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Ezequiel A. Gonzalez
ENGW 1302
Professor Bull
21 November 2016
Student Exercise: College is Temporary, Academic Success Isnt
The amount of physical exercise accomplished on a regular basis decreases drastically
once a student transitions from high school into the college setting. With terms, such as the
freshman fifteen, adulting, and statements claiming that high school was their physical
peak, college students often blame their lack of exercise on their physical condition that
typically worsens due to their difficulty with balancing school work and employment with sleep
and exercise. What many do not consider is that the lack of exercise causes many negative
impacts. As referenced by Alexander Slade, a Ph.D. scholar of the University of Illinois,
reducing college students amount of exercise negatively impacts their cognitive abilities as well
as battling depression and anxiety (Slade). However, as Michael T. Maloney, Professor Emeritus
at Clemson University does acknowledge, athletes are actually negatively affected by their
increase in physical activities (Maloney 569). Many try to battle this with stress relieving
activities which often involve inactivity and isolation such as listening to music, watching TV,
playing video games, or sleeping; therefore, many do not end up participating in activities that
could benefit their health. Furthermore, students study fatigue begins to have an exponential
increase as the months go, thus increasing their stress levels. With the increase in exercise,
college students can improve their stress levels significantly, decrease their study fatigue, and
overall, better their academic GPA, thus increasing their chances at academic success.

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As students make the transition from high school to college, many are exposed to
increased levels of stress, which may lead to a decline in physical activities and the use of
recreational facilities and their exercise routine. As scholars Maloney and McCormick discuss,
with the increase of stress level and responsibilities, a college student begins to go through both
physical, emotional, and psychological changes due to the drastic change in the environment that
college brings. With the increase of work and academic demands, students experience weight
gain, a decline in academic GPA, and a decline overall performance (Maloney 569). To tie in
with these points, in the article written by de Vries who is part of the Behavioral Science
Institute, studies show that increasing your physical activity can be connected to an increase in
brain activity that can overall affect your grades, cognitive functioning, and stress-related factors
in a positive way (de Vries). With a slight change of routine, a college student can better their
performance as well as their overall college experience.
In order to be considered a full-time student, a student must be enrolled in at least twelve
college hours. While this might typically be fewer hours compared to previous average high
school hours that they were used to, there is a significant increase in the difficulty and
importance of the classes. For those who have to move into the campus in order to study,
homesickness plays a significant role on stress levels, due to the distance and loss of familiar
emotional support. As well as the upsurge in work, as analyzed by Maloney, athletes who do
decide to continue their athletic career are introduced to drastic changes in practice and
participation hours (Maloney 567). In addition, college students typically feel the need to prove
their newfound independence by making their own schedule and living standard that is
completely different than what they are used to. While exercise is often recommended, too much
can also negatively affect a student, such as a college student-athletes. With their overloaded and

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tight schedules, student grades are can be compromised. Most are already fatigued with studying
and high amounts of stress. The drastic change in lifestyle does not aid in this, and while exercise
is recommended, it can affect students negatively; this negative effect may amplify itself in
students that are simply taking on too much.
As students increase their exercise routines and experience more physical activities, there
is a decrease in their stress levels and an increase in their stress tolerance. Stress levels play a
huge factor in academic successes of a student and can be a major reason why a student may not
function to the best of their abilities. A college students stress levels can inflate due to a variety
of factors such as an increase in workload, lack of social interaction, and poor time management.
In an entirely new environment, students begin to rely on the stress relieving techniques to cope
with the radical changes in their lives. If they arent successful in finding means to deal with the
newfound stress, their health will begin to suffer with, as Gaskins states, debilitating
psychological conditions, such as anxiety and depression, given their heightened experiences of
stress during a time of expected rigorous academic work, (Gaskins 5). Theses consequences can
create a ripple effect which only worsens over time.
A study conducted on twenty college students, ages ranging 18 and older, was performed
in order to see how yoga and aerobic exercises would affect the stress and anxiety levels. The
study shows that college students lower their physical activities drastically once they enter the
college environment, thus increasing their stress levels (Gaskins 1). Throughout the experiment,
the subjects were to undergo yoga sessions of 60 minutes; the results, as shown by the study,
showed significant improvements in mood and anxiety for 18- to 45- year-olds administered 12
weeks of twice-weekly 60-minute (Gaskins 5). The experiment results also expressed that
activities such as yoga, running, biking, in general, aerobic exercises, can improve the mood of

