Campus News Briefs: Spring 2024

Consistent Yoga for Good Health 

A CU Boulder study found yoga to be very beneficial to those who practice it — when done regularly. The study, which examined both typical yoga classes and those with only stretching, found the benefits of better emotion regulation, self-control, distress tolerance and mindfulness lasted about a week after either type of class. “One yoga class is not enough to reap long-term health benefits,” CU Boulder Institute of Behavioral Science research associate Charleen Gust told The Denver Post. Researchers hope further study will determine how often people must practice to experience benefits. 

Study Abroad Hits Record Number 

This spring, the number of CU students studying abroad exceeded the record-setting 900 students studying abroad at the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Nearly 1,200 students were enrolled to study abroad this spring, with Western Europe serving as the most popular destination. CU Boulder’s study abroad program is ranked 15th-largest in the nation

CU Economist Tackles English Mystery 

From 1761 to 1834 the mortality rate of English people dropped from 28 to 25 per 1,000 people, a statistic that has confused historians due to the population influx around that time. “With people coming into cities to work, you would expect, given the level of sanitation they have, that the big killer is water,” CU Boulder economics professor Fransica Antman told the BBC in December. Antman authored a study linking the change to the rise in tea consumption. In 1784, the tea tax went from 119% to 12.5%, boosting tea consumption. Boiling the water when making tea, Antman explained, killed off the bacteria that was prevalent in drinking water at the time, thus saving lives. In her study, Antman examined the quality of water sources for about 400 parishes in England and determined that the death rate declined even in those parishes with poor water quality due to the high prevalence of tea. 

Heard Around Campus 

“CU naturally attracts really outstanding leaders.”

— Stefanie Johnson, director of the Center for Leadership, told the Daily Camera in January after Time magazine and Statista named CU Boulder one of the top 100 best colleges for future leaders.