Monday, January 7, 2013

Daily Exercise Improves School Performance

"Now the study doesn't mean every teenager needs to be on a sports team. Exercise in any form, says psychologist Kazdin, is well worth it.
That could be a dance class, jogging or Wii sports. With school budget cuts, though, physical education is often the first thing to go. That's a big mistake, says Kazdin."

(Curiously the article overlooks the transport of students to school as a viable,  consistent, requisite means of daily exercise. -LS)

"This might be the first class you include in any school curriculum rather than the one you get rid of and you would do it even if you didn't like exercise because we know now that exercise enhances school academic performance," he says. "Why Exercise may do a Teenage Mind Good", Patti Neighmond, NPR.

Here is the paper the NPR article refers to, "Possible Mechanisms Explaining the Association Between Physical Activity and Mental Health", The SAGE Journals, Clinical Psychological Science.

4 comments:

  1. Having raised 2 teenaged boys, I concur. They need to be exercised a little every day.

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  2. A couple of weeks ago a LBHS Junior told me the school district just eliminated the remaining bus system for the high school. Sure enough there appear to be no more school buses servicing LBHS. (For schedules routes see www.lbusd.org/Page/2527 ) Now 1500 students depend on the family snob-mobile for a ride to school every morning, provided of-course they are not already driving their own. Anyone caught in the local LBHS campus traffic must wonder why a school district boasting lofty education standards can exercise such poor planning for rudimentary necessities as light bulbs and school buses. (FYI the District enrolls 3000 students on 4 campuses, and offer two bike racks for 13 bikes, total).

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  3. How does Joanne Culverhouse PhD Phy.Ed. and Principal LBHS justify this move?

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