By Joseph Altman Jr.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
There is a lot that students can do to improve their health before they get sick.
That's what Lynne Smiley, director of the University of Arizona Wellness Center, wants to make clear.
The Wellness Center, located on the first floor of the Student Recreation Center, 1400 E. Sixth St., provides testing and information that can lead to better health.
"We basically promote health prevention," Smiley said.
The center, funded jointly by Student Health and the Student Recreation Center, offers several options for students to monitor their health.
Smiley said a student can walk in and get a free fitness assessment, which tests cardiovascular strength, among other things. It involves a three minute step test, a one minute sit-up test and a body composition test.
The center also provides HDL cholesterol screenings, body fat analyses and diet analysis for $2 each, Smiley said.
Plus, the center holds special chair massage sessions, and a sports medicine doctor is on hand every Thursday afternoon to answer any questions students may have.
"Students can take care of themselves physically from a wellness approach," Smiley said. "We educate about the body and stress management."
Lucinda Rankin, an exercise and sports science lecturer, said she has utilized the Wellness Center as part of her class, "Physiology: The Facts of Life."
Rankin said she bases the class on real-life scenarios which would let people understand what types of bodily functions carry them from day to day.
"We utilize the Student Health Center and Wellness Center to have some of those things done for us like having blood drawn and seeing what cholesterol levels are," Rankin said.
"(The Wellness Center) serves a much bigger population to do what we try to do Ä educate people about their bodies," she said.
The Wellness Center is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.