Launching a Wellness Revolution at Spelman College

The idea came to me at a Spelman College basketball game. I was mulling over a problem as I watched our team, the Spelman Jaguars, charge up and down the court. The problem in the winter of 2012 was that our NCAA Division III athletic conference was disintegrating. Our seven-school conference had dwindled to only four, not enough to maintain our conference status. Should we travel further and find another conference to join? Doing so would add expense. I had just learned that there were only 80 students participating in our intercollegiate athletic program, barely enough to cover the seven sports we offered and, to my surprise, the cost of the current program was close to $1 million. I also knew that our wellness program, offering popular activities such as Zumba, aqua aerobics, and yoga, was attracting more than 300 participants each week, yet those offerings were constrained by space availability, often forced to work around the practice schedule of our sports teams. As I watched the game that day, it occurred to me that the players on the court would probably not be playing much basketball after graduation. Certainly, we were not preparing professional athletes. I wondered whether they would even play recreationally beyond college. If not, what would they be doing instead to maintain their physical fitness? Running? Walking? Swimming? Tennis? Golf? Zumba? The idea of shifting our resources to invest in a campus-wide wellness initiative that would benefit all of our students as an alternative to NCAA participation began to take shape. With the endorsement of the Spelman College faculty and the approval of the board of trustees, we decided to withdraw from NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics, effective May 2013, and dramatically expand our campus Wellness Program. We decided to launch a wellness revolution at Spelman College.

The health case was compelling. Spelman College is a historically black college for women, and almost all of our students are African American. Whether it is diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke, black women are more likely to suffer from these ailments and die from them—early. ¹ All are linked to obesity and lack of physical activity. Approximately four of five African American women are overweight or obese, and they are more likely to be physically inactive than their white counterparts, a potentially deadly combination. ² We realized that we could change our students' health trajectory and, through their influence, affect their home communities as well. We could launch a wellness literacy movement by teaching the fundamentals—how to eat better, move more, and sleep well. In particular, we could encourage those fitness activities most likely to be maintained after college, developing habits of the body as well as the mind, habits that will ultimately support a lifetime of healthy living.

“Eat better, move more, sleep well” is the rallying cry of our wellness revolution. We have made changes in our cafeteria—smaller dinner plates, larger salad bar, more flavored waters, fewer soda dispensers, a “Fab 500” line for entrees that are 500 calories or less, and nutritional information clearly posted—to encourage healthy choices and we have had campus presentations on the importance of getting enough sleep. But, our biggest focus has been on “moving more.” Desirable body size is subject to cultural interpretation, and black women do not want European standards of beauty imposed upon them. A program emphasizing weight loss may motivate some, but will discourage others. However, with or without weight loss, moving more can benefit everyone.

Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and researcher John Ratey, MD, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, documents studies that show that 30 minutes of brisk activity a day will not just burn some calories; more importantly, it will reduce stress, anxiety, and can even reduce the symptoms of depression. ³ Cardiovascular exercise (whether it is walking, running, or doing Zumba) will not only improve the condition of the heart and lungs, but it will also turbocharge the brain. Postexercise brain scans have shown that exercise activates critical areas of the brain, improving executive function and cognitive control.^4,5 To quote Dr. Ratey, who recently lectured at Spelman College: “Exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning.” ⁶ In an academic environment, everyone wants more brain power, and focusing on the benefits of physical activity to the brain can help to reduce some of the emotional resistance that comes with focusing on body size.

At Spelman College, we are creating a state-of-the-art health and wellness program that is incorporated into our mandatory physical education curriculum, as well as our cocurricular activities, and we are making an investment in an expanded wellness facility that will also include a demonstration kitchen for cooking lessons and nutrition seminars (construction begins spring 2014). Student participation in wellness programs is growing steadily. We sponsored our first Founders Day 5K in April 2013 and had more than 700 participants walking or running that day. “From the Couch to the 5K” was a peer-led effort to help sedentary students get ready! Now an annual event, we are expecting an even larger turnout in April 2014. During Family Weekend 2014, we will host a wellness revolution town hall meeting for students and their parents to be inspired together.

Is the wellness revolution taking hold at Spelman? Slowly, but surely! As participation increases, I get more e-mails from students who tell me about the changes they are making to improve their own health. A campus committee of faculty and staff are working on systematic methods to track our progress, and we look forward to sharing quantitative results on health impact in future years. I will know we have achieved our goal when I can ask Spelman women, “Have you had your 30 minutes today?” and the overwhelming answer is “Yes!”