The Physical Activity Levels Of Children Between The Ages Of Five

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.

A person’s level of physical activity is directly related to their physical literacy making it an extremely important topic. Canada’s Active for Life Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Model studies a variety of factors regarding the physical activity levels of Canadians. The topics that are studied include, the relationship between physical literacy and exercise behavior and adherence, developmental age, sensitive periods, mental, cognitive, and emotional development, competition, system alignment and integration, and continuous improvement. There are many other resources for finding information regarding people’s physical activity levels, including Statistics Canada; this source has an array of figures, from the annual census, regarding the populations of specific areas. For example, the Moncton, New Brunswick, 2016 census can be used to determine exercise behavior and adherence among local residents by using the figures presented along with other statistics from sources such as Weinberg and Gould’s book Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology.

Schools are the foundation of a child’s development years. (Bluearth, 2017) Most children and adolescents on average spend approximately 6 hours of 175 days over 12 years. This makes school the ideal setting for not only providing and promoting physical activity, but also for increasing and sustaining it at the population level. Engaging in regular physical activity gives children and younger people the opportunity to develop self-efficacy, respect for both themselves and others, and the opportunity to learn and push personal boundaries outside the classroom environment. Children who participate in sport and are physically active at a young age are more likely to become physically active adults.

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

You have heard, time and time again, how good exercise is for children. Most children aren’t getting the suggested amount of exercise

As mentioned previously, exercise is seen as one of the cornerstones of a healthy life. A review of 86 scientific papers concerning exercise benefits in school age children, conducted by Janssen and Leblanc, found that children aged 15-17 “should accumulate an average of at least 60 minutes per day and up to several hours of at least moderate intensity physical activity”(Janssen and Leblanc, 1). In fact, even a more modest level of activity would be sufficient in battling health risks, such as

Physical activity is a very important aspect of an individual’s life. There are many health benefits to being physically active. Living an active life helps to prevent and lower the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, depression, and heart disease (Tuso, 2015). Healthy People 2020 (2018) states that about 80% of adults and adolescents do not meet the physical activity guidelines. Staying active may be difficult if there are no community resources to help. The intention of this paper is to implement interventions within Paulding County that will help increase physical activity among community members.

Obesity in school-age children is a problem in North Carolina. “North Carolina is the 23rd most obese state in the United States for children www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/Data/Texts/Quick%20Facts.pdf – 31.4% of youth in North Carolina are overweight or obese” https://www.healthiergeneration.org/...childhood_obesity/.../north_caroli... (Child Obesity Rate). There is a mandated physical education requirement for school-age children attending public schools in North Carolina. The North Carolina State Board of Education Policy Manual states “that every kindergarten through eighth grade student should be engaged in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily” (Recess and Physical Activity). In spite of being clearly stated in policy and described in detail, many of the school-age children in North Carolina are still suffering from poor health. Based on the above information and recent research, the North Carolina State Board of Education needs to revise their policy on physical education. The new policy should state that school-age children in North Carolina “should participate every day in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity that is enjoyable and developmentally appropriate”. By increasing school-age children’s physical activity to 60 minutes a day, the obesity rate of school-age children in North Carolina will reduce.

Obesity in school-age children is a problem in North Carolina. North Carolina is the 23rd most obese state in the United States for children – 31.4% of youth in North Carolina are overweight or obese. (“Child Obesity Rate”) There is a mandated physical education requirement for school-age children attending public schools in North Carolina. The North Carolina State Board of Education Policy Manual states that every kindergarten through eighth student should be engaged in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily (“Recess and Physical Activity”). In spite of being clearly stated in policy and described in detail, the school-age children in North Carolina are still suffering from poor health. Based on the above information and recent research, the North Carolina State Board of Education needs to revise the policy on physical education. The new policy should state that school-age children in North Carolina should participate every day in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity that is enjoyable and developmentally appropriate. By increasing school-age children’s activity to 60 minutes a day, the obesity rate of school-age children in North Carolina will reduce.

Obesity levels in Canada have tripled over the last 30 years, according to Statistics Canada. Moreover, a recent study by the University of Manitoba by Dr. Henry Janzen has suggested that 90% of Canada’s adolescents are physically inactive. Even though, Manitoba is the only province in Canada in which physical education credits between grades 9 to grade 12 are required for graduation, the program is facing several issues from the large class size, limited space, and specialist versus generalist teachers issue. Thus, physical education programs needs to be enforced and should be mandatory nationwide.

Increasing physical activity levels in both children and adolescents is crucial since physical activity is associated with many health benefits, even if only by a few minutes a day. In order to determine effective interventions for increasing physical activity in both age groups, first an accurate measure of physical activity must be performed.

Parents are too reliant on cars instead of running their simple errands to stores on foot with their children. Other parents are very concerned with their child’s safety at the park or in the street without any parental vision. The lack of physical activity in children often translates into poor eating habits, and lack of exercise as adults, expanding their risk factors of poor health.

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

It is accepted that the incidence of childhood inactive behavior is increasing at a disturbing rate. The physical activity level and health behavior of the youth population has the capability to be a valuable instrument in countering this undesired behavior and the obesity pandemic as well as lowering all-cause mortality (Tudor-Lock et al., 2011). According to the center for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity rates have doubled among children since 1980 (McNamara et al., 2010). Being obese as a child amounts to having a 17% higher incidence of being obese as an adult then those children of healthy Body Mass Index or “BMI” (Tudor-Lock et al., 2011). It is documented that obesity in children is linked

In today’s society children are increasingly becoming less active. Lack of physical activity in childhood leads to obesity, can increase one’s risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and poor health status. Physical inactivity also increases one’s risk for dying prematurely, dying of heart disease, and colon cancer. Technology and video games have become a major factor in this and have seemed to take over and control lives of many children. Less children are involved with sports and few play outside. The lack of physical activity as a child, can pay huge dividends in the child’s health, into his/her adulthood.