IU studies showcased at health conference

About 50 percent of students in a study conducted at IU have at least two risk factors for heart disease, said researchers who presented their findings during the annual American College of Sports Medicine conference May 28-31 in Indianapolis.\nDepartment of Kinesiology Assistant Professor Jeanne Johnston, who worked on the project, said the group involved students in Briscoe Quad’s Fitness Center. Johnston said although all populations have difficulty with poor health habits that cause heart problems, college students are sometimes an ignored group.\n“It’s important to establish healthy lifestyle behaviors at an early age,” she said.\nDuring the conference, more than 40 faculty members and students from the IU-Bloomington and IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis campuses showcased their research on human health and well-being. Faculty and students from the IU School of Medicine, the Department of Kinesiology and the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation discussed their research on human-health issues, according an IU news release.\nResearch presentations included a study of the connections between cognitive thought and physical balance conducted with the hope of preventing the elderly from experiencing life-threatening falls, according to the release. Other research involved weight management in work environments, connections between weight loss and physician monitoring and connections between mood and physical activity, according to the release.\nHPER school associate professor Bryan McCormick worked with fellow associate professor Georgia Frey on a study about mood and how it links to being physically active. The study found the more active people are, the more likely they are to be in a positive mood – but physical movement measured in the study isn’t directly connected to negative mood, McCormick said. \nThe research presented in the conference is a part of a larger study concerning adults with mental illnesses, such as major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, he said. The goal of the research is to help adults with mental illnesses become more active, thus helping to alleviate the symptoms of their illnesses and promote overall well-being.\n“We’re currently working to turn this into an intervention,” McCormick said. “It’s work we’ve been doing for a few years, so we’re continuing to work with it.”\nAnother study involved weight management in work environments, specifically in office jobs. HPER graduate student Whitney Hornsby helped conduct the study, which found that 80 percent of employees working in office jobs showed signs of obesity.\nHornsby said the goal of the research was to help those employed in office jobs realize their health risks and make more conscientious decisions in their lives. \n“This is a national problem, and you have to think of a way to reach the general population,” she said. “For this population, they are more obese than what’s usually revealed.”\nHornsby also said she and other researchers plan to conduct research with employees with IU’s Residential Programs and Services, which might offer IU some perspective about the health of its employees.\nJohnston’s study of college students’ health reported that 30 percent of students in the study had high levels of cholesterol at the beginning of the study.\nJohnston recorded their progress as the students participated at the Briscoe Fitness Center. The results from the end of the semester are still pending, Johnston said.\nHer goal is to increase awareness of the health risks in college-age students and to encourage utilization of more fitness centers and classes teaching students how to live a healthy life. She said she will continue the study, testing more students in specific areas around campus.\n“We are making people aware that this is a problem,” she said. “We are trying to find the best way to get to the whole student population.”