science
'Soft' aerobics provide safer way to exercise
By MAUREEN SEABERG
Collegian Science Writer
The high number of injuries caused by the
strenous workout of aerobics has left re
searchers calling for a new "softer" tech
nique.
Sharon Warwick, a University aerobics
instructor said soft or low impact aerobics is
gaining increasing popularity among aerobic
enthusiasts as a safer alternative in exercise
to help reduce the risk of injury.
Aerobics is a conditioning plan that was
developed by Dr. Kenneth Cooper for the U.S.
Air Force. It is also known as stamina train
ing, and has been called the most vital form
of adult exercise. Aerobics specifically helps
the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
The exercise must be performed at least
three times a week for 20 minutes each
workout to be effective and produce a train-
Penny Bird (senior•administration of justice) stretches during her soft aerobics class, which focuses on more upper body
movement to decrease stress on the feet, legs and back.
Vitamin
a threat
the liver, muscle and fat tissue can lating in the body tissues, are less
pose the greatest risk because they likely to be toxic.
tend to accumulate in the body, Smith "Vitamins C •and E, water-soluble
One who believes that "if a little bit said. vitamins, are most often taken in
is good, then a lot is better" may be Large doses of the fat-soluble vita- overdose. Fortunately, they are the
following a dangerous misconception min A found in liver, dairy prod- least toxic," he said.
when it comes to vitamins, according ucts, broccoli, spinach and yellow An overdose of vitamin C, often
to a University nutrition professor. ' vegetables can cause overdose taken by people who falsely believe it
John E. Smith said vitamin over- symptoms such as scaly orange skin, can prevent or eliminate the common
de4e, which can cause effects ranging severe migrane headaches, hair loss, cold, can lead to toxicity of iron by
from mild skin irritations to more and calcium loss from the bones. increasing its absorption in some
serious disorders requiring hospitali- "A vitamin A overdose will mobi- people, he said. An overdose of iron
zation, is something many students lize calcium out the bones and cause then can cause liver damage.
are not aware of. Although vitamin hairline fractures in the bone," Smith "There is no evidence that vitamin
overdose is not as common as vita- said, adding that vitamin Ais often C prevents colds," Smith said. "Some
min deficiency, it can cause medical used by dermatologists to treat acne. studies suggest that vitamin C can
problems. when students take an ex- "I know of one woman who killed alleviate symptoms and lessen the
cessive amount of vitamin supple- bone cells and still can't walk." severity of colds, however."
mentary pills, he added. Occasionally, vitamin A overdose Vitamin B-6, another water-soluble
Vitamins containing over 100 per- can cause pressure on the brain that vitamin found in liver, leafy green
cent of the recommeded daily allow- leads to symptoms resembling a vegetables, and cereals, can cause
ances nutrition requirements set brain tumor, Smith said. "There have the loss of sensory-nervous control if
by the Food and Nutrition Board of been instances where people have taken in excessive amounts, he said.
the National Research Council can actually had surgery before physi- "Some women take (vitamin B-6)
also lead to overdose, he said. cians realized (it was a vitamin over- to prevent pre-menstral pain," Smith
"Overdose is very. unlikely when dose)." said. "But they're often given 1,000
you eat standard recommended foods Like vitamin A overdose, an over- times the recommended value .. .
—it is almost impossible to overdose dose of vitamin D another fat-solu- and like most other vitamins, people
by eating a regular diet," he said. ble vitamin can be rare but almost think that if it doesn't work, they
"But we all want capabilities beyond continuous, he said. "An excessive should take double."
what the human body can do. We all arnount of vitamin D can cause calci- The effects of vitamins may often
want to be superman or superwoman urn to be deposited in the kidney. This be pyschological to patients whose
.. . so many of us take vitamin leads to renal trouble and then possi-, physicians have prescribed vitamins,
supplements." ble heart trouble." he said. •
Fat-soluble vitamins those that Water-soluble vitamins, which pass "Much of the general population
are stored in excessive amounts in through the body instead of accumu- will go to a physician and say 'I feel
tired I don't know what's wrong',"
he said. "Many physicians will then
prescribe vitamins knowing it may be
helpful. The use of vitamins in gener
al resembles what physicians used to
do with sugar pills."
