Gym Class Not Dead Weight in Schools

Soda taxes, fat taxes, school bans on sugary snacks and drinks - diet seems to be a key part of whatever new legislation is fielded in American state houses.  It makes perfect sense - if the public takes out the trash in its collective diet, the obesity rates will slim down to nothing.

Won't they?

Unfortunately, as any health enthusiast will tell you, eating right is far from a be-all and end-all.  While cutting calories from your diet produces more dramatic results, studies are showing that these may not last.  Many people who fiercely regulated their food intake hadn't lost significantly more weight than those who hadn't dieted at all.  This suggests that to affect long term change, it may be much easier to implement (and maintain) a small shift in one's daily to weekly physical routine than a radical shift in one's daily diet.

Though what kind of legislation could encourage citizens to incorporate adequate exercise into their daily lives?  The ancient  Celts  supposedly had a law under which if a member of the tribe grew too fat, they were fined.  That would probably do the trick.

Barring taking a leaf out of the ancient Brits' book, how else can our law-makers find a way to get the American people moving (aside from initiatives by First Ladies who appear on Disney Channel)? 

Like the healthy eating campaigns, most would say public schools are the best starting point, where kids learn habits and values that stick with them long after graduation.  Senators and representatives alike are lobbying on Beacon Hill for more stringent physical activity requirements for schools.  Increasing an emphasis on physical activity would reverse a trend of the last several years from back in 1999, when Massachusetts developed its own standards for physical education. 

To judge from last year's numbers on high school and middle school students, the Bay State's views could use some tweaking.

• Among high schoolers, 25 percent were obese or overweight
• 66 percent of high school and 67 percent of middle school students did not meet the recommended levels of physical activity for at least five days per week
• 30 percent have watched more than three hours of television on an average school day
• 30 percent played video games or used the internet for non-school related purposes on an average school day (CDC recommends no more than two hours of non-school media usage per day)

Those are only some of the more striking figures.  Currently, elementary schools don't need to have daily recesses and high school graduations do not specify the number of physical education requirements needed for graduation.  This has lead to school boards cutting down on gym class budgets , in favor of setting aside more time and money for academic classes.  While these do and should come first, putting more time in the school day would help lessen some of the constraints on districts. 

So where does that leave us?  Probably with another reminder of the sheer change in lifestyle we need to keep working towards (as if we needed it).  A better way would likely be that we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket - even if soda went the way of tobacco and faded from our schools, it wouldn't matter if we all took motorized scooters down the hallways.  Likewise if we all worked out five times a day yet had fried chicken for every meal.