By SUSAN COLTRI
It’s a new year, a new semester, a new beginning. Many students want to start exercise programs that will help themselves feel better and look a little more like Brad Pitt or Cindy Crawford.
There are many benefits of exercise. Besides looking better, people who exercise tend to have more energy and fewer health problems.
Exercise also triggers the release of endorphins causing a “natural high.” Endorphins are thought to increase pain tolerance, improve appetite control, reduce anxiety and be relaxing.
Although exercise brings all these rewards, a series of public health reports said 80 percent of Americans do not participate in an exercise program that is vigorous or frequent enough to maintain a good level of physical fitness.
Students may not be much better than the general population. Of 25 students interviewed, all agreed that exercising gives them more energy. Twenty said they exercised regularly in high school. Only six said they exercise regularly now.
What happens between high school and college? Many cited lack of time as the cause for their change in activity level.
Andrew Webb, 24, a senior from Maryland majoring in Family History, said, “I love to exercise. But with school and work and a baby, there just isn’t much time to do it.”
Other students said they don’t exercise because they don’t like to, they’re too lazy or they simply don’t care.
How do students who do exercise fit it into their schedules?
“I make exercise a craving,” said Martha Holloman, 19, a sophomore from Springfield, Va. “If you really want to do it, you will. Because my body is a gift from God, I want to keep it in a state that is pleasing to him.”
Rob Turner, 22, a junior from Radford, Va., majoring in German and Spanish, said everyone finds time for things they love. “If you just pick something you love, you won’t be able to give it up.”
“Make it a social thing,” said Amanda Christian, 19, a sophomore from San Jose, Calif., majoring in molecular biology. “Do it with friends.”
