What's The Current Situation On The National Level?

Over the last couple of years a growing epidemic has hit the United States by storm, obesity. It has affected millions of people living in the country. Stated in an article found in Oxford Journals, 66% of adults are overweight or obese, while 16% of children are overweight. These percentages have rapidly increased over the last decade and will majorly affect us in the future if we don't do anything about it. Much of this problem is due to a lack of physical activity or physical education at a younger age. This will help children become aware of the problems of being overweight or obese, and hopefully in the end the children will do everything in their power to stay healthy and fit.

"Schools Found Improving on Nutrition and Fitness," written in October of 2007, states that schools over the nation have increased the required hours of physical activity/physical education and recess as well as asking that physical educators have at least an undergraduate training. With that change in hours and faculty, schools have changed their menu in their cafeterias, banning junk foods and adding the amount of healthy foods offered. This article also states that in 2000 only 83% of elementary school districts offered physical education, but now it's up to 93%, a 10% increase.


The Shape of the Nation Report 2006, is a report formed by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education every year which gives us updates of the status of physical education in the United States. The report states, 8% of elementary schools, 6.4% of middle/junior high schools, and 5.8% of high schools provide daily physical education for their students. The percentage of students that attend physical education classes have decreased from 42% to 28% from 1991 to 2003 respectfully, many schools don't even offer physical education courses for their students to take. This report is gives very detailed information about each state and what their policies and practices are for physical education.



The American Heart Association cares a great deal about the health of the United States' population. They hold millions of programs across the United States to promote health and fitness, as well as donate money to those who are in need. The American Heart Association released a statistical sourcebook called, "A Nation at Risk: Obesity in the United States." This book holds many statistics about the growing obesity problem in the United States, including economic connections and physical education in schools. Lower income housing is said to cause a higher obesity rate, as well as women who have a lower income rate. Moving from high poverty areas to low poverty areas decrease the percentage of obesity, the availability of outdoor places to engage in physical activity results when moving, making it easier for families/people to stay active. Lower parental education is related to a lower amount of physical education in certain ethnicities. The American Hearth Association says to engage in at least 30 minutes of physical activity for the majority of the week, but many children aren't able to meet that expectation because of academic programs or the children are simply engaged in other activities such as watching television or playing on a game system. Six out of ten children ages 6-13 don't participate in any organized sports/physical activity program outside of school, much of this is due to their parents, lower income levels and lack in education.



Overall the rapid rise of obesity is not only due to the consumption of fast foods and lack in healthy foods, much of it is the lack in physical education and physical activity. Children at a young age need to be taught how to live healthy lives in order for them to start now while their habits aren't etched in stone, we as older teens and adults need to promote health and fitness to the younger generation by setting a good example. Physical education today is slowly growing, but it's not in a place we would like it to be. Slowly the government is realizing the health of the children in the United States is in the balance and their lives are at stake if they don't do anything about the physical education programs in schools.