A student uses the "blender bike" created by MSU Recycling, intended to use human power to create compost, at the 7th annual Exercise is Medicine Homecoming Walk at IM East on Oct. 12, 2022.
Michigan State University hosted its seventh annual Exercise is Medicine On Campus Healthy Homecoming Walk on Wednesday at IM Sports East.
To promote exercise on campus, participants walked quarter-mile laps around the indoor track of IM East fitness center.
“[We aim to] make our campus community embed physical activity into the fabric of MSU,” fitness and wellness coordinator in MSU’s Health Promotion department Kristin Traskie said.
Traskie said the event engaged a new sector of the campus community by getting them in the door of IM East for the first time.
“One of the rec-center staff said, ‘Wow, we had so many people come visit the facility today that had to activate their membership,’" Traskie said. "Meaning, they haven’t been here yet before."
Exercise is Medicine On Campus, or EIM-OC MSU, functions as a registered student organization, or RSO, to promote physical activity as a vital sign. They emphasize the inclusiveness of exercise and choosing the most comfortable form of movement.
“Exercise is Medicine is a very inclusive club,” kinesiology junior and EIM-OC MSU President Kaitlyn Thorn said.
The Campus Healthy Homecoming Walk invited participants to walk, run or roll, emphasizing their belief that movement is for everyone to gain benefit from.
“We’re really trying to target … choosing modality that’s comforting for everyone and providing a space that’s inclusive,” Traskie said.
To engage the MSU community’s awareness of the importance of physical and mental wellness, ACTIVE Spartans, a program that assigns fitness mentors to those in it, makes itself available to students to combine treatment plans for both mental and physical health into one cohesive plan.
“We know that physical activity is one of those things that we can all do in some capacity that is going to give us some type of automatic mood boost, science shows that,” Traskie said.
Kinesiology senior Ella Brodeur, who attended the event, said that getting your steps in early in the day and producing endorphins is better for your mental being later in the day.
“I like to go on walks, I try to go every day,” Brodeur said.
Thorn said that she experiences an improved academic performance when she prioritizes exercise and mental wellness.
“Having that break in the day and getting those endorphins, energy and motivation, ... It just helps me clear my head,” Thorn said.
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