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IOM: Whole-school approach recommended for physical activity
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An Institute of Medicine report shared at Obesity Week 2013 gives many recommendations for schools to best approach the physical health of students, including making physical education part of the core curriculum.
“Schools have played a role in child health for a long time in terms of vaccines, nutrition, and other aspects,” Nicolas Stettler, MD, MSCE, a member of the Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment, said in an interview with Endocrine Today. “If they can take this on as another thing they encourage for the overall health of the children, it’s going to help a lot.”
Stettler and the IOM stated that students should have access to 60 minutes of vigorous or moderate-intensity physical activity per day, of which half should be during traditional school hours.
Nicolas Stettler
“In addition to the quantity of physical education, it is important also that the quality is good … and that it is delivered by teachers who are well trained in physical education,” Stettler said.
The IOM report specifically recommended preservice training and professional development for teachers in the area of physical education. In addition, Stettler explained that physical activity should be monitored and data gathered to demonstrate improvement.
“While we know what children eat pretty well and how it’s changed over time, we know very little about physical activity, so one of the recommendations was to have systems set up so that physical activity and physical education and related policy could be monitored over time so we could see how we were doing and if we were doing better,” he said.
In considering any and all changes to a school, authorities should consider physical education, Stettler said.
“A lot of school policies do have an impact on physical activity, but it’s not always something that authorities think about,” he said. “We urged authorities to keep in mind physical activity when they make any decisions such as the type of architectural changes that occur, changes in the schedule, etc.”
One of those changes, if the IOM is successful, would be the addition of physical education to the core curriculum, which would affect funding and resources allotted to public schools for physical education. These types of resources might better allow schools to fulfill the final recommendation of the IOM: ensuring equity in access to physical activity.
Stettler said besides advising patients on physical activity needed in children and adolescents, physicians can become advocates for these recommendations.
“Unlike what is often thought, time spent in physical activity is not taking away from academic achievement,” he said. “A lot of principals in schools have restricted physical education or physical activity so that the kids can study more for tests but it’s been shown — and it’s pretty clear — that it’s counterproductive because they actually don’t do as well if they’re deprived of those physical activity opportunities.”
For more information:
Stettler N. Whole-of-school approach for physical activity in children and adolescents: Consensus report of an IOM committee. Presented at: Obesity Week; Nov. 11-15, 2013. Atlanta.
Disclosure: Stettler has received grants or financial support from Pork Board and was an employee of Exponent.