Fitness Article of the Month
December 1998

Another fine article by Rich Destefano. A continuation of the Children and exercise series. Good Health and Fitness habits should start here! By the way, Happy and Healthy Holidays!! If you would like to contact Rich regarding this article or would be interested in his clinics, E-mail to: richard.destefano@yale.edu or check out his professional and athletic history page.

Best of Health,
Ron

Creating An Active Future for Our Children
by: Richard A. De Stefano, B.S.,ACSM.

Just recently I had attended my 5 year old daughter’s first PTA meeting and was disgusted to hear about the physical education program. The program was designed so that the kindergartener’s met once every other week. Recently released national survey data indicate that obesity rates in young Americans have skyrocketed in the past decade(1), and it seems certain that decreased physical activity must be a major contributor to this enormous public health problem.

So why is this taking place, and what do we as parents, educators, and health care professionals, do about it? There is no magical solution, but I would like to discuss with you:

Let’s face it. Our children are addicted to television and worse off, computer games. They have such great advertisements these days with role models like, Michael Jordan, Brett Farve, John madden, George Foreman, that kids are sold on it. If you seen a game or two, the graphics are unbelievable, and the characters are so life like in their 3-D screens. Yet, you grab a handful of these sloths and they can not do a simple push-up or pull-up. It’s too bad that this image is an accurate representation of our Amercian kids.

The percentage of youth meeting a vigorous activity standard has shown a steady decrease with increasing age, and fewer girls than boys meet the standard at all ages, with the gender disparity becoming more marked during the high school years. These trends raise serious concerns about the future physical activity habits of today’s youth. A worrisome prospect is that young Americans growing up during the technological boom of the 1980s and 90s may be on their way to an even more sedentary adulthood than today’s rather inactive adult population.

Available evidence indicates that physical activity behavior in children and adolescents is consistently associated with several demographic, physiological, psychosocial, and environmental factors.

Actions that we as parents can take to promote physical activity among young people:

The above information was summarized in further detail/information by Russell Pate, Ph.D. Dr. Pate is a professor and chair of the Department of Exercise science at the University of South Carolina.

This fitness article is for educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of health-care professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. Thanks. RM