By: MARY ANN MOON, Family Practice News Digital Network
Unless rules specify that schoolchildren get more of both physical education and recess, schools are likely to trim time from one to boost the other, therefore leaving kids’ total level of physical activity ultimately unchanged and inadequate, researchers say.
According to a study published online Dec. 5 in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, both state laws and school district policies mandating or recommending increased physical activity during the school day are effective at increasing PE class time and recess time among elementary students.
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Without state laws or school policies enforcing both recess and physical education, kids are unlikely to receive an adequate amount of physical activity.
But schools tend to "compensate for any increased physical activity in one area by decreasing other physical activity opportunities," an important finding for policy makers to understand, wrote Sandy J. Slater, Ph.D., of the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and her associates.
Dr. Slater and her colleagues examined this issue in what they described as the first study to assess nationally the impact of state- and district-level policies on public grade-school PE and recess time practices.
They cited previous research indicating that fewer than 20% of third-grade students at public schools in the United States are offered both 150 min/week of PE as well as one or more 20-minute session of recess per day that are recommended by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.
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https://www.familypracticenews.com/single-view/laws-can-raise-physical-activity-time-for-kids/7fbb14415b.htmloldId.2011120814382659
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