Mahasin Nasir

English 1102: Section 328

Prof. Weaver

April 18, 2023

 

How Does Exercise Affect the Mental Health of Law Students?

Introduction

            Law students face numerous challenges in their academic and personal lives. The rigors of law school can be overwhelming, and many students struggle to manage the stress and demands of their coursework. To add to this academic stress, law students, and students in general, often face personal challenges with health, relationships, and finances. With all of these demands piling on at once, it can be hard for these law students to take time for themselves to focus on their mental health. By not taking that time, it results in mental problems like anxiety, depression, and academic burnout. Physical exercise is one way that law students can improve their mental health. Exercise had been shown to have a variety of positive effects in other ways besides the physical. This research project will explore how much college law students take on daily, and how exercise can positively affect their daily lives.

 

Research

 

Firstly, exercise is known to be a stress reliever. When exercising, you release natural chemicals that help exert your mood. According to Healthline, “The repetitive motions involved in exercise promote a focus on your body, rather than your mind” (Healthline 1). A lot of times, college students have many tasks and responsibilities they are thinking about at once. Exercise would help them release these natural chemicals for a sense of optimism and positivity to combat with overwhelming tasks and responsibilities. This would benefit law students in a way that they could cope with the demands of college more effectively. Cognitive ability is important for students to have when practicing law. It would be hard for them to think critically and analyze complex issues with a significant level of stress on their shoulders. Exercise can improve these cognitive functions by increasing blood flow to the brain and improving neural connectivity. Not only this, but it can enhance memory and concentration, skills highly needed when studying law.

 

            Mental health is often overlooked in an educational setting. Students don’t realize how much they are drained and how to take time for themselves to re-energize. Specifically, law students have a lot on their shoulders and are some of the most stressed college students. To support this, Natalie Skead and Shane Rogers did a study, “Do law students stand apart from other university students in their quest for mental health,” on the psychological distress of law and psychology students. In their research, it showed “law students reported higher mean anxiety…also depression” when using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (Results, 3.1). For students, there are many factors that lead to mental instability. Skead and Rogers did “A comparative study on the impact of exercise on the physical and mental health of law and psychology students,” and identified that for these law students, “the adversarial nature of the discipline, the traditionally Socratic nature of law teaching, and the often highly competitive and largely unsupportive culture of law school” are many factors that lead law students to have psychological distress (Introduction).

 

            With mental health being overlooked, and leading factors causing these mental struggles, some law students have yet to exercise to promote their psychological well-being. Solomonko Andriy’s study on the “Attitude of law college students towards physical and cultural sports” examined how important physical exercise is to law students. 64.8% of future lawyers believed that physical education and sports are not beneficial to their work. 76.5% of these students believed that competitions and fun games would help them improve the training of future lawyers (Attitude of law college students, 786). From this research, it is shown that law students believe that practicing something competitively will help them be more successful than exercising. Because of the competitive culture law school instills in these students, they don’t see the value of other things that aren’t competitive that might help them even more.

 

            Although competition is what the law culture is, it is not the healthiest way for them to practice. Isolated workouts are more effective when it comes to lessening stress, and anxiety, and promoting mental health. Group sports enhance the competitive mindset that these law students have already adopted. These exercises that cause people to over-exert their bodies are not in any way beneficial. These acts can lead to “mood swings, symptoms similar to depression, eating disorders, and poor body image” (Analysis and Countermeasures, 23). There are no winners and losers in exercise, in contrast to competitive sports. Singular exercise allows these students to go at their own pace without the judgment of competitors. By increasing self-esteem, confidence, body image, and accomplishment, law students can approach their studies with greater focus and determination.

             

Conclusion:

            Mental health is a large problem that is not always addressed in society. People have a lot of over-bearing responsibilities and college law students are right in the middle of them. The important takeaway is finding something to promote your mental health. As it shows, exercise is a great way to do so. Not only does it promote physical health, but it is a stress reliever, strengthens the thought process, and helps build a self-loving image.

 

 Although it may seem like physical exercise doesn’t need to be a priority for these law students, it should. Marco Sarkovich, a law student himself, vouches for how routine exercise can benefit the mental and physical aspects of law students’ daily lives. He acknowledges how hard it may be to incorporate it with all of the responsibilities law students may take on. He goes on to say “start early… Simply jogging or walking will stimulate blood flow, increasing the flow of oxygen and nutrients to your body, providing an energy boost to start your day”( Sarkovich 1). By starting early, you have already created that foundation to build from to keep momentum. Sarkovich also includes some tips like, “skip the elevator and take the stairs; workout while watching tv” (Sarkovich 1). Combing. Things law students do on a daily with exercise give them a novice start to bettering their physical and mental health.

 

Something that law colleges can do to promote this is acknowledge the load of task law students take on during a day-to-day basis. Professors piling work and not being aware that these students are not machines will not help the mental well-being and future goals of these students. Offering different levels of fitness sessions could be a step forward in progressing the mental health and functions of law students.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited: 

Natalie K. Skead, Shane L. Rogers. “Running to well-being: A comparative study on the impact of exercise on the physical and mental health of law and psychology students.” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, Volume 49, Part A,2016, Pages 66-74. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252716301212

Natalie K. Skead, Shane L. Rogers. “Do law students stand apart from other university students in their quest for mental health: A comparative study on wellbeing and associated behaviors in law and psychology students.” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry,

Volumes 42–43. 2015, Pages 81-90. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160252715001211

Madell, Robin. “Exercise as Stress Relief.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 27 Mar. 2020, https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/exercise-stress-relief#How-Does-Exercise-Help-With-Stress?