GYM IS NOT OPTIONAL IN FIGHTING CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Chicago Tribune
September 10, 2004
BYLINE: Guy Leahy

Unfortunately, the author of the letter "Harmful gym" (Voice of the People, Aug. 21) misses the point regarding childhood obesity. Assigning blame for the childhood obesity epidemic to hypothyroidism or other genetic diseases does not explain why rates of overweight children have greatly increased over the last two decades. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of children ages 6 to 11 who are overweight has increased from 7 percent in 1980 to 15 percent in 2000. The increase in prevalence of being overweight in teenagers has tripled (from 5 percent to 15 percent) in the same time period.

Such increases in overweight children have led to an increased number of cases of diseases in kids that have been previously extremely rare, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. For example, a recent study from Texas documented that nearly 20 percent of school-age children had high blood pressure.

Children are overweight for the same reasons adults are: They eat too much and don't exercise enough. A recent Canadian study that looked at the relationship between being overweight and behavior in 7- to11-year-olds found those children who participated in regular physical activities such as sports were far less likely to be overweight than children who engaged in sedentary recreation, such as TV watching and video games. Making gym classes optional is exactly the wrong solution to the problem, since overweight children who are in the greatest need of regular exercise would be the most likely to opt out of such classes.

The argument that "children who don't have a natural bent for gym-class functions can suffer permanent mental harm by being forced to attend gym" isn't logical, because (1) overweight kids suffer social stigmatization regardless of whether they attend gym class or not, and (2) depriving kids of an opportunity to become more physically active and lose weight simultaneously deprives them of an opportunity to improve their self-esteem as a result of being more physically fit. In addition, a growing number of innovative PE programs emphasize fitness activities and lifetime physical activity, rather than "organized sports or forced calisthenics." An excellent example of this "new PE" can be found at Madison Junior High School in Naperville. More information about this and other "new PE" programs can be found at www.pe4life.com.

The benefits of regular physical activity also extend into the classroom. For example, a recent California Department of Education study found significant correlations between physical fitness scores and reading and mathematics scores on standardized tests for middle school children. Those children who scored highest on the physical fitness tests also scored highest on the standardized tests. Rather than making physical education classes optional, as the author of "Harmful gym" suggests, we should redouble efforts to strengthen PE class curriculum in schools.