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Home > Featured Stories > Outside the Classroom > March 2008 > Let's Get MovingLet's Get Moving
We're targeting a population that has never been targeted to think of themselves as unhealthy.
Stephanie Sobol, chair of the HealthySTATE Task Force
The steps can add up quickly for students walking across NC State's campus.
By Dave Pond, Web Communication
As students returned to classes on Monday, March 10, HealthySTATE volunteers were gearing up for the semester's stretch run as they continue to help NC State students adopt and maintain healthier lifestyles through increased physical activity and healthy eating.
Over the last several months, the all-volunteer group gave out more than 3,000 pedometers to NC State students and invited them to watch their blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) - an assessment of body weight relative to height - shrink as they walked to classes, meals and other activities on campus.
"Previously, we had spent a lot of time showing students how to eat healthy on campus, but we also wanted to focus on physical activity," said Stephanie Sobol, chair of the HealthySTATE Task Force and the associate director of health promotion at NC State. "So, we launched a 10,000-steps-a-day campaign called 'Move More,' which equals about five miles a day."
At first glance, five miles may seem like a million, but to their surprise, many students have found that the steps add up quickly as they go from class to class before returning home again.
"Through the use of a pedometer, students may find that they're already at 10,000 steps per day," said Sobol, who encourages all pedometer users to register and log their daily steps online with HealthySTATE. "Research shows that people using pedometers who log daily steps and have a goal to attain are more successful - those people will walk an average of a mile to a mile-and-a-half more than those who aren't logging their steps."
As students continue to log their activities into the system, they'll also update their weight once a month as they walk away the pounds - data which HealthySTATE team members hopes will show a correlation between the increase in steps and each student's declining BMI.
Approximately 200 students have already registered for the program, making them available for prizes such as massages, fitness equipment and personal training sessions. In addition, a "prize patrol" clad in bright orange vests will be out and about on campus all semester, looking to reward pedometer-clipped walkers with healthy food certificates, t-shirts and iPod armbands from Nike.
"It's been a lot of fun," Sobol said. "People will see us and come running up to show us the pedometer clipped on their hip.
"You have to have the pedometer on to get a reward," she said. "We want students to get to the point where they don't even have to think about wearing it - it just becomes part of their daily routine."
Across the country, pedometer studies have been done in mass on virtually every age group - except for college students. During the 2005-06 academic year, more than 25% of NC State freshmen class members studied showed a significant increase in BMI.
"We're targeting a population that has never been targeted to think of themselves as unhealthy," Sobol said. "It's not that all college students are unhealthy, but for many of them, they are doing things now that will affect their long-term health."
HealthySTATE has steered the majority of its efforts toward freshmen, hoping to help students correct any dietary or lifestyle issues before they begin to affect their long-term health and academic standing. However, an active lifestyle can pay huge dividends for all students, faculty and staff, regardless of their station in life.
"The research shows that students who are eating well and moving around more perform better academically because they are able to concentrate and focus," Sobol said. "They are sick and stressed less often because their immune system is boosted, which results in less time out of class."
In combination with the pedometer program, HealthySTATE has also taken significant steps to better the "grab-and-go" dining mentality that most incoming students possess. A number of "Wolf Approved" snacks can be found in vending machines across campus, and the label has also been given to healthier food choices in NC State dining halls and c-stores.
"Although their schedule is filled with coursework and other activities at NC State, a lot of the students whom we talk to had a more active lifestyle before they came to college," Sobol said. "Weight gain comes because they are eating like they did in high school - even though they have reduced their amount of activity - and they are unaware of how to make healthier food choices.
"For example, if you drink two 12-ounce sodas per day and gave up just one of them while maintaining your same level of activity, you'd lose 13 pounds this year alone."
HealthySTATE also operates free "Know Your Numbers" booths around campus - the next one is scheduled from 4-6 p.m. on March 19 at Talley Student Center - to measure NC State students' blood pressure, waist circumference, BMI and non-fasting blood glucose in hopes of catching or preventing a wide number of long-term health issues.
"We've really seen the increasing size - meaning girth - of our student body," Sobol said. "We've seen a number of students with high blood pressure at the booths, as well as students who are borderline diabetic, overweight or obese.
"It really gives us an opportunity to make referrals to the appropriate campus resources to hopefully get them thinking about their health."
Healthy eating, in combination with an active lifestyle, will help the Wolfpack student body stay healthy and lean for years to come.
"Many students just don't understand that if they could find 30 minutes a day to be active that they could gain more time during the rest of the day," Sobol said. "They wouldn't need a mid-morning or afternoon nap to function, and they would sleep more soundly at night. So, you try to instill that in them.
"Some of these changes can be big ones, but there are many resources available to help students here at NC State," Sobol said. "We're more than happy to help them on their way to a more active lifestyle."
