Alexander Colle | Sports Editor
Featured image: York has several intramural sports waiting for you to participate in; just get off your bum and join! | Basma Elbahnasawy
From a fitness perspective, the idea of a university education is quite an unhealthy one. The expectation that comes with receiving a degree is that you will attend five different one-to-four-hour classes throughout the week, excluding labs and tutorials. In almost all cases, these classes require you to sit.
Let’s say that the average York student spends 15 hours in class each week, sitting. Now, let’s estimate that they spend around 20 hours a week sitting while researching, reading, studying, and completing assignments for these classes. Let’s also assume that they spend about 15 hours a week sitting while watching Netflix and/or playing video games to get their mind off of the 35 hours of school commitment. In total, these numbers give us 50 hours of sitting in an entire week. That’s more than two full days of sitting per week.
That doesn’t even include the other activities you do while sitting. You’re probably reading this article sitting, right? How about eating your breakfast, lunch, and dinner? For commuters, what about the hours you spend on buses and trains trying to get to and leave York? The point is, a student’s life revolves around the act of sitting. This is a serious problem.
Studies over the past decade have shown that sitting can be far worse for your health than one might think. The American Heart Association has concluded that sitting is tied to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and even cancer. But finding time for a quick workout in between classes would help to cancel out these dangers, right?
Wrong. Those same studies have found that any amount of exercise one does will not reverse the dangers of sitting. “Regardless of how much physical activity one gets, prolonged sedentary time could negatively impact your own health and blood vessels,” said Deborah Rohm Young, chair of a scientific statement published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
Based on this knowledge, the solution cannot be found in exercising more, but rather, in sitting less. Asking students to stand during this time is not feasible (just imagine standing in the middle of a lecture hall for three hours taking notes while everybody looks at you) so one must look outside this allotted time to cut down on sitting hours and turn them into exercise hours. If the majority of leisure hours per week became a physical activity with an equal or greater amount of entertainment, one should, in theory, be less affected by the health risks that come from sitting.
One alternative can be found in intramural sports on York’s campus. They offer a wide variety of sports, ranging from basketball, flag football, and ice hockey to futsal, innertube waterpolo, and broomball.
“Intramurals are important to me, because they allow for me to devote to my love of playing sports,” says third-year law and society student Laura Sannuto. “I find it necessary, as it is a way for me to relieve my stress that comes from both personal and academic frustration.”
While most find an appreciation of an active lifestyle through intramurals, others also tend to find a stronger connection to the York community through the healthy competition it allows.
“Intramurals not only provide a balanced lifestyle and allow you to express your passion for sports,” says fourth-year computational arts student Raymond Wan, “but they also allow you to be a part of an inclusive community and develop both new and old skills for everyday use.”
“Through intramurals I have met so many new people, not only within my own college, but people in other ones as well,” says Sannuto. “In my first year, I primarily hung out with my high school friends. But through [intramurals], all of that changed, and now I find myself stopping to talk or wave to new people on campus.”
Where some students enter the intramural scene right out of the gate in first year, others take their time due to the high stress levels that their first year brings them.
“I didn’t sign up right away because I was in my first year of university, and I was focused on keeping my grades to good standards,” says Sannuto. “I was hesitant to join intramurals because I thought it would get in the way of me doing well in school, and that’s what is most important to me. However, after completing my first year, I knew I could balance my schoolwork on top of playing sports.”
Overall, the personal satisfaction from getting off the couch and creating balanced habits, while also making a stronger connection with the school, is a worthwhile experience that has changed the lives of many students at York.
“[Intramurals] really helped me open myself up to the university experience—being involved with the school and my college,” adds Wan. “It helps create long-lasting connections that will improve both your university career and build your social network.”
So this year, why not stand up and make a difference in your university life? Your chair needs a break from you.
