By Sam Trainer and Kate Mansfield
IV Leader Staff, May 7, 2009
Go to work, sit through school, find time for sleep and wait for the weekend—By the time the weekend comes, it’s already booked. Between homework and plans, Friday through Saturday can pass in a blur and then it all begins again on Monday.
With unexpected assignments, opportunities for extra shifts, keeping up with friends and family obligations, time to think about nutritious food options is difficult to find and there is little chance to consider personal fitness.
Julie Sherbeyn, Health and Wellness Instructor at Illinois Valley Community College, believes that maintaining fitness during the college years is of the utmost importance. According to Sherbeyn, “having a healthy body helps you to have a healthy mind.” A healthy mind and body enables an individual to battle the stress of requirements and responsibility.
Exercise plays a major role in fitness. It is important to look at the whole body in order to manage body composition and maintain a healthy weight. Cardio, flexibility, endurance and muscular strength, however, play their own roles in a holistic fitness level Sherbeyn said.
She continued to explain that nutrition is a huge component of health and one of the biggest issues with college students. With little time and modest funds, college students may find it difficult to find nutritious and healthful foods.
Rather than making the effort to find good food, it is easier to choose from what is readily available. Generally, this leads to choosing caffeine over water and foods high in fat and sugar rather than fruits and vegetables.
Environment, time and money are the biggest influences on the choices that college students make regarding their personal health. College is a time when many are beginning to make their own choices and form lifelong habits. Sherbeyn advises students to “be proactive” and purposefully make choices that will have a positive consequence to further holistic health.
For students, applying healthful behaviors to create a beneficial and enduring lifestyle is difficult. Russell Piontek, 19, is in his second year at IVCC and striving to maintain a healthy fitness level amongst class, work and other obligations.
He aims to keep a consistent workout schedule that complements a busy lifestyle. Upon entering college, Piontek came to the realization that achieving this would require a few adjustments, but that the adjustments would be worthwhile.
“Fitness is very important to me … College is another stage in life where things change dramatically and someone caring about staying in shape has to adjust,” said Piontek. He made these adjustments realizing that “the habits formed now are vital to staying fit in the future.”
Becoming informed is the best way to move toward total wellbeing. Understand the way nutrition and fitness integrate. “Know what you’re doing and understand what you’re putting in your body … start demanding rather than accepting,” Sherbeyn said.
IVCC has numerous resources that encourage an active lifestyle. The IVCC Fitness Center is well equipped for an exercise routine.
There are classes on nutrition, health and wellness in the curriculum, which inform students on choices for wellbeing. Intramurals are also offered alongside various sports teams.
Through consistency and effort, the average college student can attain a healthy level of fitness and take advantage of the benefits.