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Quotes about Physical Education from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

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"The underlying philosophy is that if physical education class can be used to instruct kids how to monitor and maintain their own health and fitness, then the lessons they learn will serve them for life. And probably a longer and happier life at that. What's being taught, really, is a lifestyle. The students are developing healthy habits, skills, and a sense of fun, along with a knowledge of how their bodies work. Naperville's gym teachers are opening up new vistas for their students by exposing them to such a wide range of activities that they can't help but find something they enjoy." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"When schools hit a financial wall and budget cuts are required, general physical education and gym programs are among the first to go. Many school systems are even initiating fee-based programs for extracurricular sports, which further decreases the number of kids able to participate in these activities. As for the Carol M. White physical education Program, our big, fat government proposes to cut the funding to only $26.4 million for 2007, a 65 percent reduction. We are going the wrong way." - Craig Pepin-Donat, The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie (Get the book.)

"Many professional sportsmen and women are asthmatics. The physical education teacher should be aware that the child has asthma, and be able to recognise warning signs that might mean he or she is in difficulties and therefore needs assistance,- however, with supervision asthmatic children should be able to take their place in all the usual school sporting activities. HOLIDAYS Taking a holiday with an asthmatic child does require a little more planning than usual." - Dr Ron Roberts, Asthma Controlled Naturally: Techniques That Work (Get the book.)

"A trim young physical education teacher named Neil Duncan lays out the morning's assignment: "OK, once you're done with your warm-up, we're going to head out to the track and run the mile," he says, presenting a black satchel full of chest straps and digital watches—heart rate monitors of the type used by avid athletes to gauge their physical exertion. "Every time you go around the track, hit the red button. What that's going to do—it's going to give you a split. It's going to tell you, this is how fast I did my first lap, second lap, third lap." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"No recent data have been compiled for younger children, but in 1997, only one state required daily school physical education from kindergarten through 12th grade [65]. However, 65% of adolescents engaged in vigorous activity at least three times per week, and 27% engaged in moderate physical activity on 5 or more days per week. Because physical activity in schools appears to be limited, these levels of vigorous and moderate activity may be attributable to after-school sports or similar nonschool activities." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.)

"Alexander Technique Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, wrote: The Alexander Technique can give us all the things that we have been looking for in a system of physical education: relief from strain due to maladjustment and constant improvement in physical and mental health. You cannot ask more from any system,- nor if we seriously desire to alter human beings in a desirable direction, can we ask less. F. Matthais Alexander, an actor and reciter of poetry and humorous pieces, was born in Australia in 1869." - Dr Ron Roberts, Asthma Controlled Naturally: Techniques That Work (Get the book.)

"Increase the proportion of schools that require daily physical education for all students. Middle schools 17% (1994) 25% High schools 2% (1994) 5% Increase the proportion of adolescents who participate in daily school physical Grades 9-12 29% (1999) 50% education. Increase the proportion of adolescents who spend at least 50% of school physical Grades 9-12 38% (1999) 50% education class time being physically active. Increase the proportion of adolescents who view television 2 or fewer hours on a Grades 9-12 57% (1999) 75% school day. Source: Adapted from U.S." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.) "A child's enjoyment of physical activity [116, 118] and enjoyment of physical education experiences [129] are significant predictors of physical activity levels. Creating positive environments for physical activity for youth is likely a key factor in promoting higher levels of physical activity as a lifestyle habit. F. Social Support for Physical Activity Social support is another strong correlate of physical activity for both youth and adults. Adults who engage in regular exercise report more support for activity from people in their homes and work environments [44, 106, 130, 131]." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.)

"But I think I will probably become a physical education teacher. I want to teach kids to enjoy school. Mostly, though, I want to teach kids how valuable life is. I can introduce them to my grandmother so the students can hear stories of their lives. Of course I don't know if she will still be around." I asked Kurara if she thought she would live to be as old as her grandmother. She looked at me with a straight face and said, "Of course. I am shooting for 150." I waited a few days before returning to Motobu. It was late afternoon, and three days of rain hadn't let up." - Dan Buettner, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest (Get the book.)

