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School can be hard all by itself. With the heavy books in one hand, hot coffee in the other and the mind constantly rotating with endless thoughts and reminders, it can be exhausting trying to even fit physical activity into a school schedule. Adding exercise into a daily schedule may not be hard, but challenging to do, especially for a student taking over 16 units of classes.
Freshman 15 is known throughout colleges across the nation and overseas. However, the expected source of the added weight, increased access to unhealthy food, may not be the cause after all. According to Live Science, the culprit may in fact be a decrease in activity due to a more sedentary lifestyle because of studying and stress.
The results of a study done at Indiana University, according to Live Science, showed that freshmen spend about “16 and a half hours a week doing some kind of physical activity while seniors spent about 12.” Professor Jeanne Johnston at Indiana University, Bloomington said in an article by live Science, that keeping up activity now is important because “If [students] don’t master this during their early college years, they might have a hard time fitting physical activity later on.”
The workload of school can make staying active difficult, especially for juniors and seniors whose time spent walking decreased from more than 8 hours to less than 6 hours between their early and later college years according to an Indiana University Study.
Staying physically healthy isn’t the only challenge students are facing. According to Live Science, college students may face challenges in their physical and mental health well after graduation. Some causes include binge drinking, depression, and social anxiety.
From stressing over homework, projects to finish and keeping up with work, lack of physical fitness can become the last thing on a student’s To-Do list. It’s important to balance the priorities of your health and education as much as you can.
“I walk to class. I don’t really do anything. I’m very non-physical”
-Julia Healy, Early Childhood Development major
“Taking kin classes really likes makes you get into the gym and stay physically active. Going rock climbing ‘cause all that stuff is free in the rec, so why not use it?”
-Kenny Jones, Kinesiology major
“I try to to go the the gym and that’s about it.”
-Brienne Barahona, Sociology major
“I fell in love with cooking recently. It really feeds me physically and emotionally preparing and eating something that I know exactly what ingredients go in.”
-Alexis Lammawin, Hutchins major
“It’s good to just walk and stretch your limbs. It actually helps if you have music on too, so you can just jam out.”
-Gregory Thomas, History major
“Sometimes I’ll go to the gym or I walk to my class, and sometimes I’ll take random walks.”
-Olivia Chilton, Kinesiology major
