Babes at Campus Rec

As it turns out, Campus Rec isn’t just for grown-ups. Understanding that PSU students come from a wide variety of age groups and backgrounds, Campus Rec offers fun and healthy activities for entire families, not just individual students. Students with children or other young family members are encouraged to bring their little ones out to Campus Rec’s Winter Youth Swim Lessons and Family Swim sessions.

The swim lessons cover all ages and experience levels, from six-month-old babies up to high-schoolers. The cost is $20 per session, with Campus Rec providing wetsuits and other equipment if and when necessary.

The obvious benefits of spending more time together and building confidence in swimming ability aside, swimming is a fantastic form of exercise. As we’re all too aware, childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years, with nearly 20 percent of children currently considered obese.

While there are numerous factors that contribute to obesity, the direct cause is caloric imbalance—that is, consuming more calories than one expends. The excess calories wind up being stored as body fat. Assuming a child is eating a nutritious diet (which is a big assumption to make, admittedly), the most likely reason for a caloric imbalance is inadequate physical activity. Now, we can blame computers, video games, the disappearance of physical education in many schools and so on, but at the end of the day it is our responsibility as adults to look out for our youth. There are legitimate obstacles standing in the way, but only action is going to make a difference. We need to get our youth active again, in spite of these obstacles.

Getting back to swimming—it’s an excellent form of exercise for children. First off, it’s fun! Kids aren’t like adults. They aren’t particularly keen on hopping on a treadmill; instead, they want to enjoy what they’re doing. (For the record, I can’t blame them. The way most of us adults exercise is a real snore). Since the dawn of time, most children have found swimming to be a blast, especially with other children and fun water toys thrown in the mix.

Secondly, swimming utilizes the large amounts of muscle mass, thereby burning more calories than some other forms of exercise. Of course, intensity is always a factor, but the more muscle mass one has to utilize, the more calories they’ll expend. In layman’s terms, swimming offers a very big bang for the buck.

For more information on the various aquatic programs offered through Campus Rec, visit pdx.edu/recreation/aquatics. ?

The Family Swim sessions are held every weekend. This is a great opportunity to have fun, bond and get some exercise. The sessions are free for Campus Rec members and their youngsters. The current schedule for winter is as follows:

Friday: 5–8 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sunday: Noon–5 p.m.