The second Physical Activity Symposium at Illinois was hosted by the Department of Health and Kinesiology on April 3, 2026.
The Illini Physical Activity Symposium celebrates the widening research field of physical activity and its connections to public health across the globe.
The second edition hosted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign added a couple new traditions, including live student presentations and a guest speaker, but things kicked off the same way as last year: with a sunny walk to the Main Quad.
“We felt very happy with our event and the feedback we received from the students, and we feel motivated to continue with this initiative for next year,” said Health and Kinesiology Assistant Professor Otavio Leão.
This year, students and faculty members also celebrated the launch of the concentration in physical activity and health in the Master of Public Health program at Illinois.
The Illini Physical Activity Symposium is hosted by labs at the Department of Health and Kinesiology in the College of Applied Health Sciences:
The Lifetime Physical Activity Lab run by Assistant Professor Rafael Tassitano and Teaching Assistant Professor Cecília Tenório.
The Longitudinal Analysis in Physical Activity, Sleep, Sitting, Screen Time, and Accelerometry Lab run by Assistant Professor Leão. (LA-PASSSTA Lab)
The Epidemiology, Physical Activity and International Collaboration Lab of Professor Pedro Hallal. (EPIC Lab)
University of California San Diego Professor Michael Pratt visited campus to present the research on the potential benefits of vigorous physical activity, and why it may be more important than current physical activity guidelines indicate.
Michael Pratt (center) visited campus from UCSD to present his findings on vigorous physical activity. Health and Kinesiology professors (from left) Bruno Nunes, Otavio Leao, Pedro Hallal, Thayna Flores, Cecilia Tenorio, Emerson Sebastiao and Rafael Tassitano pose at the second Illini Physical Activity Symposium.
Afterwards, several graduate and doctoral students presented their findings from physical activity studies, covering topics such as step counts, obesity, screen-time, and childhood development.
Doctoral students Tayo Folorunso and Alisha Chuhdry won the inaugural Bill Kohl Awards for best poster presentation and oral presentation at the event. Folorunso presented her research into physical activity and abdominal obesity among U.S. women, and Chuhdry presented a study on motor competence among preschool children in Brazil.
Health and Kinesiology doctoral student Tayo Folorunso was honored for her outstanding poster presentation at the second Illini Physical Activity Symposium, on April 3, 2026.Health and Kinesiology doctoral student Alisha Chuhdry was honored for her outstanding poster presentation at the second Illini Physical Activity Symposium, on April 3, 2026.
“Having doctoral students present their research at the symposium is a valuable experience. It allows them to practice communicating their work to a broader audience, receive feedback, and gain confidence in public speaking,” Tenorio said. “Experiences like this also help young researchers build their professional network and encourage them to continue pursuing a career in research.”
Misuse of nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas,” is on the rise nationally. Researchers warn that the U.S. may be at the “bottom of the hill” for this public health issue.
Canisters of Galaxy Gas, a nitrous oxide product often carried by smoke shops and online sellers. (Credit: Galaxy Gas)
An anesthetic most often used at the dentist or doctor’s office, nitrous oxide or “laughing gas” has been misused recreationally for decades in the form of whipped cream chargers, often called “whippets.”
Research from a University of Illinois professor shows an alarming rise in fatalities associated with the drug in the last decade, potentially driven by efforts to mass-market products to a new generation.
In the study, “US nitrous oxide mortality” published in JAMA Network Open and co-authored by Health and Kinesiology Assistant Professor Rachel Hoopsick and University of Mississippi Assistant Professor of Public Health Andrew Yockey, the researchers tracked the number of deaths in the United States associated with nitrous oxide misuse from 2010 to 2023, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
In that timeframe, U.S. annual deaths from nitrous oxide poisoning are up by nearly 600%, the study found. Of the 1,240 reported deaths during that period, 74% occurred in the last 7 years.
“I think we are currently at the bottom of a hill,” said Hoopsick. “Without any type of regulatory intervention, deaths and poisonings from nitrous oxide will increase at an accelerating rate and become a tremendous public health issue.”
