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PE Class Curbs Teen Obesity (June 2010) |
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A study published recently in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine suggests that regular participation in physical education (P.E.) class can help reduce obesity rates among low-income teenagers, United Press International reports. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) surveyed the physical activity habits and P.E. participation levels of more than 9,200 seventh- and ninth-grade students attending 19 public schools in lower-income communities. According to the data, students who spent at least 20 minutes engaged in exercise during P.E. classes had significantly lower body mass indices (BMI) than those who did not, with BMI decreasing by an average of 0.7 points among students in ninth grade. In addition, students who engaged in regular exercise ran, on average, a mile time that was 2.7 minutes faster than those who did not get regular exercise. Finally, students who reported enjoying P.E. class scored higher on the fitness test than their peers who reported disliking the class. Lead author Kristine Madsen, M.D., MPH, noted that “physical education was by far the most significant predictor of students’ fitness and was the only variable associated with improved weight status,” suggesting that schools may be underutilizing P.E. as a way to address childhood obesity. Madsen concluded that schools “need to increase the importance of physical education in schools” and evaluate schools’ physical education performance in the same manner in which they are evaluated in academics (UPI, 11/11/09; UCSF release, 11/5/09; Madsen et al., Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, November 2009 [registration required]). ***Original Source: http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/digest.jsp?id=25421 |
