To Walk, or Not to Walk: That is the question.
The Daily Mile? Have you heard of it? Probably not. Take an educated guess. Ok, I’ll tell you then. Encouraging children to keep fit - that’s all I’m going to tell you, for now. But what I will tell you, is that it is necessary. It needs to be introduced. And, in my view, it should be compulsory!
So, you are probably wondering what on earth it is? Well, The Daily Mile Foundation is a charity organisation which encourages school children to participate in free fitness and provides teachers with an information pack and support to get started. The Daily Mile is any type of physical activity such as running, jogging, skipping or playing games undertaken outside in the fresh air for 15 minutes every
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I’m sure most children would rather eat a box of doughnuts and watch the magical box in the lounge or tap away at the tablet with their sticky fingers. The Daily Mile encourages children to lead a healthy lifestyle, not only at school, but at home as well. Unhealthy lifestyles are an ever-increasing problem in the UK as shown by a recent study carried out by Fit For Sport Ltd. in 2015. This study looked at the health of 10,000 children currently in primary education and uncovered the staggering fact that almost 70% of them couldn’t even do basic fitness (the expected fitness levels for their age).1 Did your jaw just drop like mine? That’s why The Daily Mile is vital in decreasing health risks, as it is a fun way for children to interact with their teachers and friends in a relaxed setting.2 Also, school lessons become more active rather than sitting on your bottom in a boring classroom for hours on end. Currently over 3,000 schools take part worldwide with over 1,000 of these schools in Scotland alone, roughly 750 in England, 720 in Belgium and many more globally.3 This is already a great level of participation however, even more schools need to join to make an even bigger impact on children’s health …show more content…
The UK Government guidelines recommend that all children should have at least 60 minutes of exercise a day, 30 minutes of which should be in school. The Daily Mile would cover half of the requirements in school, with the rest being made up during breaks/lunchtimes.4 Children’s long-term health would be improved as they grow older, with obesity becoming an increasing problem in the UK. A healthy diet would decrease the chance of getting over 10 types of cancer, type 2 diabetes and any heart conditions. Source(obesity) The Scottish Health Survey shows that in 2016, just under 30% of children in Scotland aged 2 - 15 were classified as being at risk of being overweight and/or obese.5 At this early stage in life, children need to be encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle. If health risks are reduced, the strain on the NHS in the future will also be reduced. As The Daily Mile takes place within school grounds, there is no need for lengthy health and safety risk assessments. Many teachers use The Daily Mile as part of the curriculum, for example, using arithmetic skills to calculate the distance children have run. It has been proven to help children focus in class as they get a break from normal classes and there have also been signs of children performing better throughout their school career. My favourite benefit is that there is no cost at all. What could be better than it being absolutely
Sidewalks are different shapes and sizes, people tend to make their own decisions to which way they would want to go. Going through the motions on a sidewalk is similar as going through the motions of life. There are many turns that could get you to your final destination and turns that can also get you into places you would not feel so comfortable being. Staying on the right path and trying to get to where you need to go isn’t so hard but when you have other sidewalks with nice grass and big beautiful street lights that can be a very big distraction to the eye and that could cause problems in your life. Nice sidewalks sometimes don't always tend to continue a nice path so they can be very believing at first but when you make it to the end
Exercise, food, technology, and money all play a role in causing childhood obesity. Lack of exercise among adolescents has been proven to be the leading cause of childhood obesity. According to a May 2012 Institute of Medicine report, only half of America’s children and one in four teens get enough activity to meet current guidelines (Doheny and Noonman 1). The recommendations call for children to participate in at least 60 minutes of vigorous to moderate physical activity every day (Hendrick 1). “Only four percent of elementary schools, eight percent of middle schools, and two percent of high schools provide daily physical ...
...qualitative examination of perceived barriers and facilitators of physical activity for urban and rural youth. Oxford Journal, 25, 355-367.
