Exercise, Eat Right Today for Healthy Lifestyle Tomorrow

By Kiarah M. Williams
Staff Writer

A popular saying, that almost everyone knows it’s called, “The Freshman 15,” meaning whenever a first-year student goes off to college, they supposedly gain 15 pounds from unhealthy eating and no physical activity.  Whatever routine a student established during their college years will most likely be their lifestyle later in life. According to the Northwestern Now website, students who do not exercise and have unhealthy habits during their college years are more likely to develop cancer and other diseases.

Five students from different universities, who are not athletes, were asked the question: “Why don’t you exercise enough?” Four out of five students said they have no time to exercise due to their heavy homework load. Still student April Williams said, “I do not feel comfortable going to the gym and working out in front of other people. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Although these are understandable reasons for not exercising nowadays there are different ways to exercise without needing to go to a gym or needing lots of time to exercise. For example, there’s an app you can download called 7-minute workouts for women. This app gives multiple workouts for different categories such as cardio, leg stretch, ab strength, etc., and no gym equipment is needed. These exercises can be done anywhere like in a dorm room where you don’t have to worry about someone watching or judging you. The exercises range from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Therefore, if you have a lot of homework assignments and you’re unable to exercise for a long time, this 7-minute workout app gives you the option to pick how long you want to exercise for.

At the same time, there are more ways to exercise than just using apps and going to the gym. Try walking around your campus for 30 minutes a day, or looking at YouTube videos for simple exercises to do in your dorm room. Also, if you need a break in between homework assignments, according to the college puzzle website, you should “do a mini-workout of 10 minutes” that consists of sit-ups, planks, jumping jacks, etc., whenever you need a quick break to clear your mind and get away from the computer screen. 

It’s never too late to develop healthy eating habits or taking part in some physical activity during your college years, so that you can stay healthy throughout your adult life.