"People think if a little bit is good
then a lot more is better," he said. "A
patient can come back to the doctor
saying 'I feel better,' regardless of
the cause. They often say 'I can really
• feel it working' . . . but it shouldn't
work that way."
Smith estimates that about a quar
ter of the student population takes
vitamin supplement pills. ."The bulk
will take a one-a-day multi-vitamin
capsule and a small percentage will
take specific vitamins," he said.
"Students especially look for that'
competitive edge."
"When you're over 65, you usually
need vitamins because your caloric
intake can be cut in half as your body
and muscle mass becomes smaller,"
Smith said. "But for younger people,
I neither encourage or discourage
taking supplements. If they are not
taken in overdose, they may be help
ful."
By CHRISTINE KILGORE
Collegian Science Writer
Too Lithe
vision loss
improper bone
formation
scurvy
weak bones
rickets
failure to
absorb calcium
diarrhea
dermatitis
. muscle
breakdown
reproductive
failure
ing effect, Warwick said, adding that the
heart rates of participants should reach ap
proximately 140 beats per minute for the best
results.
Time magazine reported in June that an
estimated 24 million Americans, 90% of them
women, are dedicated to regular aerobic
workouts in classes. Most expect only posi
tive results. However, traditional high-im
pact aerobics can be dangerous to both
students and instructors. Time reported that
a recent survey of 1200 students showed that
43% had suffered injuries, and that among 58
teachers, a startling 76 percent had been
injured.
Most aerobic injuries are muscle strains
and aches predominantly in the shins and
feet which will heal with rest, but increas
ing numbers of back, shin, knee, calf, foot
and ankle injuries have drawn attention to
safety of studio floors, proper aerobics shoes,
O.D. as great
as deficiency
positions during exercise and competency of
in structors. Even the nature of the exercise
itself is under scrutiny, since an aerobics
exerciser lands with a force equal to three
times her or his weight
Concern about the risk of exercise-related
injuries has caused the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists to call for
less intense workouts. It also issued
guidelines for the average exerciser:
• Heart rate should not exceed 75% of the
recommended maximum.
• Classes should be no more frequent than
every other day.
• The aerobics portion should be limited to
30 minutes.
• No more than four hops should be per
formed in sequence on the same foot.
The new aerobics technique, also called
non-impact, or controlled aerobics, requires
that one foot be kept on the floor at all times,
Mary Adams (junior-nutritional
science) said she took vitamin
supplements until she read about the
dangers of overdose. "I took vitamins
for a long time, partly because my
family always had," she said. "Then
I read articles on megdoses and de
cided not to."
"I just gave a speech for a nutrition
class on vitamin overdose people
were surprised," Adams said.
Student health habits follow
society's general trends
By ALEXANDER SOAST
Collegian Science Writer
Student health habits are reflecting
trends within the rest of society by
paying more attention to diet and
excercise, said the University's assis
tant director of the Office of Health
Promotion and Education.
Keyin Charles said "The aware
ness is _greater (of the) need for
excercise and eating correctly," he
said. "Whether this manifests itself
in better health behavior remains to
be seen."
"(Students) need to get excercise
of an aerobic nature at least three
times a week," he said. Excercises
such as swimming, bicycling, run
ning and even brisk walking are good,
he said, adding that the activity needs
to be steady and last for 20 to 25
minutes to strengthen the cardiovas
cular system.
"People need to eat foods from the
four basic food groups," Charles said.
The four food groups are milk and
dairy products, fruits and vegetables,
meat, and breads and cereals. "The
average college student ( eats) a lot of
fats and fast food," he added.
Robin Bagby, an in-home coordina
tor for the Penn State Nutrition Cen
ter, said,"The hardest thing with
students is dollars so they choose
Staying healthy:
It's more than just
Last year, I met Bob and his roommate Steve while
working out at a Nautilus club. We usually worked out
the same time every day, and over the course of the
year, we got to be pretty good friends.