Schools serve as an amazing venue to provide students with everyday physical movement, and to instruct the essentialness of general physical action for wellbeing. Shockingly, most individuals' get little to no general physical activity while in school. Budgetary obligations and the pressure to increase test scores have brought on school authorities to address the worth of PE and other physical activity programs. This has prompted a significant lessening in the time accessible for PE, and in a few cases, school-based physical action projects have been totally eliminated.
Fewer and fewer children are playing outside regularly, choosing instead to be inside on the computer, in front of the television, and playing video games. Many children do not get enough physical activity in their daily routine. Many schools physical education programs cut back on the time actually spent doing vigorous activities. "One study showed that gym classes offered third-graders just twenty-five minutes of vigorous activity each week" ("Overweight and obesity,"2009). Guidelines show that children over two years old should at least get sixty minutes of vigorous activity a day ("Overweight and obesity,"2009). The average family is busier today than ever, which causes parents to rush meals and not take the time to plan nutritious hom...
Life on the Road It’s fair to say that life on the road is something most people do not desire, as a way to live out their days; but a young man named Chris McCandless believed it was necessary to avoid the venomous grips of society. McCandless goes as far as to venture out to the rest of the United States and even crossing borders to achieve his true destination, Alaska. He shows us living such a life can hold many unique and wonderful experiences.
With childhood obesity becoming an epidemic in America, we need methods to help stop obesity in children such as physical activities. Physical activities are not only to help prevent obesity; it can also help students improve on their academics. “Physical education helps the brain function; exercise increases the blood flow within the body and increases the blood volume in regions of the brain associated with memory formation” (Kovar, Susan K at el. Elementary Classroom Teachers as Movement Educators. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.). Children spend many hours of their week inside a classroom, there are activities and lessons teachers can do to help their students become more active. “Physical education and movement are important to start at a young age because children are very active and child obesity is a huge problem these days” (Gaither, Laura, personal interview. October 7, 2013). Having movement and physical activity in the classroom is crucial to elementary school children as it is shown to have a positive effect on their overall life quality. “We know that physical activity is critical…not just for better health but for better academic performance” (Michelle Obama).
We have all heard the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. This saying appears to be nothing more than a silly children’s rhyme. However, if we think about it, we still remember it and this silly little rhyme encouraged us to eat fruit. As we reflect back on our childhood many of us can recall our parents encouraging us to eat our vegetables and to go outside and play. Why did they do this? Because it was and is an essential part of our healthy growth. In present day, where technology and fast food are far more prevalent, children are receiving far less encouragement to be healthy. In order to live a healthy lifestyle children and adolescents need to spend, “60 minutes or more being physically active ("Physical Activity Guidelines
This would help kids stay fit. According to the President’s Council on Fitness, only 1/12 of kids get enough exercise on a daily basis. ¨The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition says that only a third of American children participate in physical activities on a daily basis. Unfortunately, participation in team sports doesn't guarantee your child enough daily physical activity, either. According to a study published in the April 2011 issue of ‘Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine,’ only around 25 percent of children who play team sports get enough daily exercise. Of the young athletes studied, many spent an average of 30 minutes standing or sitting during sports practice.¨ If ⅓ of all kids play sports, and only ¼ of them actually get adequate exercise from that sport, only 1/12 of all US kids get enough exercise. And getting exercise is only one piece of the benefit of walking to school. If kids walk to school, millions of cars nationwide would not be polluting the air. According to guide.saferoutesinfo.org, only 1/10 of kids walk to school in the US. According to the US 2012 census, there are 74.3 million kids in the US. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the average car gets 24 miles per gallon. According to Yahoo Answers, the average US house is 6 miles from the school. Since kids need to be picked up and dropped off at school every day, the distance
There are a number of federal, state, and local school programs to help students reach fitness goals. The missing link in having physically fit children seems to be the parents. They are allowing children to remain sedentary with the television and computers. Not enough children have parents who monitor their child’s activity schedules, expose them to physical activity, and who serve as role models in being active themselves. Sports involvement and competition is very important in a child’s life, but sometimes can go too far. Physical activity offers both positive and negative aspects in a child’s life.
