Education
How Your Environment Affects Your Physical and Mental Health: College vs. High School
In this episode, siblings Grant and Haley Timbs explore how the environments of college and high school uniquely impact physical and mental health. They discuss the differences in social pressures, ac...
How Your Environment Affects Your Physical and Mental Health: College vs. High School
Education •
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Interactive Transcript
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Hello, my name is Grant Timbs. I'm a freshman at Texas Tech University and with me today's
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my sister, Haley. Would you please introduce yourself?
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I would love to. Hello, my name is Haley Timbs. I'm a junior in high school. My brother and
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I are complete opposites so this should be interesting. A huge thank you to Corona for
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making me my brother's only option for this podcast.
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Today you have stumbled upon my podcast to addressing the impact your environment has on
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your mental and physical health. Haley and I will be comparing the effects that college life has
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on the help of the students and the effects the high schoolers environment has on the bottom of
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mind. That is why my cordial sister is accompanying me today. She will be adding a diverse perspective
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on the high school environment including diet, social pressures and day-to-day academic requirements.
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And after school activities. Haley, can you elaborate on what kind of classes you're in,
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your extracurriculars and a little about your social structure and diet?
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Sure, I'm an AB student but I mostly get all A's and one B. I'm a student athletic trainer at
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my high school. I take all the core classes as well as health science classes my school offers.
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I'm a member of Skills USA and go to UIL competitions. I do not have the type typical social life
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of today's teenagers. I do not attend parties or have many friends. I mainly hang out with the same
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five people and I do not bake, smoke or drink. I am as people say vanilla and agoritus shoes.
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Socially, I am quite introverted and timid around large groups of people and at large gatherings.
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I however have my complete 180 to my sister. I go to parties and interact with large groups of
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people. I would describe myself as extremely introverted and daring. I do not do as well in school
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as Haley. We dress differently, hang out with very different people and have opposite views on
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basically every topic in the universe. It's kind of comical. Clearly our lifestyles differ
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of the exterior influences and challenges of our social environment also present us with different
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opportunities. For instance, in college, the day-to-day life is very independent. There is no one to
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really tell you know or tell you in general what to do. According to Alicia Krosselbrinkflat and her
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winter 2013 article, a Suffering Generation, six factors contributing to the mental health crisis
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in North American higher education. She talks about the difference in mental health between students
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who eat healthy and remain physically active and those who eat bad and don't meet the proper
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level of exercise needed per week. Students who exercise more often are less likely to suffer from
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depression, anxiety or panic disorders. Students who are diagnosed with depression, anxiety or
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panic disorders are able to reduce their symptoms by increasing their physical activity each week.
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I'm not experienced with the same level of independence. I have parents who depend on for food,
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money and at one point a ride. Most college kids are on a food plan where they can choose what they
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eat from several cafeterias. I, on the other hand, eat with my parents by or I eat what I can go
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on by, which tends to be fast food. Sports are easy for everyone to participate in and we have a
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class for physical education. Going to the gym is something people choose to do with free time,
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but most people in high school see the very little exercise you receive at school as enough.
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On a chart found on hhs.gov over a day in the life of a high school student,
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the average amount of exercise for teenagers ranging from 15 to 19 is 43 minutes a day.
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Funny enough, the average length for a class period at my high school is between 45 to 50 minutes.
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Basically, the studies are showing that kids are mainly relying on the school for their daily exercise,
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which I know varies from school to school. According to Harvard studies, the amount of exercise
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high schoolers should receive on average is an hour a day. So the little amount of activity
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you receive at school is not even meeting the average. Exercise releases endorphins, which according
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to Web-ND, MD is a chemical released by the body that interacts with the receptors in your brain that
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reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body,
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since most high school students do not receive the recommended amount of exercise per day.
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They lack the endorphins that can cause a decline in the mental health of the students.
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In college, we also have a more lenient schedule with classes. There are not as many hours
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in a day dedicated to class. We go to class on average three times a day for an average of an
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hour per class. Sometimes we have a lab which can last up to three hours. Depending on how we
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schedule our classes, we usually have plenty of time between classes for an apps, eating, and finishing
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homework or studying before our next class. These long gaps between classes affect students differently.
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For some, it makes going back to class more challenging, but others enjoy breaking to recharge
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for the next class. Coming from personal experience, I have had plenty of days where I had a 9am class
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and another class told 1pm in the afternoon and I was not motivated to get up and go to class.
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It is rarely easy being independent. You must be the bad guy for yourself and force yourself to
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get out of bed to get to the next class. Giving into the temptation of skipping is so easy. I
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definitely miss having someone to make me go to school. Lucky you, we go for eight hours every day
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in high school. There is no break, no time to nap or recharge. It can be very stressful showing up
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to school with little to no sleep due to participation and an extracurricular activity the night before
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or the hours upon hours of studying and homework given to us on the daily. We are constantly in
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study mode eight hours of the day and when school is out, finding the motivation to do homework is
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very difficult. The never ending academics is not only challenging physically, it also takes a
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toll on your mental health. I seldom get the time to hang out with friends or family and do
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anything for myself. Although having someone to make me go to school is nice given the opportunity
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to choose, I do not know that I would. If I had a college schedule with more leniency and less
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consecutive hours, I think I would thrive. If you miss breakfast in high school depending on
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when you get to school, you either must choose from the not exactly delectable breakfast they serve
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or wait five hours for lunch. This is all assuming you packed lunch or have money in your account,
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which if you do not have money or packed lunch, the amount of food they allow you to eat is enough
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for a small child and nothing more. Not only do they not feed you much at lunch time, most kids
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participate in after school activities and do not get home until 10 pm or later some school nights.
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It makes it so difficult to get your homework done and wake up the next morning and go to school.
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I personally get home super late after school on Thursdays because of football games that I work
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for athletic trainer. When I get home, it is anywhere between 10 and 11 and I still have to eat dinner,
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do the homework for the night and study for the test I have on Fridays and get ready for bed.
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It seems like what we both struggle with different issues. High school lifestyle is very different
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from the college lifestyle. Neither has more or less conflicts than the other. It does seem that
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college students have more trouble getting motivated on their own to do academically beneficial
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things, but find it easier to be more driven to better themselves physically and frankly have more
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time to make those kinds of choices. While different from college, high schoolers have some of
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the same issues with having the motivation to get their schoolwork done after already a full day
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of learning and finding the time to physically enhance themselves not just to change their body,
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but also find happiness and exercising. That is all we have for today. I really wanted to use
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this podcast as a way to inform both high school students and college students that while we
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have all have different issues, we will struggle with mental and physical health and we will all
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need to try and find more time to be physically active.
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And active in our academics. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to my sister and I.
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I hope you either learned something new or were reassured about the information you already
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knew. Once again, thank you so much.