By Hope Sandusky/reporter

Movement facilitates learning, a NW health and physical education associate professor said during a “walk-and-talk” presentation.

Joshua Tarbay, NW HPE department chair, showed how physical fitness and well-being attributes to success by taking students on a tour of the NW physical and health facilities Sept. 9.

“Finland’s school system devotes half of their school day to physical fitness, and their test scores are through the roof,” he said. “We [the U.S.] focus on fitting into a bathing suit and how you look in the mirror, not on being physically well.”

Tarbay’s tour began at the campus pool, moving to various facilities outdoors near the campus lake and ending back at the campus gym. At each stopping point, he would talk about the different activities and classes NW offers. Activities vary from swimming to dance to sailing to backpacking and camping.

With a new disc golf course and an incoming running trail created by the city of Fort Worth, students can take advantage of free facilities with a wide range of activities to fit their needs instead of paying money for a gym membership, he said.

Inside the gym, Tarbay described how exercise benefits students dealing with stress and anxiety from classes.

“Sitting down and doing nothing does nothing to release the toxins in your body,” he said. “Exercise serves as a filter to let out the toxins and allows you to perform better and succeed outside of the gym.”

Tarbay also explained the practical use of exercise classes, such as taking kickboxing or self-defense classes.

“Students can get actual, transferable college credit for taking these courses while having fun and being healthy,” he said.

If students are active, success will come out of leading a healthy lifestyle, Tarbay said.

“As long as you come in, it doesn’t matter for how long. It keeps the ball rolling,” he said. “Even 10 minutes of walking on a treadmill gets you moving.”