Healthy Living for Real People
Posts tagged school
Test Shows Exercise Makes Kids Smarter
May 10th
It’s a zoo at our house lately — well, actually it’s more like a gymnasium.
Whatever you want to call it, it’s really busy around here!
We’re in the middle of shooting video episodes for our upcoming Exercise Essentials online fitness series.
While taking a breather between scenes, we found some interesting research released last week during the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Denver.
The research provided quantifiable evidence that exercise is good not only for the body but also the mind.
First- through sixth-graders in Charleston, S.C. took part in a program that called for exercise at school 40 minutes a day, five days a week. Previously, these kids spent only 40 minutes per week exercising at school.
Researchers compared state standardized reading test scores for the year before and the year after initiation of the program.
The percentage of students reaching their goal on the state tests increased from 55 percent before the program was initiated to 68.5 percent after the program was initiated.
Can you imagine the impact if the kids had also improved their diets?!
“More studies are needed,” researchers said, “but there is growing substantial evidence that this kind of physical activity may help improve academic behavior, cognitive skills and attitudes.”
Do popular people get the flu first?
Sep 16th
Now that everyone has been back to school for a few weeks, germ swapping is rampant and parents are clamoring to keep their kids healthy!
It stands to reason that the more contact a person has with others, the more susceptible that person would be to various illnesses. A new study is investigating this theory and has found that those at the center of social networks may catch the flu before their friends do.
The study had Harvard graduates name their friends. The names were cross-referenced and those who were named at least once were put in a special category. As it turns out, people in that “popular” category contracted the flu an average of 14 days earlier than those not in the category. Furthermore, the epidemic peaked 46 days in the popular category before it peaked in the general population.
In the past several years, the researchers have published similar studies on obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, depression, happiness, and loneliness.
Popular or not, a strong immune system – including a junk-free diet – is your best defense!
PS – Come see us at the Raw Spirit Festival at Watson Lake near Prescott, AZ, September 24-26. We’ll be speaking at 1 pm on Saturday (Sept 25).
Soft drink ban reduces obesity in CA schools
Aug 17th
California appears to be leading the way in the battle against childhood obesity.
An analysis including more than 8 million California children and teens showed encouraging declines in obesity following a peak in 2005 among Asian and white boys and girls and among Hispanic boys — the same year that California lawmakers banned the sale of sugary soft drinks and snacks in schools and took other actions to address childhood obesity.
California is also one of the few states that require school-based BMI assessment, which is conducted in the fifth, seventh, and ninth grades.
It’s human nature to let things go until there’s a real problem. Even Rev. Malkmus didn’t stop to think about dietary behaviors before he discovered that he had colon cancer; in fact, he created The Hallelujah Diet in hopes of informing others about the perils of bad diet before it led to something like the cancer he had, or childhood obesity for that matter.
Emulate California’s actions – take the lead in your community to make people aware of dietary dangers… you may be surprised at the positive power of your suggestion!
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