Editor’s note: Members of the Northampton Youth Commission are writing a periodic column from the teenage perspective in the age of coronavirus.
As summer nears, people begin to warily venture outside, but not without fear of the coronavirus, the impact of which has been felt by all, regardless of age. It’s an understatement to say that we teenagers, who are in the midst of establishing our own identities and relationships outside the home, are facing unique challenges today.
Twenty-five percent of respondents to a Northampton Youth Commission survey about the teenage experience during the pandemic indicated that they were unable to go outside due to their family’s social distancing restrictions.
Some of these students are athletes who have lost the support of their teams and familiar practice schedules. Many others are teenagers who are missing the freedom of being outside among friends. Whether it’s a run, walk, or hike, any form of outdoor exercise can help relieve the increasing tensions posed by COVID-19 and its restrictions.
The link between time outdoors and mental health has long been established, but we must now weigh the health benefits of outdoor exercise against the risk of virus transmission, and find safe solutions.
After the cancellation of school and sports teams, many students were shocked. Some team captains campaigned to continue the informal practices that they had been conducting before the season started. However, as the national situation worsened, even the most committed student-athletes recognized that canceling all sports and teams was inevitable.
One of the most difficult losses was the cancellation of tournaments, meets and championships that motivate student-athletes to strive for their best performance. For example, Northampton Crew co-captain and junior Ella Lepine said that the cancellation of her team’s meets drastically undercut students’ motivation to train individually. Many crew members could not train adequately since they lacked the necessary equipment at home.
Moreover, these cancellations can actually harm some students’ future athletic plans. For some sports, those events are qualifiers that provide students valuable opportunities to receive collegiate recognition.
A normal day for high schoolers contains its own dose of stress and anxiety. Now, our days include a steady bombardment of troubling news, the constant presence of family members, and the disappearance of freedoms we once relished. Moreover, a primary stress reliever — exercise and activity with friends and teammates — is gone.
One surveyed student described how sports provided a welcome release of energy built up throughout the school day, and now their stress is showing through anxiety and other unhealthy ways.
Stress levels for everyone are rising as a result of COVID-19, and all of us, perhaps especially young people and students, need outdoor exercise now more than ever. In addition to being an anxiety reliever, students are missing a whole spring season of daily exercise. Some might continue training, but due to lack of motivation, others won’t be able to or won’t want to.
For an average teenager like me, organized sports push me to exercise, proving more successful than my parents’ daily prompts. Those of us who did not participate in organized sports but still enjoyed heading to the gym after school with friends have also lost their source of exercise. Now, with very limited opportunities to exercise with friends, it is harder for us to continue to maintain our physical — and mental — health.
We can never make up for a full season of missed sports and exercise. While we aren’t able to train every day with supportive teammates and friends, we cannot let the pandemic hinder our ability to stay healthy.
Fortunately, there are many ways to maintain physical and mental health, while staying safely away from the virus. While it may be harder now to go for a walk or run outside, it is not impossible. Wear a mask and stay over six feet apart from others. If this seems unsafe, try an exercise or weight routine video. Seek out much-needed motivation from a YouTube instructor. If your chosen sport requires equipment you don’t have, try to cross-train. Improve the same muscles and movements in a different way. Download an exercise tracking app.
Be creative in finding ways to stay focused and motivated during this time of uncertainty. Stay in touch with friends and teammates through online calls and video chats — to check in, improve morale, or give home workout tips. Formulate a workout schedule with a friend and follow it over FaceTime.
Our lives are not normal anymore. But we can retain some normality by continuing to be active, and to work toward the goals we have previously set. Now more than ever, we should ensure that we take time to exercise, care for our bodies, and let the fresh air outside soothe our troubled minds.
Dahlia Brause Breslow is a 15-year-old first-year student at Northampton High School and member of the Youth Commission Outreach working group.