College is a unique time for students to explore countless academic areas in order to find their niche and passion. From art to science to business and everything in between. However, for students who already may be hyper focused on nutrition and exercise, they may gravitate towards majoring in an area that revolves around this very thing. On the other hand, students who are continually submerged into this area of study may become more inclined to obsess about things of this nature.

During my first year of college because of my personal experiences of suffering from an eating disorder, I noticed myself doing that very thing. When I shared this information with my treatment team it brought up concerns about my health and well-being even though I was in recovery. I assured my treatment team that I wanted to study the field of Exercise Science because I wanted to learn how to best promote and support healthy lifestyles and overall wellbeing.

As a precaution my treatment team and I decided it would be best to share my health history with one of the department’s faculty members in case of needing to have any accommodations.

By doing this, I learned that awareness, degree of knowledge and attitudes toward body image, eating and exercise practices is not only important to be aware of but should be a necessary component within the fields of sports science and health education.

This is because most of us have a narrow view of what “healthy” is that may be based on but is not limited to a person’s physical appearance, athletic ability, or whether or not they’re suffering from a certain disease or condition.

I remember within the first few months of being on my campus, I overheard many students talking about weight, food, and diets in extremely unhealthy and body shaming ways.

However, I am fortunate enough to attend a college where our sports science and health education department faculty members take the time to discuss with our students what it actually means to be healthy.

This got me to realize how college campuses can provide many channels for health education, prevention, and intervention.

Healthy involves a mix of physical, mental, and social components that makes you who you are and not other’s opinions or an internet article. This means that I can be obsessive about food, count calories, and manipulate my experience with it or enjoy a trip with my friends to Outside Scoop for ice cream because it is spur of the moment, homemade and delicious.

I can engage in physical activity with tension and force or engage in it with ease, to the best of my ability, and to feel more grounded with the world. I can focus on a number on the scale and the size of a piece of clothing or wear what fits my mood and reflects my personality.

By being aware of and understanding fully of what it means to be healthy, when I enter the “real” world of sports science and health education I can take what I have done in applying it to my life and do so with my future clients in the way they think, feel, and act. I will know who I am dealing with, what are their goals, why those goals are important to them, what they enjoy, and what they do not enjoy.

I feel confident knowing that not only myself but my fellow students know and will take the lessons we have learned about what it means to be healthy and apply it within our own lives and even when we enter our careers in medicine, health, sport management, teaching PE and/or strength and conditioning, cardiac rehab, health coaching and more.