You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|January 2007|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
The freshman fifteen is a slang name for the weight gain of fifteen pounds that may occur during the freshman (first) year of study in college or university, particularly while living in residence halls or dormitories. It is sometimes called the freshman five, or more in jest, the freshman fifty.
Though it is part myth, many schools recognize it by name and may take the opportunity to put up posters or hold seminars on basic nutrition with tips on how to avoid the weight gain. Research and popular opinion on this matter reflects that there are several causes for this gain, with the actual result stemming from all or several of them:
- The overwhelming amount of homework that students are often assigned in their first year, (in particular compared to high school) leads to increased snacking
- The larger social world of college creates many opportunities to party, with large alcohol intake being nearly expected.
- Commonly moving away from home means that a lot of students who were not previously responsible for cooking their own meals now have to learn to do so.
- Alternatively, living in a dorm means that the student now eats cafeteria style food, which is often very unhealthy.
- The increasing popularity of fast food and prominence of fast food franchises in many college campuses means that unhealthy food is more easily available to students.
- College students tend to short themselves on sleep, since they are busy studying and partying; lack of sleep has been shown to cause decreased levels of leptin, a hormone that stimulates the feeling of fullness after eating. This leptin deficiency can cause overeating and weight gain.
Questioning the number
Conversely, new students may also skip meals and experience increased levels of stress which may result in weight loss. The lifestyle change of entering a university coupled with a sudden fluctuation in weight are also contributing factors in malnutrition and eating disorders, which are more commonly reported among female students[citation needed].
University of Guelph professors Alison Duncan and Janis Randall Simpson conducted a study of first-year female students that suggested that female students may gain only 5 pounds, and not 15.[1] These results are controversial and in clear contradiction to freshman weight gain at the University of Alberta and its Lister Centre residence.[verification needed] Duncan and Simpson have since begun a study of first-year male students to see if the same weight gain pattern holds true for them, and the results of the expanded study are expected in mid-2007.[2]
However, despite some disagreement [1] [2] that the number is that high, there is some evidence [3] that this term used to be "Freshman 10", and the increase in the number reflects the increase in the weight gained in first year.
External links
- List of causes of the Freshman 15
- University of Guelph research finds that the actual gain is less
- How-to article on avoiding gaining this weight
- CNN article reflecting this phenomenon
- ^ Ritter, Mitch. The Freshman 15 — it's really the Freshman 5. 12 January 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2007.
- ^ CBS News Online. Battling first year weight gain. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2007.