How Students are Using Fitness to Overcome Stress from Midterms
With midterms around the corner, college students are bearing the brunt of stressful schedules and multiple exams within a week.
Students at the University of Houston find that by implementing fitness, they alleviate the stress that midterm season brings. According to an article from Walden University, fitness has been proven to directly affect a person’s mental health, such as relieving stress and boosting brain activity.
“When you exercise, you get your heart rate up, oxygen goes to your brain, endorphins are released; you’re going to feel better,” said Audrey Fogle, a UH senior majoring in management information systems.
Fogle is a certified personal trainer who uses her fitness as an outlet to stressful situations.
“If I don’t work out, I notice I’m in the worst mood ever,” Fogle said. “I’m mad, I’m angry, all my emotions are pent up. I don’t want to do anything. I’m in a terrible mood.”
Fogle says that students should find time during their day to work out — especially during midterm season. By working out, students improve their memory, reaction times and decision making.
“During midterm season I especially am just like, you have to make time for yourself,” Fogle said. “Your mental health is so important and if you just sit in the books every single day for a full week, you’re going to go stir crazy. You gotta make time for yourself.”
Using time-management, Fogle decreases her stress while increasing productivity in the gym. This not only helps her feel better about herself, but also helps her feel better prepared for exams.
“I try to study a few days before, so study a little bit each day and then work out every day leading up to it, so I’m not overwhelmed,” Fogle said.
Another UH student, Kameron Wilkerson, a sophomore majoring in marketing, also uses fitness as a way to release stress from exams.
“I used my workout plan, my fitness, as a way to relieve stress from midterms,” Wilkerson said. “Just by each day staying consistent with it, that helps you stay consistent with your studies and the things you’re doing in life.”
Wilkerson found that by implementing fitness into his everyday schedule, he reaps the benefits within his mental health.
“For me, when I get really stressed out, I like to go workout, sometimes even twice a day just to get out all my stress,” Wilkerson said. “Eventually, once I tire myself, I don’t even stress about what I was stressing about anymore.”
Saad Shaikh, a sophomore majoring in Economics, uses fitness and time-management to help his mental health. He takes time to map out his homework and workouts each week.
“Some days, I wake up at 4:30 a.m. to have a 5 a.m. workout, it gives me mental clarity for the rest of my day,” said Shaikh, “Working out this midterm season helped reduce my stress levels significantly.”
Working out during midterm season may be hard, but according to Fogle, finding time and an internal motivator helps.
“Even when everything goes away at the end of the day, you have to have something driving you no matter what,” Fogle said.
