Education Law

Children benefit from physical activity programs at school

A study in the British Medical Journal shows that a structured school physical activity program can improve a child’s fitness and decrease body fat.

Researchers in Switzerland studied 540 seven and 11-year-olds in 15 schools over a nine month period that were randomly selected. Students underwent a physical activity program designed by experts that involved structuring their existing three physical education lessons and adding two extra lessons a week. The students were also given daily short activity breaks and physical activity homework.

The researchers reported a relative decrease in body fat, improved aerobic fitness, higher levels of in-school physical activity, smaller increases or larger reductions in body mass index (BMI), and lower cardiovascular risk in the intervention group.

BoardBuzz knows that physical activity is important to combat childhood obesity. Currently in the U.S., nearly one third of children and youth are overweight or obese. NSBA is addressing childhood obesity through our member state school boards associations and is working to provide local school boards with the information and tools they need to support school environments that address childhood obesity by fostering healthy eating and physical activity.

NSBA’s School Health Programs works with state associations and the federal government to develop policies that local school boards can adopt to support student health and has numerous resources on best practices physical activity programs and combating childhood obesity.

Last month, NSBA announced its support for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative to combat widespread childhood obesity by to improving student nutrition and physical fitness.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).