Group Exercise
It can be intimidating to begin exercising, especially when you feel like you do not know what you are doing. The lack of knowledge only pushes us away from starting. However, with group exercise, you can learn and participate with like-minded people to improve your health.
- Along with improving our physical health and body, it can also help in reducing anxiety. For college students, group fitness classes might be something worth looking into at your local university.
- In this study, the group exercise program was available to all students, for 40$ per semester with various classes such as yoga, cycling, boxing, etc. per week. The research has shown that for people who participate in group exercise/fitness classes, their anxiety “was significantly related to lower anxiety scores when controlling for individual-level and network-level factors"(2).
- The sense of belonging from being in a positive environment, such as working together and the exercise itself contributes to lower levels of anxiety.
- Group fitness classes are easier to access for college students, so universities must implement them for the well-being of their students.
Wanna go solo?
Another way to do some group fitness without actually meeting people is through mobile apps. Most people have their phones on them nowadays, and it is very easy to connect digital watches to their phones via Bluetooth. You can keep track of your heart rate, steps, and much more.
The data gathered from your watch or phone can be sent to these apps to keep track of them and shared with other people. You can see what statistic you are part of. For example, in Breslin’s article, an app called DailyMile was one of the many apps they did research on. DailyMile was used to “interact with other members, participate in challenges and forums, view shared exercise routes and enter local fitness events” (1), compiling everyone together with challenges and interacting with the local community.
It is a virtual way of interacting with others through fitness, which can motivate individuals to exercise, thus lower their anxiety. Some people might not be comfortable exercising with others face-to-face, so exercise apps like these present an alternative that could be helpful. While numbers can be stressful to look at, especially when you feel like you are not doing enough, any exercise is better than no exercise.
