College students are in prime physical condition. Or are they?
The good news is they don’t smoke much. The bad news is…
… that’s about the only good news.
Even the students themselves were shocked by how poor their health was.
Data collected from over 800 undergraduates at the University of New Hampshire revealed that:
- About 33% of the students were obese or overweight…
- 60% of the men had high blood pressure…
- Over 66% of the women weren’t getting enough calcium, iron or folate in their diets…
- 23% of the men and 34% of the women engaged in less than 30 minutes of physical activity each day…
- 66% of the men and 50% of the women had at least one risk factor for metabolic syndrome…
- 8% of the men had metabolic syndrome…
Metabolic syndrome is the presence of 5 risk factors for developing heart disease and diabetes. Those 5 factors are high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL “good” cholesterol, high blood glucose, and excess abdominal fat.
The other surprise is that the University of New Hampshire students may be slightly healthier than the national norm. The national rate of obesity and overweight for college students is almost 40%.
This is one of the few studies to look at the general health of the college-age population in the U.S. The results were unexpected, to say the least.
But one thing is clear: if these students don’t change their unhealthy behaviors soon, they could end up with serious, chronic health problems.
