Word: gyms
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...says he’s going to hold onto his relationship with Harvard—if not as a tenured professor, then as a devoted fan of the women’s hockey team, a group he got to know personally during his days working out in the varsity gym...
...have lasting results. The largest school-based health-intervention study ever done was a mid-1990s trial, involving 5,000 children in four states, called CATCH (Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health). Aimed at preventing heart disease rather than obesity, it showed that improvements in the lunchroom, gym class and health instruction could change kids' eating habits and activity levels at school and at home. And the lessons stuck. A follow-up study three years later found that kids who had been through CATCH from third grade through fifth grade still had a healthier diet and were more physically...
...most important anti-obesity lessons must be delivered in the gymnasium. Sallis and the others want the nation's schools to revive the tradition of daily physical-education classes and make sure those classes provide an adequate workout. Studies have shown that in a typical elementary-school gym class, each kid engages in moderate to vigorous activity for only about 3 minutes. Sallis' group has devised a program called SPARK (Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids) that ensures at least 15 minutes of activity for every child, which has achieved measurable improvements in fitness...
Some parents fear that more time in the gym means less achievement in class, but Sallis' SPARK research suggests otherwise. Academic performance can actually improve with more activity. There may be other benefits as well. Ludwig observes that during years in which phys ed has declined, the nation has seen big increases in attention-deficit disorder and childhood depression. "It shouldn't be so surprising that low physical-activity levels would have adverse effects on a child's emotional health," he says. "Exercise benefits overall well-being, not just body weight...
Nobody wants his kid to be fat. Aside from the serious health issues, there's the gym-class issue, the last-one-picked-for-the-team issue, the clothes-shopping issue and, alas, the meanness issue. Being an overweight kid is often painful. Other kids can be cruel; even teachers can be biased. And, let's face it, a blubbery kid is a bad reflection on the parent. It suggests too much junk food in the pantry, too much time in front of the TV and other failures of parental oversight. For a parent who also carries too many pounds...