Wellness Programmes

Wellness Week

The Wellness Week brings our students and staff together to achieve one common goal, i.e. to elevate our health and well-being by sharing and learning activities.

Under the theme of physical or mental health, students and various organizations are invited to design and operate promotion booths, and a series of wellness programmes are conducted. The Wellness Week creates a great way for the CIE community to explore their interest towards various kinds of sports, information of healthy lifestyle and mental health awareness. It helps the participants to build resilience, to grow, and to flourish.

Examples of activities are as follows:

• Informative booth exhibition
• Interactive booth exhibition
• Newly emerged sports
• Fitness test and assessment
• Workshop related to Health, Wellness and Mental Health
• Art activities, exhibition and workshop

Fitness Ambassadors

Student Development Centre recruits CIE students as Fitness Ambassadors. They initiate regular fitness activities which provides students and staff a great way to explore their interests towards different sports activities and health information.

This programme aims to help peers within our campus to reach their fitness and wellness goals and achieve their peak healthiness. From competitive team ball games to wellness calming yoga, Fitness Ambassadors provide activities for all.

Sleep Wellness

Sleep Wellness is a series of activities which aim to enhance students' sleep quality. We spend one third of our lives asleep. Quality sleep is a pleasure in life. It can restore energy, maintain good mood, enhance ability to focus and improve memory. Sleep quality often associates with environmental, physical and psychological issues. The following activities and information of Sleep Wellness may help you to maintain quality sleep.

Single-Session Pre-Sleep Relaxation Exercise

Using scientific method to monitor brain waves and to learn pre-sleep relaxation.
This is an individual activity, please click here for appointment.

Sleep Quality Consultation

• Reivewing sleep quality and disturbances with the consideration of sleep hygiene and psychological factors
• 4 individual sessions (or less) to understand and improve sleep quality

This is an individual activity, please click here for appointment.

Besides, you may pay attention to emails from Student Development Centre for irregular activities promoting quality sleep.

Further Information

What is sleep hygiene?

Sleep hygiene are healthy practices improving sleep quality and daytime functioning. These healthy practices are not limited to nighttime habits. It also include activities of day-night cycle, e.g. wake-up rituals and physical exercise.

Why is practicing good sleep hygiene important?

Having healthy sleep practices supports your full daytime alertness, increases cognitive ability, contributes better social performance, speeds up recovery, reduces irritations and anxiety, and, of course, enhances your enjoyment of sleep.

What are signs of poor sleep hygiene?

Frequent sleep disturbances, daytime sleepiness, and difficulty in memory and focusing are typical signs of poor sleep hygiene. You may take a look at the infographic below to have a brief evaluation on your sleep hygiene.

How do you know if you sleep too much or too little?

Both sleeping too much or too little may create adverse effects on vigour, attention, and organising ability. Your optimal sleep duration is a range rather than a precise time length. It changes with sleep patterns as you age and can be different from others'. Similar to sleep duration, wake-up time and other sleep hygiene also relate to daytime mental and physical capacity. You may consult counsellors in the Student Development Centre for better understanding.

Does sleep disturbances equal to poor sleep hygiene?

Nightmares and difficulty to fall asleep are common sleep disturbances. While maintaining good sleep hygiene can reduce the chances of sleep disturbance, sleep disturbance might has its root from mental and physical sources. Emotional disturbances, repetitive thoughts, pains and physical conditions like sleep apnea can significantly affect sleep quality. Counsellors in the Student Development Centre are ready to help you on these issues. If you find it difficult to distinguish the sources of your sleep disturbance, you can click here to make an appointment and the counsellors will guide you to work on it.

Sleep Hygiene Tips

Bedtime practice

• Comfort: temperature, darkness, quiet, bed setting
• Limit screen time
• Avoid caffeine, alcohol in the evening
• Settle worries by writing them down before sleep
• Use bed only for sleep, sex and sickness
• Use favourite sleeping position
• Have Regular bedtime

Daytime practice

• Sunlight & interpersonal interaction to regulate wakefulness
• Exercise (but not right before sleep)
• Limit sugar consumption
• Avoid napping for more than 30 minutes
• Manage pains

Mental practice

• Practice mindfulness and relaxation
• Take good care of emotions and needs
• Learn about your responses to stress

Myths about Sleep

Is counting sheep helpful?

Some reasearch suggests counting sheep is more about distraction rather than relaxation. Techniques like relaxing imagery and thoughts may help to induce sleep more than counting sheep. Counsellors in Student Development Centre are willing to teach you relaxation techniques in counselling or in some workshops.

Is snoring means poor sleep quality?

Snoring is common issue and often harmless. However, snoring on a frequent or regular basis is associated with hypertension. If there is significant breathing pauses or loudly snoring when sleep, you should consult a physician.

Does your brain rest when you sleep?

Brain is a large network of neurons. Although some areas of the brain become inactive during sleep, there are many neural activities continues at night to maintain our lives. Besides, scientists believe that our brains work on tasks which may not be efficiently done in daytime, e.g. consolidating memory and dreaming.

Can't sleep at all?

Research indicates that individuals facing sleep disturbances often report sleep duration shorter than which actually recorded. As a mechanism to maintain normal functioning, individuals severely deprived of sleep may experience waves of drowsiness and few seconds of "sleep" which they are unaware of.