Bob was the most gorgeous thing I'd ever seen and he
had a great body! Steve, on the other hand, was fairly
good looking but , didn't make your head turn.
After a while, I began to notice little habits of Bob's
that made me wonder. First I noticed that except for
working out at least two hours every day, he was
incredibly lazy. He never got up earlier than 11:45,
which was just in time for him to make it to his 12:05
class.
Sure if he had been up studying till 4 a.m., I could
understand. But no, he had spent the night just hanging
around the apartment watching TV or out at the bars. I
admit, he is a blast to party with, but that made only a
limited impression on me and it soon wore off.
On the contrary, Steve was usually up by 6:30 a.m.,
giving himself enough time to go for a quick jog, take a
shower, make a good breakfast, and get to his 8:00
class. And speaking of breakfast, their eating habits
were as different as night and day.
It would make me queasy to watch Bob in action.
Bob's breakfast/lunch consisted of a Pepsi and some
Tastykakes from the Uni-Mart on the way to, class.
What a way to shock your system first thing in the
"morning."
He justified this by claiming that he needed all the
sugar and caffeine to stay awake in class.
I usually met up with him after that class for lunch,
and while I enjoyed the fresh veggies at the salad bar,
Bob enjoyed the grease in his cheeseburger and french
fries and got even more hyper from the sugar in his
milkshake. I realize that men usually eat more than
women, but this was ridiculous.
Bob rarely cooked anything much for dinner, he was
too lazy. Free delivery is the best thing that ever
happened in his life. If he did happen to be too broke to
order out, he'd sometimes venture so far as to throw
some of those boil bags of turkey or beef in gravy on the
stove, or maybe even open a can of Spaghetti-O's.
Living away from the dorms myself, I understand
the time it takes to cook a decent meal, but I also
realize that it certainly isn't impossible. As long as you
Warwick said, adding that increased upper
body movement, combined with other tech
niques can bring heart rates up to target
rates just as in conventional aerobics.
Instructors are also incorporating other
disciplines such as• yoga, Tai Chi, ballet and
jazz to create routines so safe that they can
even be done barefoot. Other instructors are
softening the strain of aerobic workouts by
exercising in a swimming pool —a method
called "hydroaerobics."
Debbie Southard of State College Nautilus
and Aerobics Plus said her club will be
featuring a low impact class this month. "We
hope that people who work out more than
three to four times a week will be showing up
for the low-impact class," Southard said.
University students have the opportunity to
not only learn both soft and hard aerobics,
but also more about the disciplines of aerobic
exercise in University aerobics courses. The
fast food." She added that students the executive director of the Centre
also often do not have enough time to County Unit of the American Cancer
choose what's right for them. Society. Currently a trend is devel-
In general, 15 percent of the popula- oping away from smoking and toward
tion skips breakfast and eight percent the use of smokeless tobacco, she
skips lunch, said Jane Peacock, a said. However, she added, "College
graduate assistant at the nutrition students in the U.S. are not aware it is
center. the hazard that it is."
The average breakfast skipper is The national average for smokeless
usually 18 to 24 years old, including tobacco use among college students is
college students. "(Students) may be 12 percent, she said, adding that she
inclined to skip breakfast or lunch," found it surprising that 22 percent
and sometimes both, she added. Stu- more than one-fifth —of college
dents often skip breakfast on week- males chew or snuff the tobacco.
days and lunch on weekends, she "Smokeless tobacco is a different
said, adding that the main reasons kind of health hazard all its own," she
students skip meals are a lack of time said. "The oral cancer and other oral
and as a means to control calories. problems (it causes) can be pretty
Elaine Young, a University assis- ' bad."
tant professor of nursing, said al- Along with the use of smokeless
though students may not eat tobacco, the use of alcohol has risen
properly, the number of students who among college students in recent
smoke has decreased. years, Charles said. Alcohol use is
"Student smoking is declining just measured according to the number of
as is adult smoking just not as students using it once a month or
rapidly," she said; adding that even more.
though she did not have statistics on "By far, the drug of choice is alco
the number of college students who hol," he said. "Alcohol is usually not
smoke, "Statisics show that people considered a drug. (People) don't
who aspire to higher education seem think what that means."
to smoke less." Other drug use such as cocaine has
Even the number of high school also been increasing while marijuana
seniors who use cigarettes daily has use is decreasing, he added. A glam
declined from 28.8 percent in 1976 to our is associated with cocaine, espe
-21.2 percent in 1983, said Elaine Jurs, cially in the media, Charles said.
