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Even since my freshman year of college, when I wanted to work out, I went to a small gym in the Walker Union Health Beat. The gym was small, not very busy, and a short walk from my dorm, and then my house. But, this year, the first week of school, I went to the Union to do my workout in my athletic clothes and found an esports/gaming area there. My jaw dropped. The university replaced the gym with a playground.
Since then, I’ve struggled with what to do next.I don’t have a car, which means if I want to go to the gym, I have to brave the eighteen-minute, mile-long walk to get there. Then repeat after my workout to regain it. The length of the walk is consistent between all dorms; According to google maps; It is seventeen minutes from Rider Hall, twelve minutes from Dance Hall and nineteen minutes from Panther Village. If I want to go to the gym, I have to leave at least thirty-six minutes to walk, not including my workout. This is a distinct difference from the five minute walk from my house to Union. This distance, and my busy schedule, make it impossible for a full-time student with a part-time job to work on campus.
This change made it even more difficult for students at the University of Northern Iowa to work out, especially if they were like me and had very limited breaks, which quickly put an end to the latest miracle at Health Beat. Plus, working out has some serious benefits; Colorado Technical University states that exercise can improve concentration, mood (lower stress), increase energy, and improve memory. All the perks make living college life on your own a little easier.
Along with this, turning the gym into a play area leads to some interesting ideas. Although I could argue that play can be popular at university and is probably a better use of space, play has far less positive benefits than the gym. Like Harvard University; “Gaming is associated with insomnia, insomnia, circulatory disorders, depression, aggression and anxiety.” On the other hand, according to the CDC, exercise can “improve brain health, help control weight, reduce the risk of disease, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve the ability to perform daily activities,” and that’s not the only benefit.
I understand why the change happened, the gym probably wasn’t used enough for the university to call it worth the cost, and chairs and tables are much cheaper than exercise equipment, but the university inadvertently made it more difficult for students. Working on campus.
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