Exergaming In Schools

For years, Americans have been told that exercising and staying active is imperative to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. In general, this fact holds true for all generations and age groups, including the youth of today. Children simply need to exercise and participate in more physical activities in order to maintain a high level of health. The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools suggests that, “one of the leading causes of this epidemic (childhood obesity) is a marked decline in physical activity and athletic participation” (“Athletics in Schools”). Childhood fascinations with watching television, playing video games, and browsing the internet are just a few of the sedentary hobbies taking over children’s free time to be active. Therefore, mandating physical activities in schools across the country will effectively reduce the frequency of this major, obesity health crisis in young students. Understandably, a plethora of factors cause and influence children to become overweight and obese, but working to fix each evident problem will, in the end, contribute to finally ending the developing childhood health crisis.

How do you expect kids to have fun or get some type of exercise if they do not play sports? Without the use of sports, the rate of obesity in kids increases dramatically as they tend to play more video games or sit around watching TV all day. Sometimes the kids want to play sports or do some type of activity but there’s always some type of excuses from the parents of why they can’t (for example: I’m too busy, I have to work). Organized sports would encourage parents to keep their kids moving. Yes, kids should play sports because it gets them out of the house more, a boost in confidence, and self-esteem.

Physical activity has not only physical benefits. It also has a very big impact on social-emotional and cognitive aspects of child’s live. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “The development of a physically active lifestyle is a goal for all children. Traditional team and competitive sports may promote healthy activity for selected youth. Individual sports, noncompetitive sports, lifetime sports, and recreational activities expand the opportunity for activity to everyone. The opportunity to be active on a regular basis, as well as the enjoyment and competence gained from activity, may increase the chances that a physically active lifestyle will be adopted.”

Healthy People implemented an extensive list of physical activity objectives targeting youth of all ages. The objectives are all aimed at promoting the health benefits of maintaining a physically active life-style. The following objective targets a major area of concern for the medical community and the increase of inactivity among today's youth; “PA-8.2.2; Increase the proportion of children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years who view television, videos, or play video games for no more than 2 hours a

Exercise is healthy for students. If kids do not have recess then they would not get their daily exercise. Teens between the ages of 14-18 should have at least 60 minutes a day of physical activity. When pre-teens start middle school there is no more recess (for the rest of their school life). With many students obtaining many hours of homework a night, how can it be expected that they to get 60 minutes each day of running, biking, swimming or walking? For example, if someone does not have any other activities that day, where are they going to get their exercise from? Many children suffer from obesity, but even children at healthy weight levels benefit from physical activity. “For sure, in light of America's childhood-obesity problem (17 percent of kids between 2 and 19 are obese), participating in recess is one of the few inexpensive, readily available opportunities we have to get kids moving” ( Millner). The outdoors is the best place for children to burn calories, practice physical skills and play. Research has even shown that children who are physically active in school are more likely to be physically active at home,

Think of it, kids only go to Physical Education or “gym” class every other day of the week. So that is about two or three times a week. Gym class only lasts about an hour of the day, and for some students, this is the only physical exercise that they have. When kids come home from school, they usually just sit down on the couch and watch TV until dinner time, study, and then play video games late at night, and then go to bed. The way we can get kids to develop a habit of more physical exercise is having gym class every day instead of just two to three. Also, instead of kids playing games that involve little to no activity, Schools should have kids focus on things like getting your body moving like running, yoga or sports games like baseball, football or volleyball. Things like this that kids can look forward to doing everyday may potentially lead to a child more encouraged to play with a ball afterschool and find a new hobby instead of sitting at home on the

A cross-sectional survey was conducted where seven hundred ninety two, 10 to 11 year old UK children in Bristol UK was conducted. An accelerometer tool was used to assess physical activity and mean minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and mean counts per a minute (CPM). Parenting practices were self-reported.

In 2008, 30.2% of youth ages 6 to 12 were active to a healthy level through sports(“Facts”). This shows that some kids are getting the minimum amount of physical activity. To raise this level, all kids should include sports in their daily life. All kids should be engaged in sports. Regular activity is required for good health and high school athletes are more likely to attend college.

Physical activity is essential for children; therefore sport participation has many physical benefits for youths (Willox, 1994). In the United States there is a very unhealthy trend of physically unfit children going on. According to a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health seven out of ten kids in our nation are out of shape and the incidence of obesity has increased by more than 50 percent among America's children and teen since 1976 and continues to grow at a staggering rate (Metzel & Shookhoff, 2006). When children participate in sports activities they get some of the exercise they need to improve their quality of life and can help prevent children from becoming obese. Physical activity regulates obesity because it increases energy expenditure, suppresses appetite, increases metabolic rate, and increases lean body mass (Willox, 1994). Even though regular physical sport activity has been shown to improve physical fitness, it can also help in preventing many different health problems down the line that youths who participate in sports are more likely not to develop than youths who do not participate in sports. Women who participated in organized sport and fitness programs as

Schools are considered child’s second home and in the past, the schools used to provide good amount of time for physical activities. Nowadays, schools are cutting hours from PE classes and recesses time and diverting this time for study related in-class sedentary activities which in turn result in children not getting the needed physical activities (daily, more than or at least 60 minutes of moderate level physical activity) recommended for their age group.

With the uprise of technology, kids are getting less and less exercise; but when schools provide after school athletics, students have a chance to stay healthy. In an article written by Tim O´Shei, he states that a 2012 study by the Datalys Center found that young athletes had higher scores in math and english than those who did not participate in sports (12).According to a 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine, physically active kids have more focus, are better problem solvers, and score higher on tests (O’Shei 12). This data highlights the fact that when children do physical activities it allows their brains to think harder and faster. Students staying healthy is very important and when schools give them the chance to exercise they can stay strong and active.

In this article, the authors presents study results from examining whether painting playgrounds with multicolored markings would increase the percent of recess time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity and vigorous physical activity in girls and boys. The authors also attempt to quantify the contribution recess makes to national recommendations for young people's physical activity. Ninety nine children completed the study. Physical activity levels were compared before and after playgrounds were painted in four intervention schools and compared to four matched schools with unmarked playgrounds. The authors concluded that multicolor playground markings can be a low-cost method of increasing children's daily physical activity

Numerous children today are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console. Even worse, some schools have banned the use of balls used at recess. An article in the Toronto

The controversial topic in the realm of physical education is if physical education should remain in schools. Higher up’s are complaining about test scores and suggesting that cutting physical education programs would lead to better test scores. Technically, this would lead to more time spent sitting in a desk and listening to lectures in class, which is supposed to improve test scores. So, the solution to increase test scores is to take the small chance of physical activity that children receive during the school day and keep them almost completely sedentary for six-plus hours. When physical activity is restricted during school hours, children do not regain the lost physical activity after school, resulting in children who remain

In the modern schools, too many elementary schools are so centered academics and don’t focus on the well-being of the students. The school systems also don’t realize that physical activity can help students perform better in the classrooms. In the recent years, there has been a worldwide tendency to reduce school-based physical education in favor of academic subjects. Given the beneficial effects of exercise and the disadvantages of a sedentary lifestyle, cutbacks in physical education lessons are not near as productive as people think. Systematic reviews provide clear