Students’ Health and Exercise Science posters win conference awards

During fall quarter, three Health and Exercise Science students received awards for their research and group poster presentations at the Western Society for Kinesiology & Wellness conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

Makayla Christopher, a senior Health and Exercise Science major, presented her group’s research poster on “Physical and Cognitive Effects of Sleep Deprivation Among College Students.” Alongside her were two other Health Science majors, Chelsea Choi and Hyun Ji Kim, showcasing their research on “The Relationship of Basic Health Knowledge and Health Behaviors among Undergraduate Healthcare Students.” The three students received first and third place, respectively, in recognition of their research and hard work.

Christopher could not contain her surprise upon finding out she had won at the conference. “I was very shocked upon winning, since my last attendance at WSKW did not pan out very well for me,” Christopher said. “I was surprised that I was chosen against the other presentations. However, I was very proud of myself, as I did put in a lot of work into this.” She aims to further her education by enrolling into a master’s program for health administration. Her goal by continuing into graduate school is to hopefully better her chances of achieving all her career goals.

Her research focused on the possible physical and cognitive effects of sleep deprivation among college students. All the students in her study confirmed that they were sleep deprived. A student’s mental and physical health may be greatly affected over time because of this. Her research came to the result that there were no significant correlations because students were reporting to be chronically sleep deprived. This could imply that the body has adapted over time to function at this level. Her results could further research by exploring how it will affect the body biologically such as in cellular aging.

Upon attending the conference, Kim emphasizes what it meant to her besides winning. “I signed up for WSKW just for the experience, but I got more out of it than expected. I am very glad that my partner and I had this experience together,” Kim said. Her research partner, Choi, also shared feelings of gratitude after attending the conference and winning. “I was surprised and very thankful…I learned so many new things and gained insight on how to improve further research studies,” said Choi. “I am especially thankful to Professor Thomas for guiding us through the research process as well as bringing us to WSKW.”

Kim and Choi’s research centered on health knowledge learned in class and health behaviors among pre-professional undergraduate students, more specifically Pre-Nursing, Pre-Medicine, and Pre-Dentistry students. The researchers wanted to see if what they learned in class was practiced by the students. They found that there was a weak correlation between health knowledge and health behaviors. Not only that, but a reason for a weak correlation could be because of a lack of time. Their results could help further the research effort by examining ways for health knowledge to actually be applied a student’s everyday life.

Kim is currently a student at La Sierra University. After graduating, she plans on attending Loma Linda University School of Dentistry in hopes of fulfilling her dream of becoming a dentist. Choi, a 2019 graduate of La Sierra University, is living the post-graduate life. Her career goal is to work in the field of health informatics and before eventually going into health consulting.

In attendance as well was La Sierra University Professor of Health and Exercise Science, Rob Thomas, who was one of the proposal reviewers. On the students and their experiences he commented, “The students enjoyed making connections with faculty and graduate and undergraduate students from other universities from west of the Rockies. They appreciated the opportunity to learn with and from others who attended.”