Since my freshman year of college, whenever I feel like exercising, I go to Health Beat, a small gym in the Mauka Union. The gym was small and usually not very busy. It was in my dorm, and a short walk from my house. But this year, during my first week of school, I put on my athletic wear, walked to Union to train, and found the esports/gaming area instead. The university has replaced the gymnasium with a games area.

Since then I have been wondering what to do next. I don’t have a car, so if I want to go to the gym, I have to brave the 18-minute, almost mile-long walk. Repeat it and come back after training. Stride length is also consistent across all dorms. According to Google Maps; 17 minutes from Ryder Hall, 12 minutes from Dancer Hall, 19 minutes from Panther Village. This means that if you want to hit the gym, you have to leave at least 36 minutes for the round trip, excluding workouts. This is a big difference from Union which is a 5 minute walk from my house. This distance and my busy schedule make it nearly impossible for a full-time student with a part-time job to exercise on campus.

This change made it even more difficult for students at the University of Northern Iowa to exercise. Especially if, like me, your breaks are very limited, Health Beats is the ultimate miracle. The Colorado Institute of Technology says that working out helps you focus, lift your mood (reduce stress), increase your energy, and improve your memory. All of the benefits may make it a little easier on the difficulty of spending college life alone.

In addition to this, turning a gym into a gaming area creates some interesting ideas. According to Harvard University, “Gaming is also linked to poor sleep, insomnia, circadian rhythm disturbances, depression, aggression and anxiety.” Working out “can improve brain health, help with weight management, reduce the risk of disease, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve the ability to perform daily activities,” according to the report. merit.

I can understand why the change was made. Gyms were likely underutilized to the extent that universities considered them a bang for the buck, and while chairs and tables are much cheaper than training equipment, universities unintentionally let students train. made it much more difficult to exercise on campus.