Over the last 25 years, there has been an alarming rise in the proportion of overweight and obese children. Obesity rates among children and youth have nearly tripled during this period. It is an issue that affects children everywhere in Canada. Like tobacco use, obesity substantially increases the risk of developing some of the most debilitating chronic diseases; obesity contributes to type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The Government of Canada has taken to help Canadian children live healthy lifestyles including:
- The Children's Fitness Tax Credit
- Eat Well and Be Active Toolkit &
- The Nutrition Facts Education Campaign
Our school will be applying this year as we have always implemented a myriad of initiatives that speak to the physical fitness and well being of our students. Most notably, our breakfast program in partnership with Halton Food For Thought and our Inside Ride Campaign. The former provides a healthy breakfast of raw cut oatmeal and fruit and the latter includes a large population of our Catholic Learning Community that spins for over an hour in teams in an effort to fundraise for cancer research. (Please note that our school has just been approved to deliver a Health and Physical Education Specialist High Skills Major for the 2011-2012 school year. See Guidance for details.)
We are also applying for a special grant that will allow at-risk students to spin for an hour first thing in the morning while monitoring their heart rates in an effort to improve their physical well being. This class will allow them to exercise and achieve a Health and Physical Education credit. We will also ensure that key courses such as English, Math and/or Science directly follow this first period class. Research findings cited from a wonderful book called "Spark" by Dr. Ratey, indicate that they will fare better in such courses right after exercise as opposed to any other time in the day.
He chronicles the positive effects that aerobic exercise has on the brain which in turn positively impacts, stress, depression, dementia, hormones and ADD/ADHD. Since more difficult classes such as math and science take place right after the aerobic exercise, there will be enough time to take advantage of the benefits of this exercise before it dissipates.
Dr. Ratey states scientific research indicates that aerobic exercise improves an individual's mental ccognition, takes the edge off by balancing the key attention, behavioural and motivational neurotransmitters of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. This will in turn improve academic success in courses such as English, Math and/or Science as the brain is in its optimum mode to receive and synthesis information.
Oh an by the way, have you heard about the soon to be implemented Policy/Program Memorandum No. 150? This is a beauty! It is the new School Food and Beverage Policy for September 2011. It will directly impact what schools in elementary and secondary sell to our children. Schools will need to account for what they sell by following a stringent formula that includes essential nutrients and lower amounts of fat, sugar and/or sodium. More to come on this topic. Just to leave you with the type of impact this may have on school commissions derived from cafeteria and school store sales that go directly back into the educational needs of our students...the following list are some of the products no longer allowed for sale in schools....
- all soft drinks diet or otherwise
- all sports drinks
- french fries
- cream cheese
- bagels
- chocolate bars and all candy
- chips
- anything that is fried
Thanks for reading. Looking forward to your comments.
Excellent article, Mr.DeSantis!
ReplyDeleteChildhood obesity is a problem: one I see in all my classes. Perhaps it's time to consider the idea that no secondary student gets a high school diploma without achieving a basic physical fitness level.
Mr.C.DiDiodato (St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary, Oakville)