Students miles better off with regular exercise

Daily Mile programme begins in its first college to boost fitness nationwide
29th September 2017, 12:00am
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Students miles better off with regular exercise

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/students-miles-better-regular-exercise

Borders College has won plaudits for becoming the first institution in the further education sector to take up the Daily Mile challenge, an initiative that started in schools as a way to make young children more active.

Now the scheme’s founder has challenged more Scottish colleges to get involved in the scheme - which encourages students to run or walk a mile every day - as a way of improving students’ experience in class as well as their physical health.

The idea to bring the Daily Mile into Borders College came from lecturer Sam Anderson. Mr Anderson said: “It only takes 21 days to make a habit - and this daily activity helps to aid concentration.”

He added that he often schedules a walk after a particularly intense class, because it helps to clear the students’ heads.

Three groups of students will now do the Daily Mile as part of their course units: Skills for Independence students, Skills for Learning and Work students and Child, Health and Social Care students.

Students were asked to help to measure and map out potential routes for their daily mile.

The first of them started their daily runs on 5 September, having tested their numeracy skills by measuring how far they would have to run across the grounds of the college to reach their one-mile target. The outdoor route starts and ends at Borders campus reception, with the bad-weather alternative seeing them do seven laps of the ground floor of the campus.

Jayne Gracie, head of the college’s care and access faculty, said while there was currently only a small number of students who had committed to taking part in the Daily Mile, there were hopes it would expands more broadly across the college.

‘Works for anyone’

Daily Mile founder Elaine Wyllie - who thought of the idea while headteacher of St Ninian’s Primary School in Stirling - said news of the first FE college to take on the scheme was “wonderful”.

“It is really easy for slightly older young people to not pay attention to their health - if they are not into sport especially,” she said. “There are social benefits, too, because college is a time for change. You are meeting new people and you might be away from home.”

While the scheme had started in schools, she said this should not deter colleges and that it “works for anyone”.

“We have to have a change of mindset and put health much further up the agenda,” said Ms Wyllie. “OK, there might be some local difficulties, but the advantages of doing it are so huge that we have to sort these things out.”

Logistical problems caused by campuses that are not near a park, track or other suitable space, as well as complicated college timetables, could affect the way the mile could be run in a college setting.

“It is about thinking creatively,” said Ms Wyllie. “It could be done before you go to college or on the way - it could be done at lunchtime. Ideally, you would run it, but you could even walk through it, lesson to lesson.”

Her hope is that, eventually, many of the college students will already have encountered the Daily Mile at school, and therefore be used to fitting it into their day.

“The St Ninian’s children have been running for five years. They are going to want to keep running,” she said. She hoped college staff would also take up the challenge, including management, as “leadership is so important”.

The move by Borders College comes weeks after the Scottish government wrote to all education institutions, from early years’ institutions to colleges and universities, in a bid to establish Scotland as the first official “Daily Mile nation”.

Last month, chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood said: “We know that physical activity is so important for children’s development. Active children are healthy, happy, ready to learn and they sleep better.”

Public health and sport minister Aileen Campbell was delighted that Borders College had become the first Scottish FE institution to introduce the scheme.

“Physical exercise has been shown to improve both physical and mental health, reduce stress, improve concentration and sleep,” she said. “Walking is a simple way for students to experience these benefits - and it is easy to fit around their studies.”

@JBelgutay

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