Exercise is an interesting concept. Why do people exercise? Why do people not exercise?

Why are some life time careers purely devoted to exercise? According to a study done by Gallup
(an analytical company who takes surveys and makes game plans for people and companies)
51% of Americans say they want to loose weight. Some people say admitting it is the first step
right? Well not in exercises case. Only 25% of the 51% of Americans who say they want to
loose weight, are actually doing anything about it. Thats not quite half of the people who are
actually working towards this goal (CITE). While Americans as a whole are surprising I want to
look specifically at one population of people: college students. If anyone is going to workout I
believe college students are the most likely. They make their own schedule, which usually does
not involve school from 8am to 3:15pm 5 days a week and they usually have free access to a
gym at their school. This being said we all know the main reason why people dont exercise is
because they think they dont have time. I have no intention on questioning their time
management, what I would like to do is show how exercise is vital to our health. Our memory,
sleep, and energy level can all improve through exercise.
College is an exciting time of a persons life. Although there are many more aspects to
college than just hitting the books, most of us realize that education is the most important one.
An important part of education is purely the ability to recall what you have learned. Some find it
difficult to recall answers on a test, homework thats due, or the group project meeting that
started an hour ago. Yes setting reminders in your phone will help tremendously, but one way to
help your mind remember for itself is exercise. Heidi Godman who writes for Harvard Medical
said it like this:

"The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce
inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factorschemicals in the brain that
affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the
abundance and survival of new brain cells." - Heidi Godman (Harvard Medical)
In laymans terms this means that during exercise the brain is stimulated in ways which help your
memory. Just like your metabolism is stimulated, which helps you loose weight, your brain is
working overtime to improve itself. Many may say think that while it would be great to exercise
and benefit from memory growth they just don't have the time. A common misconception is that
in order to make a difference in your body you must exercise for hours and hours; this is simply
not true. Studies have shown that low intensity workouts help just as much. Low intensity could
mean taking a walk, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, going for a swim, etc. Most of these
activities we do to some degree without even considering it. Imagine how much exercise the
average college student could get if they thought consciously about adding these activities to
their lives.
The oxymoron excuse that a college student gives for not exercising is that they just dont
have enough energy. All of us can relate to this. There are times when we fill much more
energized than others. I call this excuse an oxymoron because everyone knows that if you dont
have a lot of energy than you need to exercise to get more energy, but people dont have the
energy to start exercising. The science behind it is that as you exercise your blood starts flowing
more, which allows more nutrients to be brought to different parts of your body giving you that
nutrients you need (CITE). As college students its easy to get caught in the rat race of classes,
studying, and social life, but all these activities require energy. I have heard this statement from

numerous freshman, I dont need to exercise because walking to my classes is exercise enough.
While it usually does take a bit of effort to walk to your classes you have to work a little harder
in order to raise your overall energy level. Two and a half hours of moderate-intensity is the
suggested amount of exercise per week if one wants to raise their energy levels(CITE). So
walking to class everyday is not necessarily enough of a workout, but if you add a swim or some
time on the treadmill than you most likely will see an improvement in your energy level over
time.
College students are known for doing one thing really well: sleep. Studies have shown
that exercise improves sleep, although the average college student probably doesn't need much
improvement in this area. We can see that by exercising 150 minutes a week sleep can improve
about 65% (CITE). This coincides with energy level in if you're sleeping on a regular schedule
than you will automatically have more energy the following day. Psychology today explains this
phenomenon, It can strengthen (link is external) circadian rhythms, promoting daytime alertness
and helping bring on sleepiness at night." (CITE). College students are often defined by the fact
that they sleep so irregularly. Sometimes theyll stay up until 3:00am studying or socializing and
then sleep in until 12:00pm. While other nights they may be exhausted and fall asleep at 9:00pm.
This variety can really mess with a persons sleep cycle. When someone falls asleep they start
what is called a sleep cycle, or different stages of sleep from light to deep sleep. Its not a good
idea to wake up without finishing a sleep cycle (90 minutes long), because you will wake up
disoriented and most likely not refreshed at all. Exercise during the day helps you fall asleep and
complete all the stages of sleep, especially REM sleep which is the final and most crucial part of

the cycle because this is where you dream and analyze the days activities(CITE). Sleeping is a
major part of the college students life and it can be improved through exercise.
These three examples are just a few of the many ways that exercise can improve your
life. Now that a small case has been made for then benefits of exercise I want to take a look
specifically at what college students are exercising and how often they exercise. From the
research I did I found that male college students exercise more than females over all (CITE). The
main difference though is how consistent they are related to what kind of workouts they do. Men
who just exercise with cardio workouts (such as walking, climbing stairs, using a stationary bike)
are less likely to stay consistent with their exercise than men who lift weights or woman who do
any sort of exercise (CITE). So although proportionally more men workout woman are more
likely to stay consistent with their exercise. Studies also show that if woman have a better body
image they are more likely to stay consistent with their exercise. This effect does not seem to
play a roll in a mans likely hood to work out consistently(CITE).
Exercise helps the college students memory, energy level, and sleep improve in huge
ways. Although some people may not believe they have much of a need for exercise because
they