A study recently published online by the Journal of Adolescent Health concludes that female (but not male!) students in dorms with dining halls gained significantly more weight than those who were forced to go out to eat.  The lead author, Kandice Kapinos (University of Michigan), took advantage of the practice of colleges to randomly assign dorm rooms.  Specifically, she and her study team examined the weight gain of 388 freshmen at Marquette University.  (See a few more details in this press release.).However, they relied on self-reporting rather than direct observation and measurement, which creates some doubt about the validity of their conclusions.  After all, people have been known to fudge about their weight. 😉

Nevertheless, based on observation of three daughters and two sons who went off to college, I believe that Kapinos et al are really on to something.  This was sealed in my mind from the observation of my youngest girl, who soon will start her third year in a biochemistry program.  She said it really is very simple – the female students hang around the dorm dining hall for social reasons, during which times they naturally munch on stuff and pack on the pounds.  I think for the good of their students it would be wise of schools not to put cafeterias in the dorms.

“I think perhaps that women are a little more socially oriented at college, and one social thing they engage in might be, ‘Let’s go get a snack,’ Men may not tend to do that as much.”

— Wayne Westcott, Senior Fitness Executive for the YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts

By the way, putting on weight after going away to college — the proverbial “freshman 15” – is bound to happen, I think; and for both men and women.  I gained 15 pounds after moving into a dorm at Michigan State University.  It had a dining hall in the building.  However, I’ll bet I’d have added weight just the same even if the meals were served elsewhere on campus.

Mark (in blue) blocked by slow-paced tourists

I added another 10 miles to my Minnesota State Park trail tally this weekend, leaving me only a few more treks short of the century mark and another patch from the Hiking Club. 

My idea of a good walk is moving at the briskest pace possible that can be sustained indefinitely.  That really gets my blood pumping and thus it is most invigorating.  Besides, then I get to more places faster.  The tricky part is getting around those who prefer a more leisurely stroll, such as the tourists who impeded my “push hike” to the Mendenhall Glacier outside Juneau, Alaska last year.

Some people I know have questioned my lust for long striding, but a recent report by gerontologists provides support for fast walking – it adds as many as 15 years to one’s life.  Specifically, a 74-year old who walks at a gait of 1.4 meters per second (3.1 miles per hour) is more than twice as likely to be alive in 10 years than those oldsters who dawdle at 0.4 m/s (0.9 mph).  Now that’s a stat for getting to where you’re going “pdq” (pretty darn quick).*

“Walk steadily and with a purpose. The wandering man knows of certain ancients, far gone in years, who have staved off infirmities and dissolution by earnest walking, hale fellows close upon eighty and ninety, but brisk as boys.”

–   Charles Dickens

*Disclaimer: A more logical conclusion is that anyone who can walk this fast at age 74 must be very healthy – possibly just by luck and good genes.  Thus, high gait speed is correlated with long life, not the cause of it.