motd Wed Jan 25, 2012

[Guest guest]

I TOLD THEM SO!

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

A recent article in Time magazine made

me stop and read. The headline of the story was Reason For

Recess. You know how hard I've been working to

get P.E. back into our public schools so you can see

why the title of the story grabbed my attention. Now

take a look at what the article had to say.

Children who get more

exercise tend to have higher GPAs and better

standardized test scores.

Researchers in the Netherlands report that children

who get more exercise, whether at school or on their

own, tend to have higher GPAs and better standardized

test scores. In a review of 14, that's 14 studies

that looked at physical activity and academic

performance, researchers found that the more children moved,

the better grades they had in school. Their tests

scores were especially better in subjects like math,

English and reading. I love it!

On top of that news, according to the Centers for

Disease Control & Prevention, students need about one hour of involved

physical activity a day to get healthy and stay healthy. (By

the way, that's how much I've always recommended for

all of you.)

But the CDC has discovered that only 18% of high

school students met that level of physical activity in

a 2009 survey. Worse, 23% of high school students

never exercised at

all! How sad is that!?

Arguments against P.E. in

school have always included the bad idea that gym time

takes away from study time.

All of that news brings me to this: Arguments against

P.E. in school have always included the bad

idea that

gym time takes away from study time. Lots of school

administrators believe students need to spend more

time in the classroom in an effort to raise their

overall academic test scores. Hey, who doesn't want

to see our kids excel academically, right?

But studies show that exercise and academics can't be

separated. In fact, they go

hand-in-hand. Physical activity improves blood

flow to the brain which fuels memory, attention and

even creativity, all of which are essential to

learning.

Not only that, the same study found that

exercise releases hormones that can improve mood and

suppress stress. Now come on, how many of my messages

have told you just

that. I'm

talking about how important exercise is to YOU...for

those very same reasons. Turns out, exercise not only

makes you feel better but it can help make you smarter,

too!

P.E. and learning are a

match made in Heaven.

See, I've been trying to tell them. Let's get our

kids hooked on P.E.! You can help by joining my P.E. Crusade

for America's school children by clicking on this

link.

Oh, yes! I've always said that P.E. and learning are a

match made in Heaven for our school children. And now

I have the research behind me to back it up. See? I told them

so!

Love,