Physical Activity in our Schools

Dr. Wendy Ghiora – Posting#127

October 1, 2014

 

It’s a simple formula; obesity results from energy imbalance: too many calories in, too few calories burned. A number of factors influence how many calories (or how much “energy”) people burn each day, among them, age, body size, and genes. But the most variable factor—and the most easily modified—is the amount of activity people get each day.

Even as practically every state has begun significant school reforms, many American students are being granted little or no exercise time. In its biennial survey of high school students across the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in June that nearly half said they had no physical education classes in an average week. That echoed findings by New York City’s comptroller, in October, of inadequate physical education at each of the elementary schools that auditors visited. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found just 20 percent of elementary schools in San Francisco’s system were meeting the state’s requirements: 20 minutes per day.

The flip side of this decrease in physical activity is an increase in sedentary activities—watching television, playing video games, and using the computer. Add it up, and it’s clear that globally, the “energy out” side of the energy balance equation is tilting toward weight gain.

Besides its value in fighting obesity, physical education has also been linked in several studies to good academic outcomes. Dr. John J. Ratey, a Harvard professor and author of “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” cited a 2010 study on the topic from the federal Health and Human Services Department.

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, 44 percent of school administrators have reported cutting significant time from physical education classes and recess to devote more time to reading and mathematics in the classroom, according to the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit that provides public policy research and recommendations.

These cuts are detrimental to the health of our children. As the research suggests, giving kids more physical activity seems like a no-brainer to help lower the prevalence of obesity rates in elementary school kids, with the percentage of children ages 6 to 11 years old in the United States who were obese to nearly 18 percent in 2010 from 7 percent in 1980.

In addition to the obvious physical benefits, exercise increases oxygen to the brain and therefore can have a positive impact on  a child’s learning.

“There is considerable research showing physical exercise improves the brain development for learning.”  Jack Shonkoff, MD, Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University.

Get involved in your local school. Be proactive for daily physical activity for the health and well-being of our children.