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an individual, as well as reducing their stress levels (Gaskins 6). Aerobic exercises can be much
more beneficial to an individual when it comes to the stress relieving techniques in the long term
when compared to inactive techniques such as playing video games, napping, and listening to
music, all which are only short term fixes. Aerobic exercises not only helping them in the
reduction of stress levels but also improve the physical fitness of an individual. Due to this, a
college student is encouraged to seek exercise routines in order to deal with the rise in stress
levels that typically come with the college environment.
Study fatigue is a side effect of stress among college students, but with a change in their
schedule by increasing exercise, college students can decrease their study fatigue. With the
accumulation of tests, research assignments, final projects and exams, and the heightened
importance of their GPA, along with competition for jobs and internships, college students are
also faced with having to study for a large amount of time. Reading textbooks, staying up late, as
well as preparing for exams and assignments just add on to the ongoing study fatigue. While this
doesnt pertain to all college students, a large majority of them are shown to increase the number
of hours in which they study for a class exponentially compared to that of a regular high school
student. As analyzed in the article done by members of the Behavioral Science Institute, college
students deal with study fatigue due to the augmented stress and study demand, and while this
might seem relatively normal, there is evidence that shows that at this rate, it will only continue
to intensify (de Vries).
A research was done by members of the Behavioral Science Institute on a number of
university students in the form of an experiment to see how exercise primarily affects mood, and
study fatigue levels of an average student over three months. They divided a group of students
into blocks of 20 and had half of them participate in weekly exercise routines while having the

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rest continue with their daily routine (de Vries). At the end of the three months, Participants in
the exercise condition showed a larger decrease in two of the three indicators of study-related
fatigue, as well as an improvement in their sleep schedule (de Vries). This goes to prove how
the outcomes of exercise on the body can cause study fatigue levels to fall which can lead to
better rest, lowering of stress, and an optimization in cognitive functions which are affected
drastically by risings on study fatigue. Students were shown to be able to shift from task to task
much more efficiently, as well as an elevation in motivation and mood (de Vries). With this
evidence, it is shown how a sudden change in the students routine not only improves their
moods leading to a better mental health, but also a positive change in their physiques and surges
in energy which in turn lead to more productivity. Exercise can be used as a resolution to the
drainage of energy a student undergoes with the increase of work and study hours. It can be
concluded that with exercise, study fatigue side effects such as a decrease in sleep efficiency,
mood swings, and lack of motivation and energy, can be benefitted.
The inclusion of exercise in a students routine is linked to an improvement in academic
performance. When put in a new environment, the college students must adapt quickly to their
new environment in order to perform at the level expected of them. Students must come up with
techniques and tricks in order to maintain or maximize their current academic performance. With
the change in difficulty, stress, and study fatigue, their grades are impacted much more heavily.
Students typically sacrifice their well-being in order to meet a certain grade for classes, not
realizing that wellness largely plays a role on how well they can perform in a class. That along
with procrastination, which is normal among college students, can aggravate the amount of stress
a college student is submitted to. Students usually deal with their grades dropping during their
first semester as they grow accustomed to the changes going around them while ignoring and

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sacrificing their personal health needs, sleep, diets, and physical fitness in order to make up for
lost time, replacing their new-found time with studying, homework, and working. This usually
leads to weight gain, depression as pointed out by Slade, and negative changes in their
performance (Slade). With changes in the amount of physical activity undergone in a week or
even a month, a college student can see an exponential increase in their grade point average and
cognitive functioning.
The article Exercise and Academic Performance among Nursing and Kinesiology
Students at US Colleges references an experiment that was performed on 740 students over the
course of the semester, throughout four years. They compared their leisure activities and
recorded their grades at the beginning of the semester and compared them at the end of the
semester. Throughout the semester these students underwent a change in their weekly schedule
and were introduced to an aerobic exercise routine that included jogging, biking, walking, as
well as non-aerobic exercises like weight lifting. The students, who were nursing and kinesiology
students, saw an increase in academic performance thanks to the aerobic exercises unlike
weightlifting exercise, which did not have as much of an effect on them. This goes to show what
type of exercises are preferable when it comes to working improving academic grades as shown
by Bellar when claiming, increased levels of physical activity garnered through team sport or
increased activity outside of the physical education courses was related to academic
performance (Bellar). In relevance to other distractions such as playing video games and social
media, the exercise proved to have the best impact on their grades (Bellar).
In The Relationship Between Academic Performance and Recreation Use among Firstyear Medical Students a trial experiment is done on first-year medical students. Their data was
studied throughout a span of 21 days in which it was recorded how many times they went to the

