News | College of Public Health

Class teaches skills to fight back against assailants

Sixteen students enrolled in Personal Defense for Women, a two-credit class in the College of Public Health’s Kinesiology Department, form a large circle around instructor Jeff Chapman in a gymnasium at the back of McGonigle Hall. The young women are wearing their regular classroom clothes. Having trained for weeks, they’re ready to fight. “We’re going to do some striking drills, and then I’m gonna use this dummy to attack them,” Chapman says. He points to the dummy, a thick red pad that’s in the shape of a human torso. The women shadow-box moves that they...

Kinesiology

Physical Activity

Classes

Exercise video games may reduce caregivers' stress

Caregivers who need to spend a significant amount of time caring for family members who are elderly, ill or living with disability often neglect their own health. It’s been demonstrated that regular exercise can improve a person’s health and relieve stress, depression and fatigue, but often caregivers don’t feel comfortable leaving homebound loved ones alone so they can hit the gym or the running track. “Caregivers may feel guilty about going out, and that can increase their stress,” says Daniel Rosney, assistant professor of instruction in kinesiology. In earlier res...

Exercise

Caregivers

Kinesiology

AHA-funded study explores how and why exercise leads to positive health outcomes

It’s well known that exercise can improve a person’s health: weight management, mood improvement, and heart disease prevention are common outcomes for regular exercise. But though these effects are documented, scientists don’t exactly know how and why regular exercise can produce these outcomes, especially related to heart disease prevention. In an effort to better understand exercise and heart disease prevention on a molecular level, postdoctoral fellow Junchul Shin is embarking on a research project with two-year, $110,000 funding from the American Heart Association (AH...

Kinesiology

On the News: Making successful New Year's resolutions

The start of a new year can feel like a good opportunity to reset unhealthy behaviors. But while many people will resolve to “exercise more” or “eat healthy” in the new year, evidence suggests that most will have abandoned these resolutions by early February. With the end of January 2019 nearing, we asked faculty members at the College of Public Health to weigh in on popular resolutions. Below, faculty share their insights about where New Year’s resolutions can go awry and why gradual changes are often the most successful. 'Some Physical Activity Is Better Than None'...

Kinesiology

Social and Behavioral Sciences

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