Did you know that only 1 out of 4 adults meet the physical activity guidelines? Did you know that not exercising actually costs money and costs the US $117 billion in healthcare costs in 1 year?
Active People, Healthy Nation: Creating an Active America, Together is a national public health effort led by the CDC to help 27 million more Americans become physically healthier by 2027.
It’s recommended by the CDC that Americans exercise at least 150 minutes a week or just 30 min a day. That’s shorter than one episode of The Bachelor. Finding time in the day to exercise can be difficult for college students, however exercise is still very important and should have a priority.
Benefits of exercise are
- Reduced depression
- Lowered risk of at least 20 chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes
- Improve memory and brain function
- Improve sleep
- Being sick less often
- Help you lose weight
Ways that the CDC is helping to encourage exercise include; school/youth programs, creating activity friendly routes to destinations, increasing access to places where physical activity can be done, such as parks, and creating various prompts to exercise.
Especially now more than ever, it’s difficult to find opportunities to exercise on campus, especially with the continued need for social distancing. Kinghorn has limited hours for students to exercise, and can only have so many people in the building to exercise at one time to allow for social distancing.
However you don’t need a gym to get in your 30 min of exercise a day. Especially since it’s getting warmer outside the outdoors is a great resource. To increase exercise or movement throughout the day you can walk to class instead of drive, walk the long way back home, or take a jog during the day. And you don’t have to do these things alone either. You can invite a friend to go with you and talk about the importance of staying active. Or if it’s a rainy day, your dorm room can become a workout space. A quick search on youtube and you can find “dorm room friendly” workouts such as this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJkHiUgt8oI). All you’ll need is a little space, and maybe some water.
Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/index.htm
[…] Starting a healthy lifestyle doesn’t just include eating healthy, you should also strive to exercise as well. Please read our article about exercise to learn more here: https://northernreview.org/2021/04/07/exercise-for-college-students/ […]