Director of Wellness Center, Cheryl Block, Discusses the Importance of Physical Activity on College

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Cheryl Block, Director of Aurora University’s Wellness Center as well as nurse at the Wellness Center. Not only is Cheryl Block the Director and a nurse at the Wellness Center but is also one of my internship supervisors who is helping me to promote a new physical activity/health initiative on campus, Exercise is Medicine. I thought this would be a great opportunity to sit down and discuss with her about her background, the importance of physical activity on college campuses, and how college campuses should be promoting physical activity to positively impact their students’ health and academic success.

Cheryl Block attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa where she first began her studies in their physical therapy program. As she gained more experience, she realized that she wanted to do something different. Cheryl transferred to St. Joseph College of Nursing, now named University of St. Francis, where she graduated and began to work in hospital nursing. Through this experience, she found that her true passion was educating the patients and the family members that came into the hospital. With this love for education, she went back to school to receive her Master as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. After completion, she got the job at Aurora University and has been there ever since, 15 years to be exact. Cheryl stated that she has always been fascinated with the body no matter what the subject (yes, even chemistry and microbiology). Not only that, but she was inspired to follow this career path due to her desire to help people through education and care.

Being on a college campus and working with students, Cheryl enjoys her position because she believes working with students in this time of their life is very important. She stated that around the age of a college student is an especially important time to start developing healthy life habits such as having proper nutrition and being physically active since one’s overall health can be very dependent on these habits as they age. Physical activity, in fact, can be seen as a vital sign for health just as blood pressure and heart rate are. But it’s not just physical. Cheryl discussed the association between our physical and mental health. She stated, “The body and the mind are related. You can’t have something going on in the mind and not have it impact the body, and vice versa.” She continued, “Activity is so powerful. Adding more movement, increasing the blood flow to the body, can help things like sleep and depression that people maybe are previously medicated for that may not need to be medicated.” Even a student’s academic success can be positively impacted by physical activity. That in mind, promoting this concept of Exercise is Medicine should be of constant importance.

Cheryl also spoke about the many ways that Aurora University promotes physical activity on campus and the many opportunities that students can take advantage of. Some of these opportunities being the fitness center, weight room, group exercise room, intramurals, and the Wellness Center itself. The Wellness Center in specific has many fun and creative ways to get your daily physical activity in, such as renting a jump snap, the rope less jump rope, taking a group exercise class, or renting a pedometer. Regardless, for those who may not enjoy exercising, it is important to start somewhere. Cheryl stated, “I think for those who don’t like working out it’s to abandon this idea of working out… that it’s a set time and a set place and just start looking for out of the box ways that they can get exercise in.” For example, she mentioned the jump snap, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking around campus, or just starting out by tracking how many steps you get in a day.

Aurora University continues to promote physical activity on campus each year. As a smaller school, promoting physical activity on campus helps to strengthen relationships between students and the community itself. Collecting data through surveys, holding fun and creative events, and getting students, faculty and staff all on the same page is crucially important in the push to promote physical activity and Exercise is Medicine on campus.

As for encouraging students to become physically active, Cheryl noted that as a nurse, it’s important to find a connection and build a relationship with the patient first. Finding a connection allows her to understand what they like, their interests, and educate them in a way that she is best able to help and encourage them. She stated that she often tells people, “You’re the manager of your body. Step back and ask yourself how you’re doing. No one else is going to take better care of you than you.” While a patient’s motivation to be physically active or develop healthy habits needs to come from within the person, she states, “I can only plant seeds.”

Overall, with physical activity, Cheryl finds it important to keep it simple, find balance, do what you’re interested in, and maintain a routine. By doing so, not only will you be able to find something that will you will enjoy but will also benefit your health in many more ways than one.

I am very fortunate to not only work with Cheryl throughout the duration of my internship, but to be able to discuss with her on related topics for Here’s to Health. She is a truly knowledgeable and creative individual who strives to promote healthy lifestyles toward students in a way that is understandable and encouraging day in and day out.