Ilitirc 044-
The Daily Collegian
Thursday, Nov. 6, 1986
courses combine workouts with informative
lectures about safety factors, the anatomy of
the body and how exercise effects one's
physical and mental health.
"The courses are more popular than ever
and more sections are being added every
semester. The response in a university situa
tion is good, especially if the instructor has
made the students aware of all of the aspects
of exercise, including injuries," Warwick
said.
"It is also very important that each class
be comprised of the proper components . . .
the warm-up, the aerobics section, the
stretch, tone and strengthen section, and the
cool-down," she added. •
"Something that gets lost in fitness is that
aerobics is the gateway to fitness for all other
sports. You stretch, strengthen and train with
aerobics,"she said.
a three-hour workout
plan out your grocery shopping a little, you can buy
things that you can prepare relatively fast.
But Bob's bad habits didn't end with his stomach.
Even though he usually slept till lunch, he didn't really
get much sleep, because he usually was up till day
break, and he often pulled all-nighters trying to finish
the papers he had put off or cramming for exams in
classes that he was chapters behind in.
Another thing that really made me worry about
Bob's health was his fanaticism about exercise. He
would seriously spend between two and three hours
every day running and lifting weights, not even giving
himself a single day of rest. At first I actually admired
his devotion'to exercise, but then I realized that it was
out of hand. It's like taking vitamins; too much of a
good thing can be detrimental.
When I asked Steve about Bob's other interests I
found that he had none. He was addicted to exercise. I
guess I assumed that since Steve was so involved in his
academic career and other organizations, that Bob
was too, especially since such activities look good on a
resume. I began to wonder, with his limited interests, if
Bob even had a real personality or was just a bulge of
muscles.
After a while I began to realize that I was not the only
one who was unhappy with Bob: besides his beautiful
physique, Bob was not happy with himself. He would
often go through serious mood swings, but he denied
that anything was wrong. I tried to tell him that being
able to express your feelings freely is sometimes
easier for some than others, but Iknow that it's
definitely not healthy to keep your emotions inside all
the time.
Another one of the peeves I had was with his social
life. Given, Bob did his share of bar-hopping, but he
never strayed from the group of two or three guys that
he partied with. He never really made an effort to
make friends with people in his classes, or anywhere
else for that matter.
Being able to interact well with others in a variety of
situations is an important quality that everyone needs
to thrive in our society. Especially during this stage in
our lives, a certain amount of socializing, "partying,"
or whatever you want to call it, is absolutely imper
ative to your well-being. Once again though, too much
or too little can be detrimental.
As you've probably guessed, shortly thereafter, I
officially told Bob to "take a hike" but what I really
wanted to tell him was that I abhorred his entire being.
I had always hoped that Steve's good habits would rub
off on Bob, but no such luck. As with every
"relationship" that fails, I learned a valuable lesson.
The truly admirable, happy and healthy person has a
good balance on all aspects of health: physical, men
tal, emotional, spiritual, and social.
As for me and Steve, well, he's coming to pick me up
in an hour . . .
Kelly Clark is a
science writer for
junior majoring in biology and a
the Collegian.
Video-testing
•
Taped evidence may help convict drunken drivers
_ -
cut down processing time for the officer on the
street," Williams said.
"It'll also give us the ability to play the tape
back in court and show them the condition we
saw the (defendant) in," Williams added. "A
picture's worth a thousand words."
McMullen said the proposal will be rated by
PennDOT on a variety of factors, including
population, high fatality rates and high DUI
arrest rates.
