College is a place of learning. Learning how to fill the swim meet with fizzies, deliver the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner, fill the trees with underwear, and explode the toilets every spring.
Err, I mean, college, is a place of higher education, like physics, calculus, math, and science - all that "good" stuff.
College is also the home of the dreaded "freshman fifteen," referring to the weight many students gain away from home, during their first year of school.
But if you're a girl, a new study says you're less likely to gain weight during your freshman year if your roommate is heavy.
Presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Health Economists, researchers discovered college women with roommates who have above average weight, gain less weight during their freshman year, than female students with slimmer roommates.
However, the difference was only slight, half a pound versus 2.5 pounds. Yeah, that doesn't put a big dent in the freshman fifteen.
But the reason for the difference makes sense, even though it's not so obvious. The researchers say heavier roommates are more likely to diet, exercise, and limit access to food, and these behaviors can be "contagious."
They also say that most of the time people pick friends and acquaintances who are similar to themselves. So, with randomly assigned roommates, you might be paired with a person you wouldn't normally make friends with, like an overweight person. And this person's unique habits may rub off on you.
This makes a lot of sense to me. My roommate in college didn't exercise before I met him, but he later started going to the gym with me.
Image credit: jasoba fett
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