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Essi Lumme, OLL, With small steps we can strengthen the exercise culture!
That you start moving around more doesn’t have to mean that you start a new sports hobby, writes Essi Lumme, president of the Finnish Student Sports Federation.
When you get to know others you often talk about your preferences and hobbies. I remember from my own childhood that only sports were seen as hobbies. If you weren’t involved in some kind of instructed sport it was hard to take part in the hobby-conversations. Luckily enough we’ve evolved out of this way of thinking, and nowadays reading, knitting or just walking can be seen as hobbies.
A similar change is happening within exercise. In one’s everyday vocabulary exercise doesn’t mean only sports and training, but also includes everyday exercise, for example moving around in conjunction with your work or your studies.
How can we strengthen this change and get all students to start exercising? Through bringing movement and exercise into the students’ daily lives and informing students about different forms of exercise and possibilities. Here, the school’s culture and localities play a key role.
The school’s spaces create the physical framework for an exercise-driven culture to form. Exercise and movement should be encouraged even outside of the traditional sports centers: in lecture halls and classrooms it should be possible to adjust your posture without bothering anyone. It should be easy to use the stairs. In the hallways activities are needed that quickly increase your movement throughout the day.
When the school’s spaces support students moving around then exercising can increase almost unnoticeably. Everything isn’t dependent upon the physical spaces however, us students are also needed to create an exercise-driven culture.
Would you next week take on the challenge of choosing the stairs instead of the elevator, getting up and standing a few times during a lecture or getting off the bus a stop too early? The next step could be asking a friend to take the stairs with you or suggesting breaks with regular intervals during a lecture.
If you aren’t immediately inspired to move around more, a couple motivations can spur you to take on the challenge. Even a small amount of movement can enhance your ability to study. Through standing up during long lectures your blood starts circulating through the body better and your mind doesn’t wander off as easily. It becomes easier to take care of assignments if you take a little break from your thinking with regular intervals. As a counterweight to all the mental work it’s recommended to move around, since it helps the brain rest. To add in a little walk on your way to school gives the brian a dose of oxygen and gives you an opportunity to forget about studies for a while.
Best case scenario, with the use of these tools exercise will become a part of your everyday activities, and you’re moving around more without needing to start a new sport. I hope you’ve become interested in taking on the challenge of increasing your everyday exercise!
The student alone doesn’t have to create an exercise driven culture, because the student union is simultaneously working with the university to strengthen the structures and culture that supports exercise. In such a culture every movement is important – no matter if it’s happening during a floorball game, on the university stairs or as stretching during lectures.
Picture: OLLs president Essi Lumme challenges us to take small steps to increase everyday exercise.