Increased fitness for children - Research Paper Example

Physical and mental fitness are much needed health conditions not only for the children but also for the adults to perform better in their day to day activities. The success and failures of a person depends on his physical and mental fitness. Mahatma Gandhi once said that a sound mind may exist only in a sound body. It should be noted that mind controls all the humanly activities and hence healthy mind is as important as a healthy body. Both mind and the body complement each other and help a person to achieve his goals in life.
Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers. The new study, which used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 child subjects, appears in the journal Brain Research (Children's Brain Development Is Linked to Physical Fitness, Research Finds, 2010)
Doctors and healthcare professionals often stress the importance of nutritious food and exercises during childhood for the proper development of body and mind. Some parents have the habit of feeding nutritious food to their children and neglect the importance of physical exercises of their children. Such parents do believe that nutritious food is the only requirement for the physical development of their children. This is totally a wrong concept. Nutritious food without physical workout sessions may cause obesity among children which may affect their mental development. Plenty of studies have proved that obesity is one of the major reasons for lack of self esteem among children. Needless to say those obese children may face social isolation, bullying and harassment from peers because of their inability to move just like normal children. One or two hour or at least 30 minute exercise in children each day will improve their learning capabilities and overall health. The purpose of this paper is to prove how more physical activity and better nutrition in the schools can decrease the obesity rate. If children are taught early, how to maintain good health they are more likely to carry good habits throughout their lives. Having better nutrition and more physical activity can also help improve a student’s grades. Relation between obesity, fitness and academic achievements among children Though people typically think of young children as naturally getting lots of physical exercise, recent studies suggest this may not be the case. Poor nutrition and lack of exercise are jeopardizing the young children's abilities to do well in school and to stay in good health (Murphey et al., 2011, p.9). Many parents have the illusion that their children are getting enough opportunities both at home and in schools for maintaining a sound physical health. This was true in the case of children around two three decades before when technology and advanced living standards were less. Many children in the past used bicycles to reach their schools; however current children are using either school buses or own vehicles for reaching their schools. In other words, natural opportunities for getting proper workouts are getting diminished as time goes on. Children in the past were eager to play with their friends. They were interested in playing some games in the company of their friends. However, modern children are spending majority of their leisure time in front of computers, internet, mobile phones and television sets. Moreover, while spending time in front of these modern equipment, children are taking foods also. In other words, one way they are reducing their time for physical workouts and in the other way they are taking foods more than what they actually require maintaining their physical health. Thus, obesity like health problems are started to evolve even during childhood. According to the 2011 statistics published by National Health and Examination Survey ... Read More