Physical Activities from Health Perspective of Children - Essay Example

Physical Activity and Interventions in Children Prepared by Submitted to Word Count 2279 Contents Introduction 3 Play 4 Children in Play Ground and Recess 4 Organized Sports as an Intervention for Physical Activity 6 Physical Activities from Health Perspective of Children 7 Physical Fitness and Interventions 9 Evaluation 10 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction The interventions regarding physical activities are important for children in primary schools (aged from 5 to 11) as it helps in avoiding most chronic diseases in their future. As physical activity is causing 6,00,000 deaths in European region, the interventions regarding physical activity for the children in primary schools like cycling to school, walking to school and other activities on weekly basis will help them to have physical activity in their daily life. As the physical activities like marking the play ground, which encourages the play activities is important to indulge them in games and sports. As the play activities help the children in muscle building the sports and games can act as important interventions that can avoid diabetes in children. As the physical activity interventions have enough evidence that can avoid diabetes in children, it is as well important to decrease overweight and obesity in children. As obesity is due to the increase of energy intake than the energy expenditure, the physical interventions are necessary for the reasonable energy expenditure in the children. In addition to that the physical activity can help in maintenance of musculoskeletal health and can reduce the increase of fat due to sedentary life style in children. In addition to above aspects, the physical activities will help in psychological development and well being of children as they are capable of avoiding depression, stress and anxiety. As the development of social skills in children need physical activities as well as classroom activities, the physical interventions in primary school children will develop a positive self-image and self esteem thus increasing the quality of life (WHO, 2006). 1 Play Townsend, Tony (19980 quotes Comenius (1657) and Pestalozzi (1898) along with Froebel (1903) about the physical interventions in the form of play in early childhood education. All the above authors recognized play as 'work' of children and is significant in their activities. Supporting the above theory of play, recent works by Anning (1994), Berk (1994) insisted that the inclusion of play in programs can provide theoretical support. In addition to the clinical benefits, the physical activities are helpful in learning also. In addition to that the children in future can develop socially cooperative behavior by engaging themselves in physical activities. To have long term goals from the physical activities, highly skilled teachers are necessary to judge the situation, intervention and recording the events for future planning. To have long term gains, teachers in primary schools should understand the play activities as well as physical activities as tools for learning as well as health. The physical activities can make children to achieve individual and group objectives. To achieve the results of physical activities and for timely implementation of them, the parent teacher partnership is necessary for long term gains of physical activities of children. 2 Children in Playground and Recess Just before analyzing the long term and health benefits of physical activity in children, their playground and recess behavior concern is important. Pellegrini, Anthony (1994) quotes Craig Hart (1993) that emphasizes the importance of recess for children. It is the unique part of the school day and enables children to interact with each other thus paving way for their social behavior of the future. As classrooms do not have peer interaction, the recess provides that and can act as emotional ventilation making them mentally healthy. The physical activities can be termed as important tools for peer interaction between children as they can be played with some rules and regulations suitable to 5-11 year age children. As there is no specific policy in number of areas, the physical activities based interaction between children may differ from school to school or from district to district. Hence to have an uniform and scientific interaction between children through physical activities a policy regarding physical activities in recess should be developed by administrations. And should be made part of the primary school curriculum. The policy regarding physical activities in playground and recess as well as in recess, the appointment of trained teachers for recess and playground can help to reduce the bullying that can take place in playground. The policy and appointment of teachers for physical activities in recess can put down the argument that the recess encourages aggression and antisocial behavior in the playground. The policy regarding physical activity in recess can also help in keeping children fit as well as making them vent the excess of mental and physical energy. Pellegrini, Anthony (1994) opines that the blow off surplus energy through physical activity is necessary for children to concentrate on sedentary tasks in classroom. Hence, physical activity helps in concentrating on sedentary tasks also thus helping children to concentrate. Pelligrini quotes Naylor (1985) about the relationship between playground design and children behavior at primary school level. The physical activities can be divided into fantasy play and functional play and design of adventure playgrounds and traditional playgrounds is necessary according to their needs. In addition to that the children are more active in spacious playgrounds than restricted environments. Hence physical activity depends on the spatial nature of playground and the design of it as well (Pelligrini, Anthony, 1994). 3 Children in sport offer comprehensive and multidisciplinary view of issues for educators, researchers and program administrators. Smoll et al (1996), opines that the specially designed sport programs are necessary for primary school children to make their study a comprehensive one with physical as well as mental education. The physical education and interventions regarding physical activities should include biological, psychological and sociological perspectives that make children's all round development possible. 4 Organized Sports as an Intervention for Physical Activity As part of multi disciplinary development in children and to keep them physically healthy, the organized sports can act as interventions for physical activities and the above aspect will have uniform rules and regulations for children. If the organized sports activities are non school sports activities, there is less probability of all children to participate as it is not the part of the curriculum. To enable primary school children to participate in organized sports, the sports festivals should be part of curriculum and it should be made compulsory for all children and thus acts as a vehicle that transmits the social values and physical health into the children. As the success in organizational sports activities need regular practice, the time table of the school should incorporate the practice hours in the school timetable so that children get regular physical exercise that keeps then in good physical health that is necessary for concentration in sedentary activities. As there are indications that the participation of children decreased when the organized sports are not part of the curriculum, it is important to make it a part of curriculum. As the different researches and studies indicate that the participation will be at its peak at the age of 11 and if they decline to participate at that age, the future participation of them in the physical activities will be at stake and thus the incorporation of organized physical activities in curriculum is necessary to decrease the clinical population of children. 