Exercise: When, Where, and How?

The importance of staying active has only become more prominent during the pandemic as our quality of life has become very limited. Even with the increasing vaccination rate, Covid-19 burnout is still taking a toll on many people’s lives, including those of university students. We are all feeling fatigued, when ironically, we’ve been staying in our rooms more than ever before.

But what do we do in our rooms? Often, we spend time on our electronic devices, whether for work or to connect with the world. It’s a no-brainer to see that movement-conserved life combined with restless nights battling assignments and channel surfing will not do any favors for our minds and bodies. The lifestyle many of us have constructed during the past two years explains why it is common to find ourselves constantly feeling depressed and unmotivated. Exercise and rest are both essential, yet many of us are not getting enough of either. That’s where exercise comes in.

Some might say they don’t have time to exercise, but there’s no need to commit significant time in your day to do so. You just need to move your body in between your work and study. Many know that the experts recommend we take ten minutes of mental break after every hour of sedentary work, so why not utilize this time to move your body? Squats, lunges, and push-ups using your desk or chair are great ways to wake up your muscles without using any gym equipment. YouTube also has excellent workout videos that are short and easy enough to follow along with.

Setting goals can be another great way to motivate yourself to stand up and move your body. For example, you can provide yourself with a small prize at the end of the week or month if you keep up with your goals. Be careful not to make unrealistic goals, but achievable ones. You might hesitate to spend ten minutes exercising after every hour you have studied. However, you will soon find yourself more focused while working, and you will accomplish more than you would have accomplished if you didn’t take that mental break. What’s even better is that the physical exertion of exercise will improve your sleep quality, too! So start with the little things, and give yourself rewards for achieving those little things because they will soon result in significant changes to your life.

If you want to set aside a portion of your day just for exercise, make sure to utilize your Andrews University student benefits. All dorm students can use their dorm gym, and all university students can use the Andreasen Wellness Center free of charge. If you are unsure of what to do at the gym, scheduling an inbody assessment can be a good way for you to figure things out. This assessment analyzes your muscle mass, body fat mass, BMI, and more. You can then go over your results with a professional to determine what kind of exercises you should engage in. If you would rather exercise with a group of people than alone, the Wellness Center has different group fitness classes every day except for the weekends, so check out their schedules on their website here! Personal training is also available at a 10% discount for the students if you take more than ten sessions. The choices are out there; make them yours. 

Taking the first steps toward an active lifestyle is hard. We all have high expectations for ourselves, and it can get very daunting to place ourselves in situations or spaces that we aren’t used to or haven’t tried for a long time. I hope we all can be a bit more gentle and understanding with ourselves and encourage ourselves for every step we take in our lives.