Full-time students should be required to take at least one fitness or health course per semester to promote healthier lifestyles and contribute to the prevention of unhealthy weight gain.

Oftentimes when students go away for college, they adopt an unhealthy eating style. Many students turn to takeout or dining hall food to survive, especially if they are unable to cook. Students may also have difficulty managing the stressors of college, such as constant deadlines, big projects and keeping a healthy sleep cycle. This, in turn, may make them gain some extra weight, becoming victim to the infamous “freshman 15.”

The body mass indexes of over 200 freshmen were collected during their first semester of college and again during their senior year for comparison of their BMIs, according to a 2017 study by the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Over the course of the students’ college careers, their BMIs were significantly higher at the end of their senior year versus the beginning of freshman year. Students’ mean weight gain was about 10 pounds, and the sample increased from 23 percent to 41 percent overweight or obese.

A part of college should be learning and adopting healthy lifestyle habits. Although it is ultimately up to the individual to take responsibility of their own health, not all students may have to knowledge to do so. The implementation of weekly exercise into students’ schedules will help prevent weight gain and teach students how to initiate and maintain healthy lifestyles.

“I’m not sure about the requirement piece, but we do believe that being active is important,” said Sandy Carlisle, Director of Recreation and Wellness.

Having a healthy body can also lay the groundwork for a healthy mind.

“One of the things we try to promote to students is that learning how to be active is very important to your health,” said Carlisle. ”There is new research that shows if students visit recreation centers 10 to 15 times a year their retention rate goes up and their GPAs are higher. We know that an active body is very important for an active mind, and to be able to retain information which leads to academic success.”

Having a healthy body also lays the foundation for a healthy mind.

“We would love for 100 percent of the students to be active and find ways to do that, because during their academic career it’s very important to learn how to balance. Time management is a key here because when students go out and become professionals, they’re going to have to learn how to do that,” said Caslisle.

Exercise can help prevent excess weight gain or help maintain weight loss. When engaged in physical activity, calories are burned. The more intense the activity, the more calories are burned, according to the Mayo Clinic website.

The required classes do not have to be strenuous; students should be able to pick the intensity of the classes they take. The emphasis here is not on the intensity of the exercise, but the the fact there is an initiative being taken to promote exercise and healthy living. Much like how NIU full-time students aren’t charged additional tuition for classes once they reach 12 credit hours, the course should come tuition free for full-time students so it is affordable and inclusive of all NIU students.

“I think it’s a great idea, because not only does it promote healthy behavior, but it promotes other skills such as time management,” said junior Spanish major Lee Brito.

The goal of education is to create knowledgeable, healthy beings by the end of their time at college. Educating students on health and fitness would be a great way to positively influence them.