5 Physical Activities from Health Perspective of Children The health related aspects will support the above mentioned aspects regarding sports and physical activities in children. According to Lila Oja (1998), the physical activities and exercise in children is capable of developing health related physical fitness. Hence, it is clear that the children may have less chance to develop cardiovascular problems and can have muscular strength or endurance. In addition to that the physical activity in children provides necessity flexibility and body composition in children so that the body can help in withstanding sedentary activities in future. Though the association between physical activity and aerobic fitness is moderate in children, the evidence suggests that the adult activity patterns can be established in childhood and hence the physical activity in childhood may help in avoiding sedentary lifestyle of future. In addition to that the evidence suggests that the muscular strength in children is important to encourage the physical activity in primary school going children. Lila Oja (1998) quotes Riddoch and Boreham that conclude that the amount and type of physical activity undertaken in children between age 6-11, affects the behavioral carryover and can also effects the increase of fitness levels. However, the television and computer are occupying large part of the children's time and are making them physically inactive. The lack of physical activity for children is making them to spend the play time in sedentary activities and hence, the physical fitness as well as physical activity is insufficient in large part of children. According to a study involving 294 children of age just more than 6 years, revealed that there should be difference between physical activities of boys and girls as there is difference between measurements of different body parts of them. As there is difference in skin fold thickness as well as height and mass parameters, it can be advised that the physical activities involved should be different for both boys and girls to make them active in both physical as well as mental exercises as part of education. 6 Physical Fitness and Interventions The important problem in convincing the people about the physical activity in children is that there is no positive correlation between body build and physical fitness. Anna Siniarska et al (1998) quotes about the boys of poor socio economic conditions in Tunis who possess unsatisfactory somatic development but with superior physical and motor performance to counterparts living in better socioeconomic conditions. The important reason behind the above finding is that the children living in better socioeconomic conditions are accustomed to sedentary lifestyle and need interventions regarding physical activity and the children in lesser socioeconomic conditions do not need those interventions. Hence it is better for the primary school going children to have physical activities as part of their curriculum and daily life. Hence, the physical activities should be part of their daily life as well as school life. Though it is better to encourage the children to come to school by walk and make it a physical activity, it is not possible in case of children coming from far away places. Hence, the walk to school programs can benefit a small section of child community but not all. Hence, for the benefit of the whole community of children it is better to include physical activity interventions in the curriculum depending on the basis of the human settlements in different places. As Anna Siniarska et al (1998) found that the physical fitness performances depend on the human settlements, the nature of the city, town and village along with socioeconomic class should be taken into considerations before planning interventions of physical activities for children. The interventions regarding physical activities should depend on the nature of the children and human settlement. Different researches found that the children from lower social stratum families do not need rigorous physical activity interventions. Finally evaluation of physical activities and interventions can help for future research in this area and can give a clear picture about the present status of physical activities for children. 7 Evaluation The evaluation of the details in the above discussion reveals that the physical activities of children makes them physically active and provide necessary ground for concentration in their sedentary or classroom activities. In addition to that the physical activities in school and play ground can build muscle strength in children and can make them strong and healthy. As the different researches suggest that the childhood physical activities pave way for adulthood physique, the compulsory physical activities for children in playground make way for their future physique. Some researches discussed in the paper revealed that the physical activities show different affects depending on gender even for the children between age 6-11 years. The research that observed the hundreds male and female children with same different types of physical activities revealed that the boys developed qualities like hand grip through physical activities and girls got flamingo balance through physical activities. Hence, researchers found that it is better to have different types of physical activities and interventions for boys and girls as the effects of physical activity depend on gender difference also. Conclusion The paper concludes that primary school going children need physical exercise and the activities like going to school by walk and other playground activities will help them in having enough physical exercise. However the activities like going to school by walk cannot be regular interventions and the interventions that are part of the school activities and curriculum can have regular impact on children and can build them strongly. As it has been established in the above discussion that the reasonable physical exercise for the primary school students can help them in concentrating on classroom activities with the help of a healthy body can prompt the educationists to make physical activities interventions as part of the curriculum. In addition to that the health perspective for physical activities is important as the physical exercise is making boys physically strong and developing strength in hands and shoulders. In addition to that the girls are developing skills like flamingo balance due to physical activities and the above observations need to conclude in the decision that boys and girls need different sports and physical activities. Hence one can conclude that the physical activities are necessary for primary school children and they should be different on the basis of sex even from that age. The difference in physical activities according to sex enables children to get much needed muscle strength and balance as well as the agility necessary for the concentrating on classroom activities. Hence, regular physical exercise intervention is important for the primary school children for their good health, physique and concentration. References: World Health Organization. 2006, Physical Activity and Health in Europe. Geneve, , CHE: WHO Regional Office for Europe, p 7. Townsend, Tony. 1998, Australian Primary School in Changing Times. London, UK: RoutledgeFalmer, p 113. Pellegrini, Anthony D. 1994, School Recess and Playground Behavior : Educational and Developmental Roles.Albany, NY, USA: State University of New York Press. Smoll, F. L. & Smith, R. E. (1996). Children and youth in sport: A bio psychosocial perspective. Second Edition. Dubuque., McGraw-Hill. Frank Brady, 2004, Children's Organized Sports a Developmental Perspective; despite Their Place as a Childhood Rite, Youth Sports Have a High Dropout Rate. Why and What Can We Do about It, The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Vol. 75, edition information not available, pp. 1 to 3. Leila Oja, Toivo Ju rima, 1998, Edited by P.J.Hills, Relationships between Physical Activity, Motor Ability, and Anthropometric Variables in 6-Year-old Estonian Children , Med Sport Sci. Basel, Karger, vol 43, Edition Information Not Available, pp 68- 78 Anna Siniarska , Anna Jeziorek , Maria Nowakowska, 1998, Edited by P.J.Hills, Physical Fitness and Nutrition during Growth. Med Sport Sci. Basel, Karger, vol 43, pp 27- 43 Read More