, and kept updated on your Twitter, and the photo taken by your iPhone is no longer a moment captured just for you, but uploaded onto the Internet so that your friends can “like” and comment and re-tweet, so that you can feel connected. Or, perhaps so that others can be jealous, or more appropriately, envious.

Cell phones aren’t just for convenient and portable communication, they’re plastic, micro-chipped, universal lifelines. iPhones, and Blackberries are an added bionic body part attached to peoples’ hands, sitting in purses or backpacks, pockets-buzzing, beeping, and ringing. Because even when you’re alone, you’re really nowhere near isolation, because that piece of plastic in your hand has the entire world compacted inside.

Blackberry Messenger isn’t an easier way to stay connected. Who are we kidding? It’s another reason to add stress, gossip and anxiety to your already caffeine-reliant life (which will also reflect on your Twitter update), because when your boyfriend reads your bbm but doesn’t answer, yet he’s on Facebook chat (which means he has to have checked his phone right?), you’re going to text your best friend, and most likely stare at that checkmark on your screen, and wait until that vibration gives you the answer you’ve been holding your breath for.

Love is no longer shown through rosy cheeks, nervous tongues and wide eyes. Love is now a plastic keyboard and human attention to a text message. And heaven forbid your crush posts photos with someone of the opposite sex, making sexy, eat-your-heart-out faces for the camera. Intimacy has somehow made a viral change from personal connection to words from keyboards, and sent flying through Internet waves, so in a matter of hours, maybe minutes, your circle of friends — and possibly a few foes — are made aware of your newest endeavor, your latest secret and what you’re having for lunch.

Maybe this sounds exaggerated. Maybe you’re one of those who chooses to stray from the addictions of social networking, and keep your business in simplistic proportions. It doesn’t matter because, everyone else around you isn’t.

Here lies the question: are we living?

If you have to have your smart phone beside you at all times, Facebook open on your laptop and your Twitter stream constantly scanned, I’d say you aren’t. You aren’t breathing air, you’re breathing cyber fumes, shared by the majority of the world’s population,.

Before we all know it, we’ll all be dead before the next status update.

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