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Feature Story

Building Healthy Hearts

Donna Lloyd-Kolkin, Ph.D., Health Communication Specialist

February is American Heart Month. Yes, that means Valentine hearts on February 14- but it also means that this month is set aside as a time to give some thought to how you can help your students build a healthy heart for life.

Childhood Risks

One of the major threats to children's healthy hearts is obesity. The rate of childhood obesity has more than tripled over the past 30 years. Today, about 9 million young people over the age of 6 are considered obese. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services predicts that 20 percent of youth will be obese by 2010.

Obese children are at higher risk for type II diabetes, the kind traditionally only encountered in adults but now increasingly common in children and adolescents. Further, obese youngsters are more likely than their thinner counterparts to become obese adults. About five percent of U.S. health care expenditures-that's about $61 billion-are directly correlated with obesity-related illnesses.

Obese youngsters are more likely than their thinner counterparts to become obese adults.

Lifestyle Factors

Lifestyle behaviors-particularly smoking, an unhealthy diet and little physical activity-are the major risk factors for future heart disease. An unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle are also major factors in the increase in childhood obesity. Super-sized restaurant meals, increased participation in computer and video games, neighborhoods that lack access to fresh foods and safe parks and sidewalks all contribute to making young people fat.

Lifestyle behaviors.smoking, diet, physical activity.are major risk factors for future heart disease.

What's to be done? Although there are an increasing number of school- and community-based interventions being developed to combat childhood obesity, there is currently little hard evidence about what works, according to a 2005 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) entitled Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance.

Physical Activity Solution

In 2006, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) surveyed 233 experts across the country about what they considered the most promising way(s) to reduce childhood obesity. The resounding response was to increase physical activity. www.gao.gov/new.items/d06127r.pdf. Although improved nutrition was ranked third in importance, the second most popular response was "other." The GAO interpreted this finding to mean that-beyond increasing physical activity-there is little consensus among the experts about the best strategies for tackling the weighty issue.

What Do We Know about Physical Activity Among Youth?

The GAO followed up on their expert survey by conducting a literature review to determine what predicts levels of physical activity in young people. Here's what they learned:

Demographic Factors

• Children from low socio-economic backgrounds were more likely to be inactive.

Cognitive and Behavioral Factors

• Lack of motivation, self-consciousness and fear of not being good enough were barriers to physical activity.
• Obese youth perceived more barriers to physical activity than the non-obese.
• Parental support of physical activity was associated with increased activity.

Community Factors

• Children living in communities with good access to recreational facilities such as parks and swimming pools were more likely to be physically active.
• Conversely, children living in unsafe communities with few sidewalks or busy intersections with no traffic lights were less likely to walk or ride their bikes outside.

In its national action plan to combat childhood obesity, the Institute of Medicine called on all sectors of society, from the federal government to parents and families, to work together to help kids become healthier. Schools were tasked with increasing opportunities for frequent, more intensive and engaging physical activity during and after school, as well as implementing interventions to reduce children's screen time.

So this month, help a heart: Reflect on how you can help the students in your classroom and your school increase their physical activity. and have fun and get healthy at the same time. See What You Can Do in this issue of Teacher Talk-What Works!