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recreational facilities in their university, as well as recording their current GPA and exam
performance. Generally, medical students are introduced to a harder, more rigorous schedule, in
which workload and exams are much more important due to their level of advancement. The
medical students were asked to change their schedule in order to be able to attend the
recreational facilities provided by the university. The increase in exam scores was noted for the
students the frequented in attending the recreational facilities in comparison to others. For those
who attended it less, their academic performance either plateaued and didnt change throughout
the course of the experiment, or there was a slight decline in their academic performance (Slade).
It is concluded how exercise impacts academic performance as shown by the study results and
with a statement by Slade saying, individuals who do poorly on examinations, on average, tend
to use CR facilities less, (Slade). To retaliate, both these sources and the experiments performed
on college and medical students display the correlation between physical activity and academic
performance.
Studies show that there is a higher chance athletes won't perform as well in college as in
high school academically (Maloney 569). Typically, the student-athlete does not perform as well
as their non-athletic student peer. With their life revolving around sports, being physically fit and
strong, and focusing on leading a healthier life, student-athletes are prone to be at risk of
performing inadequately in the academic setting, unlike their peers. As observed by Maloney,
athletes are influenced to take easier classes, unlike their regular peers, demonstrating how their
schedules and involvement forces them the facilitate their schedule due to their inability to focus
on academics (Maloney 568). With their athletic achievements being much more important since
it is the main reason they received scholarships, they struggle to balance school and improving
their performance, focusing on being athletes more than being students. Statistics such as, their

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GPA is 2.12 implying 53 graduation rate, shown in Maloneys research are evidence showing
how poorly they are predicted to perform (Maloney 569).
It is shown that their GPA and academic performance is affected by their involvement in
practice and overall, their exercise routines. Thus, it is implied that they dont perform as well as
their peers who are not involved in sports (Maloney 569). Not only are their grades much lower,
but activities such as drinking, and social interaction are remarkably affected (Aries 1). Adding
to that, athletes must travel to and from competitions, which are usually hours away depending
on the sport, in which they do not have time to focus on anything else other than winning their
competition. While many might blame this on their schedules and involvement in the group
physical activities, there are many factors that could also play a role in their difference in grades
from their peers that arent as involved as they are. Many athletes do indeed have lower GPAs on
average (Maloney 569) but there are also various cases in which athletes have high GPAs and
perform better academically showing that their involvement does not necessarily negatively
affect their grades but instead, their schedule and influences do. Much evidence throughout this
work proves the contrary to the belief that exercise negatively affects overall academic
performance. As shown in Gaskins article, aerobic exercises, as well as yoga and physical
activities that stimulate the brain, help in improving brain cognitive functioning, as well as
contributing to the stress tolerance of a student and lowers the study fatigue levels (Gaskins).
While there are some valid arguments that show some of the negative aspects of athletics, there
is plenty more evidence to prove just how beneficial leading an active life can be for a college
student in an academic environment.
The results of these studies acknowledge that exercising while in college has many
benefits. Boosting the bodys physical activities can aid a student, not only physically, but also

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academically. Factors such as stress tolerance, study fatigue, and GPA can be benefitted by
adding some exercise routine and aerobics into the schedule of a college student. Even with the
argument that athletes dont perform as well, college students who undergo this change in their
daily routine, see an increase in their GPA, as well as a decrease in their study fatigue and stress
levels. In conclusion, increasing the exercise routine of a college student can decrease their study
fatigue, and improve their stress tolerance and academic performance.

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Works Cited

Aries, Elizabeth, McCarthy, Daniel, Salovey, Peter, Banaji, Mahzarin R., A Comparison
of Athletes and Non-athletes at Highly Selective Colleges: Academic Performance and
Personal Development. Research in Higher Education, Vol. 45. September 2004, pp. 126.

Bellar, David, Judge, Lawrence W., Petersen, Jeffrey, Bellar, Ann, Bryan, Charity L.
Exercise, and Academic Performance among Nursing and Kinesiology Students at US
Colleges Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 2014 Feb 21.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3977401/

de Vries JD, van Hooff MLM, Geurts, Sabine A. E., Kompier Michiel A. J. Exercise as
an Intervention to Reduce Study-Related Fatigue among University Students: A TwoArm Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Plos One, November 23,
2015.http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.01521377

Gaskins, Ronnesia B., et al. Acute and Cumulative Effects of Vinyasa Yoga on Affect
and Stress among College Students Participating in an Eight-week Yoga Program: A Pilot
Study, International Journal of Yoga Therapy, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 63-70

Maloney, Michael T., McCormick, Robert E., An Examination of the Role that
Intercollegiate Athletic Participation Plays in Academic Achievement: Athletes Feats in

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the Classroom. The Journal of Human Resources, vol. 28., No. 23, 1993, pp. 555-570.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/146160?seq=15#page_scan_tab_contents

Slade, Alexander N., Kies, Susan, M. The Relationship Between Academic Performance
and Recreation Use among First-year Medical Students. Medical Education Online, vol.
20, 2015, pp. 1-9. Web.