| June 13, 2000 - Some school systems in the U.S. have
loosened physical-education requirements and the payoff, could be a fatter, more
disease-prone population down the line. A new study finds that just one-fifth of U.S.
students are hitting the gym at school one or more days a week and that those who don´t
take PE tend not to exercise much in their free time, either. ``Physical education
really raised activity levels, and we found a similar effect with (the use of)
recreation centers,´´ says study author Penny Gordon-Larsen, PhD, of the University of
North Carolina´s Carolina Population Center in Chapel Hill. ``There´s a lot of evidence
that when kids starts being active when they´re young, they stay on that path.
Conversely, when kids watch a lot of TV, they continue to do so as adults.´´
In fact, Gordon-Larsen says kids were twice as likely to engage in physical activity
outside school if they had PE class every day. Even if they had PE less often than that,
they were up to 44% more likely than to get out and exercise than students who took PE
less than once a week.
The research, which appears in the journal Pediatrics, drew data from a national
survey involving more than 17,000 seventh through 12th graders. Within this multiracial
sample, Gordon-Larsen also verified something that experts have long suspected: Kids
growing up in crime-ridden neighborhoods are more likely to channel-surf (or
computer-surf) after school than those from safer areas.
If PE classes really do have an impact on at-home activity, experts suggest it may be
time to invest in couch-manufacturing stock. ``We´re losing the requirement for physical
education,´´ says Scott Wikgren, director of the Health, Physical Education, Recreation
and Dance Division of Human Kinetics Publishing, a company that produces textbooks and
courses on physical activity. ``Guidelines have gone from requiring it in grades K-12 to
the point, in some states, where physical education is required for one semester in all
four years of high school.´´
``We really don´t have a good handle on the number of programs we´re losing,´´ says
Judith Young, PhD, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical
Fitness in Reston, Va. ``The most common requirement for high school is one year. And
frankly, that includes some classroom health instruction.´´ Young says some school
systems even give PE credit for driver education classes.
The demise of PE caught the attention of Capitol Hill last year. In May 1999, Alaska
Sen. Ted Stevens introduced what has become known as the PEP Bill, which would offer
financial incentives to school districts that set up PE programs that have minimum
weekly and preferably daily requirements. Thirty senators have signed on as co-sponsors,
and House support is beginning to trickle in. (Dr. Woolard Notes: The PEP Bill
passed.)
While money is important, Young says many school districts have another problem:
time. ``A key issue is, how can we find time during the school day to do all the things
we need to do? We have the same school day schedule we had 100 years ago six-hour days,
180 days a year. Efforts to modify it have been met with a lot of public resistance.´´
Gordon-Larsen agrees: ``PE is really important. Academics are important. It´s a tall
order to tell schools to do everything. But obesity is a big problem for this nation. It
costs billions and billions of dollars a year.´´
In its ``Shape Of The Nation´´ report, Young´s organization notes that the number of
youths who are overweight has doubled since 1970. Young says the problem may have become
especially acute in the last 10 years, as home computers have become more common. ``It
doesn´t take very much of a change in energy balance 100 calories a day to have a
creeping obesity problem,´´ she says. ``And we´re having issues related to obesity
beginning to show up in children: high blood pressure and diabetes.´´
Such health concerns are changing the way physical education is taught in some
places, so that when it is offered, more students will enjoy participating. ``For a
while we were focusing on teaching skills and games, but not really getting at why we
play those games which is physical activity and physical fitness,´´ Wikgren says. ``The
biggest thing we need to do is help kids understand there are choices. In order for a
person to stick with an activity, they need to enjoy it.´´
Wikgren admits that in the past, many students dreaded PE class. ``They associated
physical activity with humiliation, maybe being chosen last for the team.´´
Now, there´s more of a recognition that team sports aren´t for every student. Wikgren
says children´s personalities have a lot to do with whether they´ll enjoy a particular
activity, with more sociable students perhaps better-suited to team sports and more
reticent ones to more singular activities such as track.
Vital Information:
Physical education can raise activity levels among students, but only one-fifth of
students in grades 7-12 go to gym class at least once a week. Students who have PE class
every day are 50% more likely to engage in physical activity outside of school,
according to new research. Some policy-makers are concerned about the decline of
physical education, especially in light of the national increase in obesity, and
legislation to address the problem has been introduced in Congress.
© 2000 Healtheon/WebMD.
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