By JAMES A. STEWART
Collegian Staff Writer
A proposed new video-testing center for people
suspected of driving under the influence will save
Centre County police officers time and provide
video evidence to aid the conviction of drunken
drivers, said State College Police Chief Elwood
G. Williams.
_ .
State College Municipal Council gave Williams
and his staff permission Monday night to pursue
a federal grant covering purchases of video
equipment and operation costs for the first six
months of the proposed program.
If the program goes into effect, State College
Bureau of Police Services will share equipment
with county police departments, Williams said,
adding that police departments in Patton and
Ferguson townships were "supportive of the
concept."
l'' :
i
Sidewalk bicycle riders to face fine
By MIKE LENIO
Collegian Staff Writer
provided that the rider yields the
•
Signs will soon be posted on College right of way to pedestrians, she said.
Avenue and Allen Street warning Council member R. Thomas Berner
bicycle riders to stay off the side- said the amendment was not intended
walks or. face a fine. to change the existing ordinance,
State College Municipal Council on which already forbade bicycle-riding
Monday passed an amendment to an on downtown sidewalks, but to clailfy
existing ordinance which prohibits it. The placing of signs will make the
bikes on downtown sidewalks. The ordinance clearer to riders who may
amendment will allow the borough to not be aware of it, he said. Also, while
install signs between fletzel and Bur• the ordinance has been interpreted in
rowes streets on College Avenue and the . past to include roller skates,
between Foster and College avenues skateboards, and other . vehicles, the
on Allen Street. The amendment also • ban on those vehicles will now be .
bans roller skates and skateboards on more clearly specified, Berner
the downtown sidewalks. added.
Council member Ruth Lavin em- Geoffrey Brugler, chairman of the
phasized that the ordinance will still Downtown Business Association, said
affect only sidewalks in the downtown the DBA wrote a letter of complaint
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Pennsylvania Department of .Transportation
spokeswoman Lisa McMullen said Centre County
became a possible site for a "central processing
center," with videotaping facilities for booking
DUI arrests, after the department was contacted
by Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar
in February.
Though no money was available then, Gricar's
request was reconsidered when funds became
available from the federal government in Sep
tember, McMullen said.
Gricar, who it working with Williams on the
proposal, said all Centre County municipalities
will be encouraged to take advantage of the
service.
After the first six months, a fee, tentatively set
at $lOO, will be charged to each guilty defendant,
Gricar said.
"One of the biggest advantages is that it will
business district. Riding on resi
dential sidewalks will still be allowed,
last month to the council after receiv
ing a number of complaints from
customers, including several who had
been hit by bike-riders on the side
walks. He added that since many
stores downtown open directly onto
the sidewalk, pedestrians emerging
from the stores have no warning if a
vehicle is approaching.
"I have a strong feeling that people
avoided coming downtown for that
reason," Brugler said. The problem
has been ongoing for several ye - ars,
but complaints increased dramati
cally last summer, he said.
He added that bikes being walked
on the sidewalks are not considered a
problem, and that the residential
areas might actually be good places
to ride skateboards. The DBA is
mostly concerned with removing this
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Pennsylvania has 21 DUI taping centers, Mc-
Mullen said.
The equipment and initial operating costs are
estimated at between $lO,OOO and $BO,OOO, Wil
liams said, "depending on how sophisticated we
make it." He added that the equipment has not
yet been chosen.
The request must be presented to PennDOT by
Nov. 15, Williams said.
problem from the downtown area, he
said.
Council President John Dombroski
said the amendment will make it
easier for police to issue citations for
violations of the ordinance. The mini
mum fine for a violation will be $5,
increasing to $lO if the fine is not paid
within 98 hours. He added that meter
enforcement officers will also be able
to write citations under the amend
ment.
Wendy Becker, a borough resident,
questioned whether the ordinance
was necessary: She said it was an
unfair set of rules to impose on chil
dren.
Dombroski answered that he has
had to dodge moving vehicles on the
sidewalks himself.
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