"When I was growing up, physical education was a standard part of every school day. We played all sorts of sports at recess, five days a week. In recent decades, that situation has changed, much to the detriment of our kids. Across the country, when schools cut their budgets, PE is often the first thing to go. Today, very few kids play outside during the school day. Most of them spend their entire day at school seated behind a desk. Then, when they get home, they spend a few hours watching television or playing video games before settling in to do homework. "If you go to school," Dr." - Deirdre Imus, Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!) (Get the book.)

"I've watched lovely natural little athletes turn into stationary lumps in just a few short years because many schools do not incorporate enough physical education classes or offer enough healthy options for lunch and snacks. The twenty-first-century lifestyle compromises the human body by forcing it to always run at half capacity (as it expends energy on processing junk through the digestive system) and consequently does ongoing harm to the physical and mental development of a growing child. We need to reverse this trend and treat ADD/ADHD and other behavioral issues as a medical emergency." - Jay Gordon, The ADD and ADHD Cure: The Natural Way to Treat Hyperactivity and Refocus Your Child (Get the book.)

"Lawler found his answer at a physical education conference he organized every spring. He worked hard to turn the event into an exchange of fresh ideas and technologies, and to encourage attendance he talked the vendors into donating door prizes. Each year at the beginning of the conference, he would push a towel cart through the aisles, collecting bats and balls and other sporting goods. Cast in among the bounty one year was a newfangled heart rate monitor, which at the time was worth hundreds of dollars. He couldn't help himself; he stole it for the revolution. " - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.) "At the same time, kids are spending an average of 5.5 hours a day in front of a screen of some sort — television, computer, or handheld device. It's not surprising that American children are less active than they've ever been. That is why I was so inspired by what's going on in Naperville. The first time I visited, it was just before school let out for the summer, but you wouldn't have known that by watching gym class at Madison Junior High." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"Internationally, the situation has also been fed by changes in attitudes to physical education (PE) in schools during the latter part of the twentieth century. Firstly, a generally liberal educational establishment, influenced by increasingly vocal and anxious parents, has become less keen to enforce participation in school sports and outdoor activities - even in Japan, where the tradition of rajio taiso, communal callisthenic exercises, which used to be compulsory each morning of the school vacations, is dying out in some areas." - Sue Palmer, Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About it (Get the book.)

"White physical education Program, our big, fat government proposes to cut the funding to only $26.4 million for 2007, a 65 percent reduction. We are going the wrong way. We are so worried about our test scores going down and kids not competing academically that we ignore the fact we are creating generations of fat, unhealthy kids who eat so poorly and have no consistent exercise program that they cannot even think straight." - Craig Pepin-Donat, The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie (Get the book.) "Imagine if schools implemented real physical education programs that actually taught children how to exercise and the importance of physical activity. These things would have a great impact on our economy if with each generation our kids were leaner, had more energy and started projecting their newfound knowledge on the rest of their families. Kids can drive the tipping point if we provide the little change in our thinking about food and education. We need to make it a priority." - Craig Pepin-Donat, The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie (Get the book.)

"Her past medical history included attention deficit disorder, depression, migraine headaches, and chronic bilateral knee pain, precluding physical education class in school. Further history revealed poor school performance and drug and alcohol use. Her father left home when she was an infant and the patient never met him. She lives with her mother, who has had numerous male relationships. In contrast to the first patient with neck pain, this patient has a number of factors that point toward a psychosomatic etiology of her neck pain. First, her pain developed two days after the accident." - John E. Sarno, M.D., The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders (Get the book.)

"With the emphasis on literacy, numeracy and other academic subjects required by law, there are now fewer opportunities for physical education in the school day than there were in the past. PE itself has often been 'academicised', even in the pre-teenage years, with teachers required to concentrate on the development of technique rather than general exercise and enjoyment." - Sue Palmer, Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About it (Get the book.)

