By Owyn Dawyot, Health and Wellness Reporter
The demands of living as a college student who prioritizes their health and fitness are almost as challenging as getting through the school itself.
College is a crucial time in a person’s life when they’re making decisions that will affect their future. Coincidentally, something that often gets neglected during the busy life of a student is their health, both physical and mental, which directly affects how the rest of their lives will play out.
Many of these young adults don’t want to think about taking the extra time to work out or spending the extra money on healthier groceries, but those two factors are more important for your well-being than you think.
While in college, students are bombarded with strenuous class schedules, spending time with clubs and organizations they’re involved in, and looking for jobs and internships over the summer, all while attempting to maintain a social life. It’s an extremely draining time, so why would it make sense to add something else to your plate, like going to the gym?
“I think your mental and physical health go together, so you have to prioritize one to work on both,” Nick Owen, a senior at Virginia Tech, said when describing why going to the gym is important for him. Owen believes that if you work on your physical health, then your mental health will follow. He’s also a believer that if you have a healthy, balanced diet, then you will see significantly more progress in each of these areas.
Owen regularly trains at The Weight Club, an off-campus gym located in Blacksburg, Va., which raises the question: Why spend the money to train at a gym off campus when Virginia Tech offers three fully-functional facilities on campus, intended for the use of students enrolled at the university – McComas Hall, War Memorial Hall, and the VT Rec Sports Field House (also known as “The Bubble”)?
“The on-campus gyms don’t have a sauna, and Weight Club is less crowded,” Owen stated, expressing that he believes it is crucial for his health and well-being, and that he would make the sacrifice to pay $414 for the year to have the luxury of using a sauna.
Another student, Mathew Hale, a sophomore at Virginia Tech, also purchased an off-campus gym membership at Very Good Gym in Christiansburg, Va. Hale pays for the semester plan that Very Good Gym offers, which is $180 for four months, and describes the membership he pays for as a “quality of life” purchase.
“I feel like I’m almost saving money by not having to worry about parking on campus or getting a parking pass to go to an on-campus gym,” Hale stated. “It’s never busy, and it’s a 24-hour gym, so while I’m there, I don’t have to worry about hours or anything like that.”
While both Owen and Hale seem to have their reasons for spending the extra money on exercising each month, healthy eating is a completely different animal and needs to be done with strategic planning, as described by Maddie Reis, another senior at Virginia Tech, who believes that living a healthy lifestyle as a college student is much more than just working out.
“I shop in Christiansburg, and I have my groceries listed for when I go to Aldi and when I go to Walmart, depending on the prices,” Reis stated. “I know each item that I have to get at each store to get the lowest price point.”
Reis also said that she is constantly browsing the internet searching for deals on healthy food and drink items. She claimed that Olli Pop is her favorite healthy drink. She knows the exact date they go on sale each month at Food Lion and is ready to stock up.
However, it doesn’t stop there. Reis strategically plans out her grocery list for every week, down to the serving size of each dish she’s preparing the following week.
Reis said that she also has suffered from insomnia throughout college and purchases around $40 of various supplements per week to help ensure that she gets adequate rest for recovery.
Owen and Hale both stated that they also purchase supplements, creatine, and protein powder. Owen doesn’t stop there, also taking ashwagandha, magnesium, and fish oil. Both claim this excess supplementation doesn’t just help their performance in the gym, it also plays a huge role in their energy levels throughout the day, during classes, and long study sessions.
All three students stated that they rarely eat out, as the healthier restaurants in Blacksburg, such as Greens, Roots, and Chipotle, are typically their go-to options when they do, expressing that they are very costly on their tight budgets.
Although college is a very stressful time, and it may not make much sense to some to spend the extra time and money on worrying about prioritizing their health, many students, including these three, would disagree, arguing that it may be worth the effort.
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