Spring Wellness Week just the tonic for frazzled staffers

It's a scant two months before the advent of December and the end-of-year festive season, with all its temptations to throw abstemiousness and good habits to the wind.

A visit to the next UCT Wellness Week is just the thing for a pre-season health check. From October 6 to 8 the Graduate School of Humanities' quad will be filled with exhibitors. Those who visited the last Wellness Week are invited to bring back their cards to check their latest health ratings.

Body IQ will be there to test your fitness levels, the Institute of Allied Health will have consultants on hand to treat you to therapeutic massage. When they came to the last Wellness Week, the team was inundated; you could hear the purring from their kiosk as staffers were treated to neck, feet and hand massages with aromatherapy oils.

With time at a premium, it will be useful to have several consultants at your beck and call; OptiSite will check your eyesight for any degeneration or problems. From 11h00 to 13h00 each day IQ Tec will test your lung functioning, important screening especially for the smokers and staff with a history of chest problems. A dietician will be on hand to advise you on food groups, eating habits and calorie intake. A dermatologist will be able to assess that worrying mole during lunchtime. Dr Arien van der Merwe, a stress expert from Discovery Vitality, is offering a three-hour workshop on October 6 (venue to be decided).

Bookings can be made on the web (address?) She will also demonstrate NIA dance, a stress relieving form of movement and will use an IBUA brainwave analyser to show how stress levels affect the brain.

Even estate and trust managers from Sanlam will be exhibiting and available to help you draft a will. Booking essential for all of the above. (See Netscape group calendar site.)

Regular exhibitors include Direct AIDS Intervention (DAI), Weigh-Less, Smokenders and the UCT Sports Injuries Clinic. Medispa will offer lucky draws.

For more information contact Ottoline Clapham on e-mail oclapham@bremner.uct.ac.za, or tel 650 2154.