Exercising moderation

“It’s a very good stress reliever,” he explained. “When you’re working out, you can let your mind go blank and let it wander to whatever you want to think about, especially if you’re doing something like running or long-distance — something peaceful.”

Students said they often exercise to combat stress related to academics, and athletes use it as a way to enhance performance outside of scheduled practices.

“Like students at other universities, students at Princeton seem to vary in their dedication to physical health and exercise,” John Kolligian, director of UHS, said in an e-mail.

University students exercise at levels similar to those of other college students nationwide, as reported by the National College Health Assessment survey, Kolligian said. UHS does not keep independent statistics about exercise.

Adults under the age of 65 should perform moderate cardio exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week or vigorous cardio exercise 20 minutes a day, three days a week, in addition to eight to 10 strength training exercises twice a week, according to guidelines issued by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association.

While some students “approach exercise with a sense of balance and moderation, other students may not be so conscientious,” Kolligian said. “Or perhaps, as they experience periods of increased stress, students might be prone to struggle with regulating their routines, either exercising to excess or sometimes not at all.”

Though Snook acknowledged that exercising too much can push the body to unhealthy levels, he said there are ways to prevent overexertion.

“As long as you take rest days, and you don’t go 100 miles an hour all week, and [you] stretch properly, you won’t be at any risk,” he said. “It’s easy to get injured, but it’s also easy to do little things that keep you from getting injured.”

Kaitlyn Hay ’10, who estimates that she exercises five to six times a week, said she thought that students at the University exercise a healthy amount.

Exercise, Hay said, is about “a mental change of pace,” adding that she tries to work out often because it refreshes her from academic work.

“You look at the TV — it’s just a break,” she explained. “You lose steam.”

“Princeton kids are pretty well-rounded, in that we do our work and we need to get our blood moving in order to do work,” Hay said.

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Katie Meidell ’12 said she likes to go running after studying for extended periods.

“Usually when you’re studying, you’ve been sitting in a library for a long time,” she explained. “[Running] lets you get outside and clear your mind and just move around a bit.”

“I try to exercise regularly for my health,” she added, “but usually when I go running it’s just because I want to get outside and take a break from studying.”

Snook said he believes exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress.

“Whenever I get stressed out, I go for a long run, and when I get back, I just feel relieved — it’s just a type of release,” he said. “Some people drink, but I think physical fitness is a much better outlet.”

Derek Gergo ’12, a fitness supervisor at Stephens Fitness Center, said in an e-mail there was scientific evidence of exercise’s mental and physical benefits.

“Exercise is probably the best method used by Princeton students to cope with the normal stress of the undergraduate lifestyle not only because it is productive and helps you physically but because there have been proven tests that correlate focus, motivation and energy levels to an active and healthy lifestyle which can only benefit our academic pursuits,” he explained.

While students like Snook often exercise as a way to relieve stress, other students, especially athletes, use exercise as a way to enhance their physical abilities.

Beyond practice

Tyler Nase ’13, a member of the lightweight crew, has practice six times a week but also exercises four to six times a week on his own.

“If you have time to do it, a lot of guys will, because it’s so beneficial to your training,” Nase explained.

As one of Princeton’s roughly 1,000 varsity student athletes, Nase said that he feels most of student athletes he knows at the University exercise at a healthy rate, unlike athletes at other schools who may regulate their weight in ways that jeopardize their health.

“At other schools, you’ll see that guys are really crash-dieting,” Nase explained, referring to the practice of not eating for a period of time so the body loses weight from dehydration.

In lightweight crew, eight rowers in a boat must have a combined average weight of 155 pounds, and no single rower can weigh more than 160 pounds.

Each member of the team visits trainers in Jadwin Gymnasium to learn what his healthy weight should be, Nase explained.

“Most of our athletes are at the right weight for the entire season — we’re true lightweights,” he said, adding that he thinks his teammates regulate their weight by “just eating a little healthier.”

Steven Kim ’12 participates in taekwondo, a sport that also classifies athletes by their weight. Many people lose a few pounds to reach a lower weight class to compete better, Kim said.

“Even if you think you’re going to be fine because it’s your natural weight, you might want to go down because everyone else that’s competing is going down, so you want to compete with people your height and physical build,” he said.

Kim also said he believes this practice has never put any member of the taekwondo team at risk.

“There’s really not that much pressure,” he explained. “If anything, it’s all positive pressure, because in order to cut weight, what I usually do is stop eating junk food, stop drinking too much and try to sleep well. Everything that I do to lose weight is pretty healthy and positive as opposed to simply starvation.”

Observers often overestimate how difficult it is to make weight, leading to excessive concern about the practice, Kim said.

“People have this image that you have to have a restricted diet,” he said. “I guess if you’re at the pinnacle of your sport you may have to do that, but for me it doesn’t require a strict diet, only a healthy diet. It doesn’t require exercise 24/7; it requires a modest amount of exercise over a continuous period of time.”

This is the second in a three-part series on stress in student life.