From Your Health Journal…..”NBC usually posts some great stories about children’s health and fitness, and today’s review from NBC is about keeping recess in school. As childhood obesity rises, and children show risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, recess and physical education programs are being cut over and over – contributing to children gaining weight. I have been involved the children’s health and fitness field for over 30 years, and I have seen so much ‘negative’ change in weight and attitude towards physical activity. Technology has overtaken physical activity, and children are eating more junk food. Recess is such a key component to the health and welfare of a child – – not to mention it enhances cognitive activity in children. This article also states that 77 percent of nearly 2,000 principals surveyed in a 2009 Gallup poll on recess, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reported withholding recess from children as punishment. So, the bottom line, support your local PE and recess at school, for contributing to a healthier child. Please visit the NBC site (listed below) for the full story.”

From the article…..

Daily recess, it seems, is going the way of the dinosaurs – but it shouldn’t, the nation’s pediatricians say.

As more and more grade schools drop this time-honored break from their schedules, members of the American Academy of Pediatrics are speaking out in hopes of reversing the trend, pointing to recess’s benefits to both learning and health.

In a position statement released Monday in the journal Pediatrics, the AAP laid out the scientific evidence showing that kids need daily recess to keep them mentally sharp and physically healthy.

“Every school needs to find a way for recess to happen for every child,” says the paper’s co-author Catherine Ramstetter, a health educator at The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences in Cincinnati. “And it shouldn’t be something that is taken away because a kid forgot to bring his homework.”

Yet 77 percent of nearly 2,000 principals surveyed in a 2009 Gallup poll on recess, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reported withholding recess from children as punishment. The Gallup report, called “The State of Play,” also noted that one in four elementary schools no longer provides recess to all grades.

Unfortunately, Ramstetter says, recess has been an easy target for school administrators who are afraid of lawsuits over playground accidents and who feel pressured to improve academic performance by adding more instruction time. That approach is just wrong-headed, she says.

“We hope to encourage parents to make the case that recess helps with education,” Ramstetter says. “Research shows that children who take a break are more ready to be learning.”

In fact, studies have shown that kids are more attentive and productive when they get a break from academics, Ramstetter notes. And while some educators would like to believe that moving from math class to reading constitutes a break, Ramstetter says, “shifting from numbers to words isn’t enough. That’s just a shift in the kind of demands.”

The downtime recess provides gives kids’ brains a rest and also a chance to think more creatively, Ramstetter says. And for antsy kids, recess can be a time to blow off steam, allowing them to focus better when classes resume.

To read the full article…..Click here