October 19, 2005
The 2005 National High School Activities week continues today with Youth Health Awareness Day, a day to promote health awareness education and a time to encourage healthy lifestyles.
Did you know?
The Surgeon General’s report, on Physical Activity and Health, said that "regular participation in physical activity during childhood and adolescence:
The report goes on to say that "participation in physical activity increases adolescents’ self-esteem.
Over the past two decades, the percentage of obese adolescents has increased dramatically. According to the American Obesity Association, in 2000, 15.5 % of America’s youth (ages 12 to 19) were considered to be obese. That is a 210% increase in just 20 years. The World Health Organization has now declared obesity a global epidemic, affecting 60% of all Americans and more than 300 million people nationwide.
In the second term of his administration, President Bill Clinton issued an Executive Memorandum directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Education to work together to identify and report on "strategies to promote better health for our nation’s your through physical activity and fitness." The resulting report entitled "Promoting Better Health for Young People Through Physical Activity and Sports" states that "enhancing efforts to promote participation in physical activity and sports among young people is a critical national priority." In a recent report entitled "Sports Participation and Health-Related Behaviors Among US Youth" (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine) it was reported "nationwide, 62.4% of high school students reported participating on one or more school sports teams in the previous year. The major conclusion drawn from the analyses performed in this study is that, in the most populous demographic subgroups of US high school students, sports participation is associated with multiple positive health behaviors…sports programs promote positive health behaviors and deter negative health behaviors by placing a premium on personal health and fitness to optimal sports performance."
Finally, other research has shown that students who participate in interscholastic sports are less likely to be regular and/or heavy smokers or use drugs, and are more likely to stay in school and have good conduct and high academic achievement. So while it may seem cliché to say that there is more to sports and activities than winning or losing, one could argue that participation is the most important reason. Sports and Physical activity programs can introduce young people to skills such as teamwork, self-discipline, sportsmanship, leadership and socialization.