For reference, 23 users of nitrous oxide died from the drug in 2010, compared to 156 in the year 2023. two factors make the picture look even worse: the sale of nitrous oxide is largely unregulated, and unlike most “party drugs,” users can die after inhaling it just once.
“This product is killing kids, it’s killing young adults,” Yockey said. “There’s no clear intention for using this product recreationally. Our message at the end of the day is: no one should be dying from nitrous oxide poisoning, at all.”
The number of annual deaths associated with nitrous oxide misuse has leapt by 600% in the last 14 years, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. (Source: “US nitrous oxide mortality”)
Repackaged for a new generation
Hoopsick and Yockey are frequent collaborators on research into substance use and mortality, often studying highly addictive drugs like methamphetamine and heroin.
Rachel Hoopsick (Provided)
Until recently, Yockey wasn’t convinced nitrous oxide misuse had become a public health issue. During a class he taught on substance abuse, he initially dismissed whippets as a fad of the past.
“A student raised their hand and said, ‘I can buy this at a gas station,’” Yockey said. Sure enough, the student pulled up pictures of colorfully packaged canisters of nitrous oxide, with goofy brand names such as “Galaxy Gas” or “Exotic Whip.”
These emerging brands are exploiting a regulatory loophole, the researchers said. Nitrous oxide is the whipping agent for whipped cream, so companies use that purpose as a cover to sell the product for recreational use.
“Flavored and scented versions, there’s no legitimate culinary purpose for that,” Hoopsick said. “It’s a gas—it doesn’t flavor the whipped cream. But it gives a scent or flavor to that gas for people using it as an inhalant.”
In the U.S., misuse of the inhalant has steadily risen since 2010. From 2023 to 2024, the number of intentional nitrous oxide exposure reports increased by 58 percent, Yockey wrote in a letter to the Journal of Medicine, Surgery and Public Health. More than 13 million people in the U.S. report using the inhalant in their lifetime.
A separate analysis showed emergency medical visits for nitrous oxide misuse in Michigan jumped by four to five times from 2019 to 2023.
We don’t want to wait until we’re at the top of the mountain, which is what we did with opioids.
Rachel Hoopsick
Assistant Professor of Health and Kinesiology
As of now, due to the culinary purpose of these products, the sale of nitrous oxide is still largely unregulated. Four states—Alabama, California, Michigan and Louisiana—have banned its recreational use as of July 2025. Others, such as Arizona and Connecticut, have banned the sale of the substance to minors; New York banned the sale of whipped cream chargers to anyone under 21 years of age.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to avoid inhaling nitrous oxide “from any size canisters, tanks, or chargers,” naming more than a dozen brands.
Still, in most states, users can pick from collections of brightly colored whipped cream chargers or dispensers at local smoke shops, or have canisters of nitrous delivered to their door from online shopping platforms.
“Since last summer, it’s taken off,” Yockey said.
A familiar playbook
The marketing “playbook” for nitrous oxide bears eerily similarity to the tobacco industry, Hoopsick said, in both appeal and accessibility. Sellers minimize health risks while dressing up the products in flashier exteriors, targeted at young people.
Tobacco companies were pressured by federal regulators to end practices that targeted young buyers, such as flavored cigarettes and cartoon brand mascots.
A canister of “original flavor” Galaxy Gas. (Credit: Galaxy Gas)
“We know nitrous oxide has neurological effects,” Hoopsick said. “But sellers rarely, if ever, provide health warnings. The public largely views it as a harmless party drug.”
Unlike the usual “party drug,” however, nitrous oxide risks both instant brain damage and death. The brief “high” temporarily paralyzes users, and can lead to hypoxia, or deprivation of oxygen to the body. Nitrous oxide inactivates vitamin B12, which can lead to a host of other health problems, including nerve damage.
Many deaths arise from the drug’s paralytic effect: the researchers were recently contacted by a mother whose college-age child died from drowning in a hot tub after inhaling nitrous oxide.
In the researchers’ view, the best path to stem nitrous oxide misuse is by making it harder to get, by raising the age requirements for purchase or limiting where the substance can be purchased.
“From a public health perspective, now is a critical window of time to intervene,” Hoopsick said. “We don’t want to wait until we’re at the top of the mountain, which is what we did with opioids.”
