Health @ MIT

<p>On one hand, MIT has a beautiful fitness center, and there are weight rooms in (I think) every dorm. On the other hand, students might not be able to schedule time to use them. I'm hoping to cook for myself, and work out every day at the Z-Center, but I've heard that at MIT students often have to sacrifice either sleep, academics, or their social lives--working out and cooking aren't even mentioned. Are MIT students generally able to maintain healthy lifestyles, with enough physical activity, sleep, and good food?</p>

<p>If they want to.</p>

<p>I lived in a dorm with kitchens, and I cooked for myself nearly every night. My meals weren’t necessarily very healthy at first, but I got better.</p>

<p>I never made it to the weight room in my dorm as often as I wanted to, but I did play a varsity sport every fall, so I kept in reasonable shape.</p>

<p>MIT students don’t have free time mostly because they choose not to. Yes, academics take up a good chunk of time, but then everyone chooses to fill all the leftover time with tons of other stuff. If keeping healthy is important to you, then it’s easy to fill that time with exercising rather than theater or sports or whatever. It’s just a matter of priorities.</p>

<p>If a large portion of MIT students don’t eat healthy and exercise regularly, I think that’s because having the discipline to eat healthy and exercise regularly is really hard in general, for everyone. =)</p>