I noticed in high school that there were many high-pressure evenings, trying to finish projects and studying for exams, not to mention filling out college applications. In the transition to college, the stress was magnified when you add in maintaining a part-time job. Life after college will no doubt bring even more strain than this. So how do we combat it?
Life can be stressful and everyone needs to find a way to push through it. Many teenagers and adults adopt unhealthy habits to help cope with stress, including smoking cigarettes, drinking and eating unhealthily. How many times have you felt like taking the time to prepare a meal seems like too much effort? Next thing you know, you are eating cereal and McDonalds.
There’s a much simpler and healthier solution: One of the easiest and most beneficial ways to relieve stress is through exercise.
In recent studies in Naperville, Ill., they implemented a first period gym class “math scores improve[d] by 20 percent and reading scores improved significantly, as well.” Now, of course, not all of us are morning people, but the idea can be applied in different ways nonetheless. Finding a time of day where you can work out — and doing so at least two to three times a week — will be extremely beneficial to other areas of your life, including but not limited to your studies. WebMD even suggests that movement while studying can be helpful because “complicated movement stimulates thinking.”
One of the best things companies are currently doing is incentivising their employees to exercise. Several companies offer to reimburse some expenses or give prizes when employees reach certain goals. In the Harvard School of Public Health, it was stated that many employees “believed they could reduce their health care costs by influencing employees to adopt healthier lifestyles.” There are plenty of reasons for companies to want healthier employees, they could save money and having healthy employees will lead to a better company.
It seems that with all of this information it should be clear that colleges should adopt something similar. However, there are few programs that really motivate students to choose healthier options. At the U we have an excellent exercise facility free to students and extremely inexpensive classes offered each semester. These programs are great and the U should make an effort the encourage more students to participate. There are plenty of ways to increase participation, such as having a school-sponsored month of exercise. It is time that our university considers not only the academic excellence of their students, but also commit themselves to caring about the students developing and maintaining healthy habits.
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