Schools have an important role in helping children and teenagers develop healthy lifestyles to avoid obesity, argues Dr. Diane Kelsall, Deputy Editor, CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in an editorial.
"Obesity is a complex disease and prevention requires multilevel intervention," writes Dr. Kelsall. "It starts with the individual and family making good choices around exercise and food intake, but broader societal support is needed."
Almost one-third of school-aged Canadian children are overweight or obese.
What can schools do to encourage healthy lifestyles?
- Make exercise the norm by encouraging walking or biking to school and extending walk limits for school bus pick up.
- Ensure physical education classes are mandatory in high school as well as elementary school and that classes are long enough, and vigorous, to meet recommended activity levels.
- Cut sitting time by getting kids moving in class with short exercise breaks and kinetic learning.
- Serve healthy, appetizing food instead of high-calorie junk food.
- Start high school later to allow teenagers to sleep more. Lack of sleep is associated with an increased risk of obesity as well as less effective learning.
"Drastically changing our schools to help our children will require determination and support from all Canadians and levels of government. It will not be easy. But think about the smoking areas that used to exist in our high schools and you can see what can be achieved when we choose to do the right thing for our children," states Dr. Kelsall.