Student Activities
Traci Mosser, graduate, Columbia college
Issue date: 12/11/09 Section: Features
Starting a healthy exercise routine now can make a difference in your mood and performance this semester. Here's how to get started.
In high school, Bari Cohn was a triple-threat athlete as a member of the varsity lacrosse, swimming and soccer teams. But when she arrived at Syracuse University in New York, leaving her team sport days behind her, the writing and rhetoric major knew she'd need to push herself to maintain an active lifestyle.
Not only would she have to juggle the competing demands of college life, but she wouldn't have anyone looking over her shoulder to keep her focused.
Cohn credits a course called College Learning Strategies with helping her master time management. "The class helped me see all the pockets of time I have-times I can go to the library, study, or exercise," says Cohn. "I make to-do lists and star the most important things, like my schoolwork, but I also always star the gym." Now she regularly works out at least five days a week and says she feels better for it.
Cohn's not alone in her challenge to find time for fitness. A recent Student Health 101 survey of more than 1,000 students showed the two biggest hurdles to exercising regularly are finding time and getting motivated.
From Stress to Success
Getting motivated starts with recognizing the mental, social, and cognitive benefits of a regular fitness routine.
"We know the number-one cause of negative academic outcomes for our students is stress," Jennifer Goree, a health educator and director of the Healthy Campus Initiative at Clemson University in South Carolina, said. "We're encouraging students to make fitness, both physical activity and good nutrition, part of their everyday lives as a means of stress reduction."
Some experts suggest that exercise acts as an antidepressant, and for college students prone to stress, anxiety and depression, physical activity could be the right prescription. In fact, a recent study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine, reported that exercise can improve your mood for up to 12 hours a day.
In high school, Bari Cohn was a triple-threat athlete as a member of the varsity lacrosse, swimming and soccer teams. But when she arrived at Syracuse University in New York, leaving her team sport days behind her, the writing and rhetoric major knew she'd need to push herself to maintain an active lifestyle.
Not only would she have to juggle the competing demands of college life, but she wouldn't have anyone looking over her shoulder to keep her focused.
Cohn credits a course called College Learning Strategies with helping her master time management. "The class helped me see all the pockets of time I have-times I can go to the library, study, or exercise," says Cohn. "I make to-do lists and star the most important things, like my schoolwork, but I also always star the gym." Now she regularly works out at least five days a week and says she feels better for it.
Cohn's not alone in her challenge to find time for fitness. A recent Student Health 101 survey of more than 1,000 students showed the two biggest hurdles to exercising regularly are finding time and getting motivated.
From Stress to Success
Getting motivated starts with recognizing the mental, social, and cognitive benefits of a regular fitness routine.
"We know the number-one cause of negative academic outcomes for our students is stress," Jennifer Goree, a health educator and director of the Healthy Campus Initiative at Clemson University in South Carolina, said. "We're encouraging students to make fitness, both physical activity and good nutrition, part of their everyday lives as a means of stress reduction."
Some experts suggest that exercise acts as an antidepressant, and for college students prone to stress, anxiety and depression, physical activity could be the right prescription. In fact, a recent study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine, reported that exercise can improve your mood for up to 12 hours a day.
Be the first to comment on this story