The physical activity and fitness of our nation's children

Abstract

THERE WAS ONCE a time when one could drive around our nation’s communities, visit the parks, or stop by the schools’ gymnasiums and find children of all ages playing, running, participating in sporting events, and being involved in some type of physical activity. Since the information age, modern technology has promoted a more sedentary lifestyle with more and more individuals spending time sitting in front of the computer at their jobs and at home. Children and youth find watching television or playing video games more desirable and easier than physically participating in activities themselves. Even our school systems, because of limited financial resources, have contributed to sedentary lifestyles by devoting fewer resources to physical activity instructions, playgrounds, and after-school sports programs. The long-term effects of these recent trends in limited physical fitness and activity among our children will have a significant impact on the health of the nation in the future. This article focuses on the physical activity and the fitness of our children. An overview of the Healthy People 2000 results and the new Healthy People 2010 objectives in the area of physical activity and fitness will be discussed. Recent legislative initiatives to improve the health of our children and strategies to support those initiatives will be discussed. At the beginning of the 21st century, particular attention is being paid to health promotion and disease prevention as shown by Healthy People 2000 (HP2K) objectives and the recent unveiling of the Healthy People 2010 objectives. Physical activity and fitness remain one of the major priority areas for the Healthy People 2010 objectives. The Healthy People 2000 Midcourse Review (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1995) showed some improvement in overall physical activity for the U.S. population. However, there was still a decline in the percentage of students engaged in daily school physical education. There has been a 50% drop of required physical activity in high school physical education programs from 1991 through 1997. Only one state in the U.S., Illinois, currently requires daily physical education from kindergarten through the 12th grade. HP2K results also showed that 1 in 5 teenagers, as well as 1 in 3 adults, is overweight, which is one of the consequences of decreased physical activity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2000 Midcourse Review, 1995, p. 25). Other potential consequences of being overweight are poor self-esteem, increased violence, missed school days owing to illness, increased orthopedic problems, and increased risk for developing chronic diseases like asthma and type II diabetes mellitus (Moran, 1999, p. 861; U.S. Senate, 1999). Unfortunately, many of these childhood onset consequences, caused by being physically inactive and overweight, will also be carried over into adulthood. The lack of physical education affects our nation’s future and requires a multidimensional approach to not only meet the HP2K objectives but also to close the gap as recommended by the Healthy People 2010 objectives. The impact of poor health habits costs the nation more than $100 billion per year, and inactivity and poor diet cause more than 300,000 deaths per year From the Division of Nursing, Graduate Family Nurse Practitioner Program, Howard University, Washington, DC. Address reprint requests to Dr. Stephanie L. Ferguson, 46809 Trailwood Place, Sterling, VA 20165-7544. E-mail: drslferg@aol.com Copyright 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company 0882-5963/00/1504-0008$10.00 doi:10.1053/jpdn.2000.8045