Health and Human Development

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Every fall in the United States, millions of young people move to college campus, away from home for the first time. During this transition, they typically develop new social networks and routines, learning to live on their own. One of the most important routines that college students can intentionally develop is regular physical activity, according to Melissa Bopp, professor of kinesiology at Penn State.

Most young adults participate in less physical activity than they did as high school students, and that drops even more when the weather turns cold, Bopp said. In recent years, college students in the U.S. have developed historically high rates of multiple health risks, with more than 30% of students — 40% of men and 22% of women — experiencing high blood pressure, and a nearly a third also experiencing depression or anxiety.

Bopp, who has conducted dozens of studies on promoting physical activity and health among college students, said that colleges and universities can play a role in helping students establish physical activity habits that lead to lifelong health. In a recent study, she demonstrated that participating in physical-activity based college courses was associated with lower perceived stress and symptoms of depression among college students.

In this Q&A, Bopp discussed why college is a critical time for participating in physical activity, how colleges can get their students moving and why physical activity courses can help promote student health.

Bopp: Many people think of physical activity in terms of success at sports or as a tool for weight control, but activity has enormous and well-documented social, physical and mental health benefits. Physical activity strengthens the heart and bones, improves mood, enhances mental sharpness, boosts immune system response and energy levels, reduces risk of anxiety and depression and enhances sleep quality.

To be clear, everyone gets those benefits, not just young people, but some of these benefits are particularly important for young adults. Generally speaking, college students have terrible sleep habits, so improving sleep really matters in this population. Also, anyone living in a dorm knows they will encounter every single germ, so the immune boost is also important. Finally, college students — especially in their first year — are experiencing a lot of stress with a new living arrangement and increased academic expectations, so the mental health benefits can be critical to their well-being.

Bopp: Young adults typically experience a lot of transitions as they move back and forth to college or switch households as they establish their working life. When people make these transitions, they become less physically active on average.

In high school, physical education classes and sports practices are built into the daily schedule, but things change after graduation. In college, people have more autonomy, and a very small percentage participate in intercollegiate sports — much lower than the percentage that plays sports in high school. As other young adults enter the workforce, they often lose their connection to physical education and sports.

Young adults may face additional barriers based on their life experiences. Imagine a student from a rural area who has never been inside a commercial gym. When they arrive at college, the gym or other facilities with workout equipment might be intimidating. And some people just don’t know how to get started with an active lifestyle.

When you combine these factors with young adults developing a new social network that is probably not based around physical activity, there are many opportunities to fall off the fitness wagon.

Bopp: My research shows that college students tend to engage primarily in leisure physical activity — activity during one’s free time — and active transportation, like biking or walking. Young adults who are not college students may be less likely to engage in active transportation but more likely to be active at work — especially people in blue collar jobs.

While leisure physical activity and physical activity at work may seem similar, they may have different effects. For example, we know there is a strong relationship between leisure-time physical activity and mental health, but the connection between mental health and physical activity at work is less clear.

When we examine the needs of college students and other young adults, the groups are different enough that it makes sense to think about the physical activity needs of these groups separately.

Colleges have very real opportunities to influence their students’ activity levels. For example, college courses that include physical activity have been shown to promote physical, mental and social health.

Bopp: Once upon a time, virtually every college across the country made people take physical activity courses. These classes are valuable, especially for students who never got a good foundation in lifelong fitness or who maybe didn’t like physical education classes in high school.

Providing the opportunity to take these classes demonstrates that a college or university values exercise and the health benefits that exercise can offer to students. 

Physical activity classes can help people change their behavior. Getting started doing anything is a significant hurdle, and these classes force people to show up and participate. Additionally, a well-designed class will help students learn to set fitness goals and structure an exercise routine. These are not skills that most people leave high school with.

Fitness classes also help people understand that they can successfully participate in physical activity. As you participate in — for example — racket ball or exercise in the weight room, you build your skills and feel more confident. My research shows that this faith in your own ability is one of the most important predictors of who will stay active.

Additionally, my lab has gathered preliminary data showing that students in physical activity classes felt connected to each other through shared experiences and were less lonely, though that study is not published yet.

Perhaps most importantly, we saw better mental health trajectories for students who participated in physical activity classes. We want our students to become more than successful professionals: We want them to be successful as humans, and physical activity is a key component of that.