Everyone these days knows the importance of exercise. Whether you’re doing it for strength, health, stress relief, or an excuse to buy cute gym clothes, it is becoming a common part of a college student’s healthy lifestyle. However, with midterms sudden arrival, you may find yourself falling off the wagon. It’s no question that a common complaint for a student this time of year is the lack of “me time.” Don’t despair, Troy University in Alabama might have an answer for your prayers, as they have just added a new invention to the college library, the FitDesk. But heed caution, as it may be too good to be true.

The FitDesk is a stationary bike, much like the one you would find at any other gym, with the addition of stations for laptop computers. The school initially started out with three, but after receiving such positive response from the students that they have ordered three more, as well as six ellipticals.

“In the library, we want to be sure we are supporting our students’ physical wellness just as much as their intellectual,” says Dr. Christopher Shaffer, the dean of library services in an interview with the Troy University Trojan News Center. “The response from students has been incredibly positive, and we are now planning to expand the program by installing more bike and elliptical study stations. Our mission at the TROY Libraries is to constantly innovate and challenge perceptions of what a modern library can be.”

So if these are such great accommodations for students, why not have them in all colleges? Matt Cousins, fitness manager here at College of Dupage shed some light on why these might not be such a great idea after all. He referenced a study done in 2009 where they investigated the efficiency of these active workstations. “What the study found is that exercising in the workplace causes a decrease in productivity while errors increase,” explains Cousins. “Not all academic work would require computer use, which the study used for their “work” criteria, but I think a correlation can be drawn from workplace work to studying.”

Cousins went on to explain that FitDesks in the library would be a liability for COD. “As a fitness manager, I would not recommend exercise bikes in the Library. Anytime that someone is provided an opportunity to exercise on a college campus, for liability reasons, that person needs to be supervised at all times. The reason for this is if someone has underlying health issues, exercising can exacerbate those health issues. Exercise bikes would have to be placed out in the open reducing the privacy most students enjoy while studying. Librarians would then have to be trained on how to recognize and treat someone who is having health difficulties brought on by exercise.”

Since it is such a new innovation, it is unknown whether or not the long term effects will be positive, but it is undeniable that taking steps like these will one day make the life of the student just a bit easier.