Many students would agree that online school is one of the worst parts of their day. With the 90-minute long Zoom meetings, the awkward breakout rooms and what appears to be mountains of assignments, online school has proven many mental challenges. But how has the switch to virtual learning impacted students’ physical health

With the shorter days and the longer breaks between classes, students like sophomore Athena Stenza have the chance to get outside and spend some time with nature.

“I have more time,” Stenza said. “I’ve been going out more because I didn’t use to leave the house a lot to go on walks. But I leave almost the same amount as before to go to Dance and do other errands. But I’ve been going out on more walks now ”  

Other students, like sophomore Sabreen Sais, report how staying home has affected their work-out routines.”

“Before corona, I would go [to the gym] for 40 minutes, but now I’ve been [exercising] 60 minutes, three times a week,” Sais said. 

When it comes to sleep, which is an important component of physical health, many students lack the necessary hours they need to stay healthy and awake. 

Sais explains how during quarantine, she picked up the habit of sleeping late at night, and now that school is back, she talks about the hard time she has with sleeping enough and how she’d only get five hours of sleep at times. She continued to say that sometimes, no matter how much she sleeps, she would still feel exhausted throughout the day. 

In a recent article, The Michigan Daily investigates the matter of Zoom Fatigue. According to Priti Shah, professor of Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience and Educational Psychology, online meetings lack the important stimulation and fulfillment derived from in-person interaction.”

As some students return to learn in-person, it will be interesting to contrast the experiences on health.

“My body feels better, but the mental aspect [of school] is worse than before,” Sais said.