Children have become more and more sedentary over the years and the amount of physical activity that children get at a young age is decreasing. In recent years children have become more sedentary, leading to increased health issues, such as obesity. Many social determinants affect how children are raised and what they are exposed to in their daily lives, because “health starts where we live, learn, work and play” (A New Way to Talk about the Social Determinants of Health).
Young kids are directly affected by what their parents go through. Some of the social determinants that affect the physical activity of children are socio-economic status of the family, advances in technology, and social media. Children growing up in lower socioeconomic classes may have more difficulties being active because many of those in poverty live in neighborhoods that are unsafe, attend schools that lack the appropriate funding, and aren’t able to afford to pay fees to participate in sports teams. For example, taekwondo is a great way for children to learn discipline and be physically active, but paying for classes at a studio and paying for the uniform and other supplies needed is expensive. Also, many parents in poverty work far more than those in higher socioeconomic levels, which means that they have less time to spend taking their children to parks and encouraging them to be healthy and active. Schools in low-income neighborhoods do not receive the funding needed to maintain physical education classes or after school programs that encourage children to be active. While wealthier schools have more resources and funding. All of these things derive from being on the lower end of the socio-economic ladder (Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? 2008).
Other social determinants are social media and technology. This current generation of children has grown up around smart phones, iPads, and game consoles. New technology has allowed to children to be entertained and play with their friends from the comfort of the couch. The availability and popularity of video games has caused to children to spend the majority of their time playing on a screen allowing them to then spend their time at home while still maintaining friendships. Technology and social media are great thing, but they have also caused a decrease in the physical activity of children. It is important to understand the social determinants that public health programs and interventions are attempting to mend.
Portland’s professional basketball team, The Trail Blazers, is using their status to educate young kids about being healthy and playing outside. Their foundation sponsors many programs to get young fans and their peers out and moving (NBA Make It Better). Both Playworks and The FIT Project are non-profit organizations in the Pacific Northwest that work to engender a healthy lifestyle. The FIT Project (Families In Training) coaches families in need about nutrition, exercise, and healthy lifestyle habits. Not only are the children learning about how to make better choices, but the parents as well, so when the child comes home from school, the whole family is on the same page. Having that same set of values allows continuity from home life to school life. And the benefits add up:
The lifestyle habits learned lead in to those that the Playworks organization is fostering in elementary aged students across the United States. Playworks endeavors to encourage teamwork, fair play and conflict management during recess. When students feel comfortable playing, they play harder and “when it becomes a healthy, integral part of the school day, kids carry that positive recess experience with them beyond the playground” (Playworks). On their website they account a “94 percent…increase in students' abilities to focus in class after recess”. Students are being held accountable for their own happiness, which creates less stress in their lives and promotes fun and play with other students. As Playworks says, “On our playgrounds, everyone plays, everyone belongs, everyone contributes to the game”. This inclusion is necessary for children to become active healthy students. Both programs are helping children learn tools that will serve them their entire lives.
These programs are doing an amazing job with both advocacy and action. There is a lot of evidence of the effectiveness of these programs. One of the many examples of evidence showing that the programs are effective is within the Playworks recess program. Through a randomized controlled trial, benefits of the program included less bullying, more time for teaching, and more physical activity with the group. “Accelerometer data showed that children in Playworks schools spent significantly more time in vigorous physical activity at recess than their peers in control schools (14 percent versus 10 percent of recess time—a 43 percent difference)” (Playworks). It may be difficult for the schools to allow for these recess times and physical activity with the shrinking budgets, but the evidence shows that it is very important. The schools that the program Playworks is working with are showing effectiveness with the children. There have been increases in not only the fitness of the children due to the physical activity but improvements in the classroom have also been reported. The physical activity helps the children to focus more while they are in the classroom. “…students from schools with Playworks reported higher levels of physical activity, participation at school, problem-solving, and goals/aspirations compared to students from schools without Playworks.” (Playworks). The data is evident within these programs.
The inactivity in children has been increasing in society these days. With all the new technologies that have been introduced to the world, many children have become less active as they spend more of their hours watching television, playing video games and looking through the internet. It is absolutely crucial that these children change their inactive behaviors. We as a society need to promote a better lifestyle as done in the Playworks education program and also the FIT Project. These programs have allowed children to take the concepts from recess and apply them to their lives in the future. Besides implementing these programs, our society can also invest more in education so that children have the knowledge and skills required to take advantage of opportunities. By giving these children the opportunity to make healthier choices and better decisions, we will be constructing a better society for the future.
References
About FIT. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://thefitproject.org/about-fit/
A New Way to
Talk about the Social Determinants of Health. (2001, January 1). Retrieved
November 13, 2014, from http://www.rwjf.org/en/research-publications/find-rwjf-research/2010/01/a-new-way-to-talk-about-the-social-determinants-of-health.html
Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program. (2014, June 10).
Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/physicalactivity/cspap.htm
Dobbins, M., De Corby, K., Robeson, P., Husson, H., & Tirilis, D.
(2009). School-based physical activity programs for promoting physical activity
and fitness in children and adolescents aged 6-18. Cochrane database syst
rev, 1.
How Playworks. (2013, January 1). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.playworks.org/about/how-playworks
Programs. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.nba.com/blazers/makeitbetter/programs
Photograph References
[Untitled photo of students
with hands raised]. Retreived December 1, 2014 from shutterstock.com
[Untitled
photo of students posing at recess]. Retreived December 1, 2014 from
http://www.playworks.org/communities/pacificnw/about
Wesley Matthew gets ready for
a serve from a Junior Coach in a game of four-square [online image]. Retrieved
December 1, 2014 from
http://www.playworks.org/communities/pacificnw/news/trail-blazers-and-playworks-partner#sthash.6FrQtyMZ.dpuf
Group 4
Jen, Musa, Romnick, Liz, + Beau
No comments:
Post a Comment