This study analyzed factors that influence why students attend or not attend fitness and recreation centers provided to them on campus. With the obesity epidemic growing over the past decades, it has consequentially affected a vast majority of the nation, including the college-age population. The use of fitness and recreation centers on college campuses and universities has become a focal point for administrators and recreation center managers. This study utilized an online questionnaire that assessed fitness and recreation center usage within the college population. The survey used assessed factors related to college students' usage or non-usage of campus recreational facilities. It was distributed to a random sample of 1,100 undergraduate students at a university through their student e-mail account. Results from the data collected revealed that users were more likely to be male, Caucasian, non-smokers, and have no health concerns. Factors related to usage of the recreational facilities included maintaining one's current weight as well as weight loss. Factors that influenced occasional non-usage in the user group were lack of time and energy, too much schoolwork, and inadequate facility operational hours. A factor related to nonusage included proximity of the recreational facility in relation to the students' living arrangements.

This study compared physiological responses and cognitive performance during simulated work activities in heat to a thermoneutral condition. First responders perform physically demanding activities in a hot environment which may impose additional burdens on tactical personnel during daily tasks. Ten healthy (8 men and 2 women) participants performed two consecutive simulated work activities with two repetitions of each activity (10 min walking on treadmill and 15 sandbag lifts) under heat and thermoneutral conditions. A Stroop color word test (SCWT) and total mood disturbance (TMD) were obtained at first and second baseline (B1, B2), after a 30-min resting period (B3), and recovery (R1). At the end of the trial, core temperature (Tc), skin temperature (tsk), and mean body temperature (Tb) were higher in the heat condition compared to neutral condition (all p ≤ 0.05), whereas oxygen uptake, heart rate, and mean arterial pressure were not significantly different between conditions. There were no differences in scores of SCWT and TMD between conditions. However, TMD was significantly improved after two successive bouts of exercise compared to B3 (all p ≤ 0.05). This investigation shows that two successive simulated work activities did not induce the detrimental influence on thermoregulatory and cognitive responses. Extended work activities in a hot and humid environment may impose a psychophysiological burden and need to be investigated.

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