The Importance of Physical Fitness for School Age Children

Photo of Juvenile Physical Fitness Program

Article by Vanessa Cross

Do you know what your child is doing? If he’s like most children today, he’s busy watching television, playing video games, or sitting at the computer -- all passive activities that do little to promote physical fitness. When you combine that with an ever-increasing diet of fast food and sodas, the results can lead to what many doctors are seeing today -- an increase in childhood obesity.

“Studies show that over the last three decades childhood obesity has more than tripled,” says Dr. Robert Lustig, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee in Memphis, and St. Judge Children’s Research Hospital. Lustig has been studying obesity in children for the past five years.

According to Lustig, a recent study showed that the proportion of Americans with obesity, defined as being more than 30 percent over their ideal body weight, rose from one in eight in 1991 to one in five in 1998. Lustig says that obesity has been shown to be a pediatric problem that follows a child into adulthood. And with those extra pounds come an increased risk for health problems, including high cholesterol, juvenile diabetes, and heart disease. So getting kids into the habit of being physically fit must start early.

The Importance of Physical Fitness for Young People

As the operator of the Pee Wee Workout franchise in Memphis, Towanda Peete-Smith’s job is to get little hearts pumping. She keeps kids moving with a 30-minute aerobic fitness and nutritional education curriculum designed specifically for toddlers and preschoolers. Much of what Smith does is stretching and movement exercises.

“I get children to use muscles they don’t regularly use, like the deltoid muscle at the ball of the shoulder and the thighbone muscles in the back of the legs” says Smith, who provides physical education services to a variety of area daycare centers.

Smith says that repetition is the key to achieving a good workout. In addition to burning calories, exercising can increase endurance, muscular strength, balance, agility, and coordination. Smith acknowledges the importance of getting children active early as one way to promote lifelong fitness.
Unfortunately, statistics suggest that as preschoolers age, they will participate less and less in physical fitness activities. The Tennessee Department of Health reports that the amount of physical activity children receive at school gradually decreases as they rise from elementary to high school.

Image of Physical Education for Toddler Kids

The Tennessee State Rules, Regulations, and Minimum Standards for the Governance of Public Schools suggests that students in K through 4^th grades should be provided a minimum of 30-minutes of physical education five days a week, and grades 5 through 8, a minimum of four 30-minute sessions weekly. By high school, those standards drop to one unit of physical education for grades 9 through 12. Despite those recommendations, the Memphis City School (MCS) has not been requiring physical education programs for students.

“It was hit or miss,” says Dee Weedon, health, physical education and life time wellness specialist with MCS. “It was left up to the individual school. Some principals saw the need and identified funds from their budgets.” But during the fiscal belt-tightening of the early 1990s, physical education , like art and music, was frequently cut from school budgets as a nonessential program. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta reports that the percentage of students who did not attend a physical education class nationally rose from 58% in 1991 to 75% in 1995.

Setting Fitness Goals for Your School Age Children

But thanks to new fitness goals set by the Surgeon General’s Office, physical education is slowly making a comeback. In August 1998, the Memphis City School board passed a district mandate requiring physical education in the elementary grades. Over the next three years, MCS will beef up their physical education staff, adding 250 new positions. Weedon says the school system’s goal for 2000 is to provide every child with one 30-minute physical fitness period per week.

According to Jean Arps, nurse coordinator for the Memphis City School’s Comprehensive School Health Program, a partnership with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, MCS will coordinate its physical education program with a complete health program, which will include components in nutrition, counseling, and increased family involvement in school health.

While physical education isn’t a cure-all in the battle against the bulging of America, fitness specialists believe helping kids get physically fit will go a long way towards a healthier adulthood.

African American Children at Risk

Photo of Physical Education for African American Children

An array of dynamics put children’s health at risk. According to the Youth Risk behavior Survey, the average student spends three hours a day playing video games, using the computer, or watching television. Many kids don’t’ distant walk, and many parents are hesitant to let their children play outside for fear of crime. However, if your child is active and is still obese, Dr. Lustig suggests seeing a doctor because it could be an instance of a failing metabolism.

“Many children, especially African Americans, have an insulin resistance condition which results in their making too much insulin, which is an energy storage hormone that stores energy into your fat,” says Dr. Lustig. “Whenever they eat, their insulin levels go sky high, the insulin is stored in fat and leads to Type II diabetes, heart disease, stroke and is a major public health problem.”


What You Can Do To Encourage Fitness

• Turn off the television and take your child for a walk
• Cut down on soft drinks. Drink more water and juices.
• Find out what your child enjoys and help him or her choose appropriate after school activities.
• Encourage physical activity -- play with you child in activities like Frisbee, volleyball and catch.

For More Information on Child Health Initiatives write:

President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 250
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 272-3421

American Heart Association
7272 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75231-4596
(800) 242-8721