“I’m SO excited to go to the gym!”, said no one. Ever. I will say one thing: I used to love working out. But that was back in the high school days, when a workout consisted of running on the track with my distance team, or tossing around a volleyball for a couple of hours during volleyball practice. With the exception of college athletes, those days are gone. So, the majority of college students are left to figure out if they want to make that trek over to the gym every day or not. During my first year of college, I definitely did not do that. I went on the occasional run to clear my head or say that I’ve exercised for the month, but that was about it. Now that I’ve started taking more nutrition classes for my major, however, I’ve found that the importance of exercise is, to my disdain, unavoidable. Sorry friends.. there’s no way around it *inserts crying emoji*. I know, it’s not what you wanted to hear, but don’t shoot the messenger!
So adults, college students included, are recommended to get about 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise. Exercising for 30 minutes for 5 days, or about 22 minutes for all 7 days, is ideal. It’s not what we want to do, but it’s so important for the whole “reasonable routine” that I’ve been talking about to stay in shape! Other than walking around campus, your body needs decent muscle conditioning and cardio exercise on a regular basis to keep your heart pumping normally and your muscles staying strong for the years to come.
There are so many benefits to exercising, and here’s just a few (though I’m sure you’ve probably already heard about some of these):
–Sleep. I figured it would be important to put this at the top of the list. The National Sleep Foundation conducted a study that found that, with the recommended 150 minutes/week of exercise, there was a sleep quality improvement of 65% in the people studied (who came from men and women ages 18-85!)
–Hair and Skin. Exercise boosts your blood flow and collagen production, which both promote glowing skin and healthy hair! Web MD explains it a little further in detail here.
–Mood. For college students, every mood seems to be a little more heightened; the stress of classes and being thrown into the world of “adulting” can wreak havoc on triggers for anxiety and depression. There’s an “exercise effect” the American Psychological Association has conducted studies on that has shown an impressive correlation between increased physical activity levels and decreased levels of anxiety and depression.
–Eating habits. You tend to feel a lot better while exercising if you’re eating a balanced diet, so having an exercise routine can motivate you to eat better. Also, exercising can help regulate those hormones that I talked about in the last article that make you hungry. It helps curb those cravings that are typically hard to get rid of.
Then, of course, there are the benefits of exercise for blood pressure, cardiovascular health, and just feeling accomplished. We all know it’s good for us, but why is it such a struggle to get there? Two of the most common themes that I’ve noticed (both in myself and friends) for not wanting to exercise is a lack of spare time and motivation. We have a lot going on as college students; writing that six page paper due tomorrow (usually) ranks a lot higher on people’s priority lists than making it to the yogilates class for an hour. And after a long day of classes, an episode (or four) of Parks and Recreation sounds a lot more appealing than a workout.
I have a few tips that might help with both of those:
-Find something that you love to do. You don’t have to hit the treadmill every time you workout; if you love to hula hoop, or jump rope, or toss around a volleyball, do it. It only takes at least 30 minutes a day, and you should make it a 30 minutes you don’t dread. Do something you love!
-If time is an issue, write down your daily schedule by the hour and discipline your schedule. Even if it takes bringing your textbooks to the gym and studying on the elliptical, or running up a couple flights of stairs in between study breaks at the library (which is a GREAT workout, by the way), a little every day will do a lot more than nothing at all.
-Figure out what you like about exercising to motivate you. Trust me, I know it’s hard to think of, but I promise you can find something! Whether it’s getting some time to yourself, throwing off extra emotion, or beating a goal, you have to find something to look forward to.
I’ll be honest, it’s really tough getting into an exercise routine; so once you find it, stick to it! I promise your body will thank you. But remember: exercise is in moderation. Don’t go overboard with it, because there are many negative consequences to that side, too. If you need some motivational stories or quotes like I do to get you going, Google and Pinterest and sticky notes can be your best friends. Stop dreading the gym!