Indiana, often ranked among the least-healthy states when it comes to smoking and obesity, has finally gotten some good news: younger Hoosiers are getting healthier.
According to the 2009 Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, high school students are:
— More active than their counterparts elsewhere in the United States
— Less likely to watch TV more than three hours per day on school days
— Able to brag that their rate of obesity in the state has decreased by more than 7 percent from three years ago.
Some of those in the study's age group will presumably be among the incoming class of freshmen at Ball State University, where health director Dr. Kent Bullis found the results encouraging.
Efforts to get young people to become more active and eat healthier foods appear to be paying off, he said.
"I am certainly pleased to see high school students are improving their physical activity and fitness," he said. "It's something people have been working on for years, and now there is progress made."
The Risk Behavior Survey is a bi-annual report from the state's Department of Health. The agency collects data from high school students across the state and focuses on six categories: weight management and dietary behaviors, physical activity, injury and violence, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use and sexual behavior.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Gregory Larkin said in a statement that he's encouraged by the improvements shown in the report released June 3, however, he added "there are still some very concerning risk behaviors that need to be addressed."
The State Health Department is urging better health education and more physical education programs in high schools, saying that 65 percent of students did not attend physical education classes in an average week.
The study notes the effect of heavy computer use, pointing out that almost a quarter of students spent three or more hours on their computers during an average school day.
At Ball State, Irving Gym is routinely busy in the afternoon and evenings.
Business marketing major Drew Duffin was lifting weights the other night at Irving. Duffin said he has been working out since seventh grade.
"I think staying healthy gives me motive," he said. "I find a necessity of staying In shape."
As a defensive tackle for Ball State's football team, Duffin had to find a way to balance his school work with endless hours of training and working out.
"When I started playing football [at Ball State] it seemed like going from zero to 100," he said. "That was really rough, but over the first semester I got used to the routine."
But staying fit is not easy for everybody. Some students don't start working out until they get to college.
Senior nursing major Irais Ferreira started working out during her freshman year and has continued keeping herself active and watching what she eats. She said part of her motivation was her family's medical history.
"Both my grandparents died because they were not leading healthy lives," she said. "One died of diabetes, and the other one died of a heart attack. I was, like, ‘that's not happening to me.'"
Ferreira said she tries to stay active throughout the week, with at least three workouts.
"Sometimes I go to the gym, and sometimes I run," she said. "I feel bad when I don't exercise."
Bullis said the university provides a variety of services to help students stay active.
Ball State's Recreation Services announced in May that it was keeping workout facilities open an additional three hours based on participation during the first week of the university's first summer session.
"The overall strategy is to allow the departments that run the pool and gymnasium to run activities for students," he said.
The university has all the equipment and activities that a person - even an exercise newby - needs, Ferreira said.
"It's a fresh start to try to set a healthy lifestyle," she said.
Note: To see the full 2009 Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, go to http://www.in.gov/isdh/
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