"As if that weren't enough, McDonald's also announced in the fall of 2005 a program called "Passport to Play," which was distributed to thirty-one thousand schools and seven million children, designed to "motivate children to be more active in unique and fun ways during grade school physical education classes."27 Psychologist Susan Linn, author of Consuming Kids and cofounder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, says McDonald's has no place in school: "This is just another marketing ploy. The notion that children need Ronald McDonald to get them to enjoy exercise is bogus." - Michele Simon, Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back (Get the book.)

"Sharlie began to participate in physical education and even some minor sports. She always believed that the more active she could be, the better, even though she continued to have infections and had to be hospitalized from time to time to receive intravenous antibiotics. Despite these small setbacks, Sharlie saw her life and activities rise to almost normal levels. Her decision not to go on the lung-transplant list but instead start an aggressive supplement program was the best decision of her young life. Sharlie became a symbol of hope for many other children with cystic fibrosis as well." - Ray D. Strand, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You (Get the book.)

"Incorporate strategies to promote decreases in sedentary behavior. ?Involve families and communities in supporting and reinforcing higher levels of physical activity. ?Provide links to community programs and resources for physical activity. preparing, and selecting healthy foods can be easily adapted for this setting. Children may have the opportunity to practice new skills in such programs by engaging in activities such as planning and preparing healthy snacks." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.)

"My children's physical education teacher told me that when she began teaching twenty years ago she would ask the school kids to run a mile. It was no big deal. Now the story is altogether different. When she asks kids to run a mile, she ends up with two pockets full of inhalers. Asthma is literally an epidemic in our children across the U.S. and the industrialized world. When I spoke in London and the Netherlands, the greatest concern of the audience members was the severity of asthma present in their children." - Ray D. Strand, What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You (Get the book.)

"James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA) Training School—now Springfield College—in Springfield, Mass., devised the game in December 1891 as an indoor athletic alternative for the winter months. Naismith's invention was a noncontact sport in which two teams of players attempted to toss a soccer ball into peach baskets hung from the railings at opposite ends of the gymnasium. Because the railings were 10 feet high—not 12 or 14 feet—the basket has been forever set at that height." - The New York Times, The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind (Get the book.)

"Daily physical education classes for children in grades kindergarten through twelve was a major focus of the report, which also suggested creating community recreation facilities, involving the family, and encouraging after-school programs.79 In 2002, President Bush declared "If you're interested in improving America, you can do so by taking care of your own body" and that "people ought to work out every day, one way or another."80 It is clear that there is national concern over declining physical activity." - Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen, Food Fight (Get the book.) "Even if schools have required physical education, the way it is implemented will make a big difference. Increasing time in PE classes where children mostly stand around is not likely to have a health impact nor to teach children a love of activity that carries on in later years. The issue of activity in schools is not specific to the United States. An Irish study found that less than 40 percent of primary school children exercised vigorously, while 75 percent spent more than two hours each day with the TV or computer." - Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen, Food Fight (Get the book.)

"The American Alliance for Health, physical education, and Recreation has been a major force in developing the "New physical education." The goal of the New P.E. is participation for all. Training starts in the lower grades, with body movement and success-oriented activities designed to help children develop a positive sense of their bodies—a key factor in their eventual self-images. The upper grades are introduced to "lifetime sports"—literally, sports they can participate in for the rest of their lives. The reaction to these sports has been overwhelming." - Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss, The New Holistic Health Handbook: Living Well in a New Age (Get the book.)

"As of 2000, Illinois was the only state to require daily physical education in all schools. It is hard to blame school administrators. The same financial realities that make soft drink money appealing, as explained in Chapter 7, necessitate spending cutbacks. The pressure to improve achievement scores motivates administrators to protect a school's educational core, so classes thought not to contribute to performance on standardized tests disappear." - Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen, Food Fight (Get the book.) "Planet Health This Boston program, developed by Steven Gortmaker, Karen Peterson, and colleagues at Harvard, is "an interdisciplinary curriculum focused on improving the health and well-being of sixth- through eighth-grade students while building and reinforcing skills in language arts, math, science, social studies, and physical education."76 This is a creative program woven through the school curriculum." - Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen, Food Fight (Get the book.)

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