Childhood Obesity (7) - Physical activity

The World Health Organization recommends that “at least 60 minutes of regular, moderate- to vigorous-intensity each day” (WHO, 2008b). From the current Elementary Curriculum, a stipulation of “a minimum of twenty minutes each day of vigorous physical activity pales far below the World Health Organization’s recommendation. It is not seem enough, nor has it been followed coherently by school’s curricular administrators. The minimum time should be increased to 60 minutes, as recommended by the World Health Organization. In addition, the “each day” stipulation has not been adhered to constantly.
A study showed that children of low-income families face more obstacles than their peers of middle- and upper-income families even if they want to participate in more physical activities such as lack of transportation, cost of equipment and fees for certain sports (Evers et al., 2007). The government should consider providing more funding to schools in low-income communities so that such schools can purchase sports equipment, perhaps used ones, so that children can play sports after school. School boards should also schedule school buses that run later so that children can have a viable means to get home after finishing after-school physical activities.

Reference
WHO (2008b). “What can be done to fight the childhood obesity epidemic?” World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/childhood_what_can_be_done/en/.
Evers, S., et al. (2007). Persistence of Overweight among Young Children Living in Low Income Communities in Ontario. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 26(3):219-224, 2007.