The growing reality is that the college student lifestyle is often associated with poor food choices, poor sleeping habits, weight gain and increasingly with mental health issues.
Lucky enough for students there is a simple, cost-effective way to begin combating all of these things all at once. ADD EXERCISE! Adding regular exercise to your schedule 2-3 times per week has endless research backing it that shows an improvement in lifestyle across all areas of student health and wellness. In addition, the Public Health Agency of Canada invests a lot every year to promote physical activity as a preventative measure to combat illness and decrease the stress on our healthcare system. That is saying a lot about the benefits of exercise.
Health Canada on Exercise:
www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/healthy-living/physical-activity.html
Once you start to keep exercise in your schedule you will no doubt begin to see results. You will be a part of a growing community of people using exercise to better their lives. The more structured your physical activity becomes, the more results you will see and the more likely you will want to improve your lifestyle habits to support your newfound results.
Research has also shown that those who are regularly physically active will score higher on tests and are able to focus in class more compared to those who do not exercise regularly. Recent studies suggest that physical activity promotes brain development. I encourage anyone to read up more on this research done by Dr. John Ratey, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has a great book on the topic called Spark.
Centennial College offers a variety of physical activity opportunities in our fitness centres, through intramural sports, drop-in gym times, excursions and more. We even offer personal trainers to help those who need a little more structure and motivation.
Students would benefit to explore all of their options on campus. Here are some quick links below to keeping active on campus:
Student Association Athletic & Wellness Centre: www.myawc.ca/classes/
Centennial Athletics & Recreation: www.gocolts.ca/