One major aspect to being healthy is to have an active lifestyle, therefore one solution for child obesity is schools adding more opportunities for physical activity throughout the school day. Children should have at least 60 minutes of Physical activity everyday (Green, Riley, and Hargrove). One way to help this is by having gym everyday to help students to reach their 60 minutes of physical activity. Only 3% of elementary schools, 7.9% of middle schools a...
“Only one in three children are physically active every day,” (“Physical Activity”). This quote shows how important physical activity is for every kid because the only thing most kids want to do is play video games and watch tv all day. They need to start doing stuff around the house and stop being lazy every day and be active. Parents should limit the amount of time that their children spend on technology devices to encourage physical activity and promote social interactions.
Some activity clubs we provide include, dancing, running, jump roping, basketball and soccer clubs, just to name a few. These clubs encourage kids to stay active. Our PE program also sends out monthly newsletters to the parents that give them ways to help their child live a healthy lifestyle. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education states, “Regular physical activity improves functional status and limits disability during the middle and later adult years. Physical activity contributes to quality of life, psychological health, and the ability to meet physical work demands. Physical education can serve as a vehicle for helping students to develop the knowledge, attitudes, motor skills, behavioral skills, and confidence needed to adopt and maintain physically active lifestyles. The outcomes of a quality physical education program include the development of students’ physical competence, health-related fitness, self-esteem, and overall enjoyment of physical activity. These outcomes enable students to make informed decisions and choices about leading a physically active lifestyle. In early years children derive pleasure from movement sensations and experience challenge and joy as they sense a growing competence in their movement ability. Evidence suggests that the level of participation, the degree of skill, and the number of activities mastered as a child directly influences the extent to which children will continue to participate in physical activity as an
“Children who exercise regularly have higher levels of self-esteem.” (Brown, W.J. & Brown P.R., 1996, p19). Teaching Physical Education can have immediate health benefits as it helps normalise body weight and body composition. Physical activity also promotes positive mental health. Both immediate outcomes may be useful in motivating physical activity practices so that they have long term benefits. One of the main benefits of physical activity is that “it keeps children involved and that it invariably makes you feel good.” (Brown, W.J. & Brown P.R., 1996, p19). Getting the correct amount of Physical activity in school hours will decrease the rates of obesity and will reduce the risk of diabetes, asthma, heart disease and other health related illness’. Regular exercise for children also helps their cardiovascular health and bone development. There is also evidence that Physical Activity has a positive effect on mental health in children, including reducing anxiety and depression and improving their mood. However, there is some evidence that for children who don’t enjoy Physical Education it can have a negative impact on their self-esteem and
Regular exercise is very important for a healthy life; in addition to that a healthy lifestyle is also required. If a person has both then he is bound to be healthy. Nowadays people know more about the advantages of a healthy lifestyle through the interconnectedness of the world than they did 40-50 years ago but still according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre the percentage of adults with normal BMI went down from 41% to 34% in the years 1993-2012 in the United Kingdom. If a person has a healthy lifestyle he will feel more energy flowing through his body and will be able to do his work more efficiently and with proper concentration thus leading to a better quality life. Furthermore regular exercise reduces weight and maintains a healthy body. A healthy lifestyle also reduces the risks of life threatening diseases such as diabetes, heart attack, stroke and depression. Regular exercise is also known to improve your mood; any physical activity discharges chemicals in the brain that make a person feel happy. Should the governments be held responsible for their people’s regular exercise? Well people choose the governments so that they can provide for them and keep them happy, as discussed before people will be happy if they are healthy and the government should ensure that their people exercise regularly. Organizations such as NHS in the UK spend up to 8.4 billion pounds per year on people’s physical inactivity. this article will look at how regular exercise and healthy life styles affect a person’s life and what the governments do and should do to ensure that people take a lively approach towards regular exercise and stay fit.