Ashley Fahey
The Stewart Fitness Center is a popular exercise facility at Elon during the school year, but students need to remember to exercise during summer vacation as well. Photo courtesy of Elon University.
The end of the semester is right around the corner: jobs, internships, summer courses and days of relaxation are taking over students’ brains. But one activity students may be forgetting about is exercise. Between the craziness of juggling commitments and the laziness of the sweltering summer, it is easy to disregard the gym, despite its importance to every individual’s life and health.
One of the most popular excuses for not exercising is the unbearable heat and humidity.
“The heart works two to four times harder to move blood into the vessels, which dilate as the body heats up,” said Janice Zimmerman, professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “Exercising in the heat places extra stress on the heart and this can be especially dangerous for those with cardiac conditions.”
There are several key elements to exercising outdoors during the summer: avoiding outdoor activity between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., avoiding direct sunlight, wearing light-colored clothes, drinking plenty of fluids and slowing exposing the body to heat may help it adjust better to the conditions, according to Zimmerman.
Another fact to keep in mind while exercising outdoors during the summer is how the body reacts to the climate.
“The hotter it is, the harder your body has to work,” said Todd Durkin, owner of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, Calif. “This is where a heart-rate monitor comes in handy. You can make sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard in warm weather conditions, which can up your risk of heat exhaustion or even heatstroke.”
But if the dripping humidity of summer is too unbearable to consider, other alternatives are available. A local gym is always an air-conditioned option in addition to aquatic activities, such as swimming. Ice skating or hockey are extreme ways to beat the summer heat while still being active and fun.
Although it may seem like an odd sport for summer, ice skating is a unique way to exercise and cool off at the same time. Photo courtesy of WikiImages.
If laziness is more of an issue when it comes to staying motivated, then setting aside time just for a gym run is the first step in ensuring that physical fitness occurs, even during the sluggish summer days.
“Look for something that you enjoy,” said Sarah Luihn, a sophomore exercise science major at Appalachian State University. “Don’t try to go to the gym every day because that’s just not realistic. Also, as long as you make plans with friends, you are more likely to keep it up. For the super lazy people, definitely do not try to exercise on your own because it will work for about a day and then the motivation turns into procrastination.”
Psychologically, it can be easy to fall into the mindset that summer break is a vacation from the normal, jam-packed schedules of students during the academic year, which frequently includes hitting the treadmill. It can easily get forgotten or associated as an activity done at school, which is a dangerous trap to fall into, because staying active is important year-round.
A third challenge students may face this summer is balancing commitments, such as a summer job or an internship, with physical activity. While both internships and jobs are time-consuming and require dedication, exercise still needs to be done.
For people who are busy and struggle to make it to the gym, doing several shorter forms of exercise, such as walking the dog, counts as staying active. Image courtesy of Blogspot.
“The best thing to do is to look for something close by,” said Luihn. “You don’t need to factor in three hours a day for exercise if you are busy, so try to do something small or light during the week like taking your dog on a walk or going on a nature trail. Maybe look for pickup sports team through a nearby community center because most of those teams meet for pickup games at night.”
While breaking up exercise into small, 10-minute increments several times throughout a day is not the most effective method, it is better than nothing. On the busier days of summer vacation, it is still manageable to incorporate mild exercise, from stretching to crunches, several times.
No matter what your summer plans may be, whether it is an internship or relaxing on the beach, be sure to factor in gym time several times a week because it is just as important to stay active over summer vacation.
Ashley Fahey's Reporting Blog 