Fast-food Lifestyle Weighing on Campus

Fast food is not only fast, but extremely convenient for college students. The dining commons aren’t open late after a fun full-filled night of partying, so, where to turn? McDonalds! That is usually the answer many students will turn to. Obviously, fast food is not the healthiest food choice, but sometimes displays itself as the only option to quench student’s hunger resulting in college weight issues.

When the movie Super Size Me hit box offices it gave many students a heads up on the caloric number of what they are willingly putting in their bodies. After one month of eating McDonalds (fast food), more and more people became aware of the visual affects fast food has on your body. Although, many overachieving, busy students do not have any other option because they are always on the run.

"I have had a number of students express concern about the lack of availability of healthy snacks and that there seems [to be] too much availability of unhealthy choices," said eating disorder specialist, Valerie Staples.

Unlike the Westfield State College campus, many colleges and universities have fast food chains as there main options for eating, whereas we have Subway which is considered health(ier) on our flex meal plan. 98% of students who live on campus have a flex meal plan, and sometimes all the mouth watering options are too hard to resist.

“Recent statistics show that Subway averaged between 800 and 900 on-campus transactions a day, Burger King, 700 transactions and Sbarrro, roughly 600 transactions. In addition, approximately 50 percent of those stores' revenue comes from flex point usage.”

The worst part is, students are aware of the unhealthy values of these chains, but eat it knowingly. Athletes are more apt to make healthier eating choices, but as for the rest of us, if it is set right in front of us, we’ll eat anything. Therefore, I believe that college campuses should limit their fast food options and replace them with co-ops, whole food stores or something/ANYTHING more nutritional.

(http://media.www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/storage/paper660/news/2004/09/09/News/FastFood.Lifestyle.Weighing.On.Campus-713932-page2.shtml)

Domestic Violence Among High School, College Students is Alarming

(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/377942/domestic_violence_among_high_school.html)

Domestic is prevalent in the college and high school atmosphere, and is an ongoing problem. Teenagers and college student are often unsure of what a healthy relationship with a partner is, rather than what seems to be considered “normal”. Domestic violence consists of sexual abuse, rape, pushing, slapping, punching, stalking, as well as emotional abuse.

Stith, a nationally recognize domestic violence expert says that 30 percent of college students have been in relationships that involve physical aggression, and even more in emotional abuse. One in four high school students claim to be in emotionally abusive relationships. The Alabama Coalition against Domestic Violence (ACADV) says that college and high school counts of domestic violence are equally disturbing. Date rape is 67% of cases involving sexual abuse.

The question remains: why does domestic violence occur most commonly in the teenage and early twenty areas? Well, the triggers at this age are usually caused by the inability to understand how to control ones anger, stress, and are usually found in highly intense relationships. Many people stuck in these ruts with their partners find it very hard to get out of this type of relationship. They feel like they do not deserve anything better, and they feel that this type of behavior is acceptable. For example, when one partner gets absurdly jealous, and acts in rage, the other partner may find this to be an act of love. In some cases, males try to have a macho persona, therefore they want to be in control of the relationship to appear superior to their peers, especially at this age.

“We cannot minimize violence against women. Make violence is more likely to cause serious injury and death,” suggests Stith.

Domestic violence happens to both male and females, the only difference is the physical difference. In most cases, males are more apt to defend themselves, whereas females are not. This may be why women get away with domestic violence versus males.

A healthy relationship means to feel proud of yourself and your partner. If one wants help, there are not too many places to turn. The New York’s office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence is a school where people are supporting/give advice to people who seek help if they are in a violent relationship and do not know where to turn. From what I gather, college and high school relationships are new to teens, and they have not had much experience caring for a significant other. This may lead to confusion on how to handle certain situations.

Dangers of a Sedentary Lifestyle

After reading the article, Dangers of a Sedentary Lifestyle, you will be more aware of why sitting on your butt all day could be a matter of life and death. Everyone loves to sit down and relax and watch television, but your leisure time should be put to better use if you want to be physically fit and healthy. The effects of inactivity can be drastic especially in the close corners of your dorm. When a mini fridge and a television are constantly an arm length away, being lethargic can seem quite appealing.

Many people may be aware that they are not in a physically fit body, which is easy to distinguish, but it is the matter of getting up and taking charge of your health, which many people fail to do so. ‘Around 300,000 deaths occur annually due to inactivity and poor diet habits, and less active adults are more prone to heart disease, chronic ailments, colon cancer, and type two diabetes.’ 300,000 is a large amount of people to die from such a lazy mans disease. The article also states that young adults are more active than older adults, which is definitely reasonable and acceptable: by the age of 75, fifty percent of women take part in no physical activity as well as thirty-three percent of men. African Americans suffer more from inactivity than the average Caucasian. Also, people that are less physically active have a weaker support system from their family and friends. Most affluent people are more active rather than the less affluent people. Around 18 million people have had, or developed, type-two diabetes which is a huge health expense.

I can see how physically inactive people would want to change their lives around, but it really depends on if they are actually willing to change there lifestyle, which could be very difficult. College students tend to be lazy with their days consisting of: class, dining commons, class, nap, class, nap, dining commons. Just be careful, because it could catch up to you faster than you realize! Physical activity whether it be mowing your lawn or running five miles is a key component to a healthy lifestyle.

(http://fitness.suite101.com/article.cfm/deadly_cost_of_physical_inactivity)

Victimization of College Students Up Suicide Risk

Victimization among college campuses always prevails, whether it be hidden or right in front of you. College students are constantly being exploited for several reasons such as race, gender, heritage, religion etc. Being victimized can royally ruin one’s self esteem and feelings of self-worth, which can serve several consequences, as drastic as suicide. One bump in a person’s "wellness wheel" can hurt more than many students may realize.

A study was conducted by Heather Murphy who attends the University of Washington, which showed that being victimized because of sexual orientation is a chief risk factor for suicidal behavior among gay, lesbian and bisexual college students. A group of students that went unrecognized were those who identified themselves to be heterosexual but also admitted to being attracted to the same sex as well as engaged in same-sex behavior. These group of students surveyed were three times as likely as heterosexuals to have made a plan to commit suicide in the past year and six times more likely to have actually attempted suicide in the same period whereas gay, lesbian and bisexuals were only two times as likely as heterosexuals to have attempted suicide in the past year. She had also constructed a survey with 86 questions that were answered by 500 undergraduate UW students. 56 students claimed to have considered suicide in the past twelve months. 12 attempted suicide. This study was provoked by a suicidal youth who asked Murphy if "it got better in college". Afterward, she needed to know the answer.
For further information Murphy recruited 528 participants-404 heterosexuals, 79 same-sex attracted heterosexuals, 38 gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and 7 who said they were not sure of their sexual identity. The students ranged from 17 to 26, and 63 percent were female. The study showed that gay, lesbian and bisexuals and the sam-sex-attracted heterosexuals obviously experienced more verbal and physical victimization than heterosexuals did.

"‘There is a lot of hype that gay kids are more suicidal," she said. "My study shows that this is not so. In my study, being victimized for being gay was the risk factor that increased suicidal- behavior risk.'"

Mainly, heterosexuals that engaged in same-sex behavior were extremely afraid of coming-out and wanted to remain in the main stream of people which caused a lot of tension, confusion, and frustration in their lives which upped their risks of suicide.

Be careful of what you say and do to people. You don't want to be a contributing factor in a person's decision.