1. Physical Activity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEutFrar1dI
NARRATIVE:
Today I am going to introduce you to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents and discuss how schools, families, and communities can help promote youth physical activity.
NOTE TO FACILITATOR:
Insert your name, school district, the name of your organization or group you represent, and the date of presentation in the text box. You can also remove this text box.

2. What Are the Benefits of Physical Activity?
Healthy growth and development
Prevent chronic diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease
Make us stronger
Give us energy
Decrease stress
Prolong independence as we get older
Active Schools!
NARRATIVE:
Physical activity is a bodily movement that uses energy to contract muscles. (NOTE TO FACILITATOR: Provide a visual demonstration to the audience by moving your arms or legs.)
NARRATIVE, CONTINUED:
Physical activity can be structured, like playing on a basketball team, or unstructured, like playing tag outside or riding bikes. Physical activity can also be part of everyday activities such as taking the dog for a walk or sweeping the floor.
There are many health benefits associated with regular physical activity.
Physically active youth have higher levels of cardiovascular fitness compared with youth who are inactive.
Physical activity helps to build and maintain stronger bones and muscles.
Many of the risk factors for chronic diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes, begin to develop early in life.
Regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing these risk factors and of becoming obese.
Regular physical activity also reduces the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Research shows that physical activity among adolescents can positively affect their concentration, memory and classroom behavior.
Establishing regular physical activity early in life makes it more likely that children will remain healthy as adults.
1. HHS. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report;2008
2. J Pediatr 2005;146(6):732–7.

3. How Much Physical Activity Do We Need?
Be active at least 2.5 hours a week to achieve health benefits
Focus on moderate to vigorous aerobic activity throughout each week, broken into sessions of 10 minutes or more
Get stronger by adding activities that target your muscles and bones at least two days per week
Choose a variety of physical activities you enjoy
Get into a routine
Limit the time you spend watching TV
Join a team!
NARRATIVE:
In 2008, the federal government published the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans to provide information and guidance to policymakers, health professionals, and members of the public on the types and amounts of physical activity that provide substantial health benefits.
These are the first physical activity guidelines ever to be published by the federal government.
The guidelines are science-based recommendations for persons aged 6 and older, including children and adolescents aged 6–17.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents state that
Children and adolescents should do 1 hour (60 minutes) or more of physical activity per day.
The guidelines state that the physical activity should at least be of moderate-intensity, and include vigorous-intensity activities at least 3 days per week.
Muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activities should each be included at least 3 days a week, as part of the 60 minutes of daily physical activity.
Each of these types of physical activity offer important health benefits.
At first glance, these guidelines might appear complicated. However, keep in mind the following two key points:
Vigorous, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening activities should be part of the 60 minutes of daily physical activity
2) Many physical activities combine vigorous activity, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening. For example, jumping rope is both vigorous and bone-strengthening.
The guidelines also emphasize the importance of participating in a variety of activities that are age-appropriate and enjoyable.

4. What Does This Really Mean?
At least 60 minutes every day
Mostly aerobic
Add variety and fun
NARRATIVE:
So what does all of this actually mean?
The key points to remember are that children and adolescents should do at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
Most of 60 minutes should be spent doing aerobic activities
It is very important that children and adolescents participate in a variety of activities, especially activities that they enjoy.
This enhances skill development, reduces the risk of overuse injuries and increases the likelihood of continuing to be active as they get older.
It is also important to know that the Guidelines take into consideration the natural activity patterns of children.
Children often move between short bursts of activity and short periods of rest.
All episodes of moderate- or vigorous-intensity activities count towards daily requirement and,
Unstructured active play can provide all 3 types of physical activity

5. Different Levels Of Aerobic Activity
Moderate aerobic activity:
Moderate intensity aerobic activity makes you breathe harder and your heart beat faster. You should be bale to talk but not sing.
E.g. walking quickly, skating, bike riding

6. Different Levels Of Aerobic Activity
Vigorous aerobic activity:
Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity makes your heart rate increase quite a bit and you won’t be able to say more than a few words without needing to catch your breath.
E.g. running, basketball, soccer and cross-country skiing

7. Different Levels Of Aerobic Activity
Strengthening activity:
Muscle-strengthening activities build up your muscles.
With bone-strengthening activities, your muscles push and pull against your bones which makes bones stronger  this helps prevent osteoporosis
Examples:
Muscle strengthening: push-ups, sit-ups, lifting weights, climbing stairs, digging in the garden
Bone strengthening: yoga, walking, running

8. Examples of Physical Activities for Children and Adolescents
Type of Physical Activity
Adolescents
Moderate-intensity aerobic
Baseball, yard work, hiking, brisk walking
Vigorous-intensity aerobic
Jumping rope, bike riding, karate, basketball, cross-country skiing
Muscle-strengthening
Exercises with hand-held weights, push-ups, pull-ups, climbing wall
Bone-strengthening
Jumping rope, running, sports like gymnastics, basketball
NARRATIVE:
This table shows 3 types of physical activity outlined in the guidelines and gives examples of activities that are appropriate for children and adolescents.
Each of these types of physical activity offer important health benefits.
The first type of activity described in the guidelines is aerobic activity.
Aerobic activities keep your body moving enough to increase your heart rate and make you breathe harder.
The Guidelines distinguish between two types of aerobic activity;
moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity
It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities.
As a rule of thumb, on a scale of 1 to 10, moderate-intensity activity is a 5 or 6. Young people doing moderate-intensity physical activity will notice their heart beating faster than normal and will be breathing harder than normal. Examples of moderate-intensity aerobic activities include hiking, bike riding, and brisk walking.
Vigorous-intensity activity is a 7 or 8 out of 10. Young people doing vigorous-intensity activity will notice their heart beating much faster than normal and will be breathing much harder than normal. Examples of vigorous-intensity activities including bike riding, running, and playing soccer or basketball.
As you can see, the same activities, such as bike riding or walking, could be a moderate- or vigorous-intensity activity, depending upon the amount of energy the person is exerting.
The second type of physical activity outlined in the Guidelines are muscle-strengthening activities.
Muscle strengthening activities make muscles do more work than the usual activities of daily life.
Children can increase their muscle strength through unstructured activities that involve lifting or moving their own body weight.
Examples of muscle-strengthening activities from unstructured play include playing on playground equipment, climbing tress and playing tug-of-war.
Muscle-strengthening activities can also be structured activities like push-ups and pull-ups, or working with resistance bands or lifting weights.
The third type of activity outline in the Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents are bone-strengthening activities.
Bone-strengthening activities produce a force on the bones that promotes bone growth and strength. This force is usually produced by an impact with the ground.
This is especially important for youth because the greatest gains in bone mass occur during the years just before and during puberty and the majority of peak bone mass is obtained by the end of adolescence.
Examples of bone-strengthening activities include jumping rope, hopping, skipping, running and sports like basketball, tennis, volleyball and gymnastics.

9. Health Benefits of Exercise
Love longer and healthier: remember that activity reduces the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, colon cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis

10. Health Benefits of Exercise
Feel better: activity improves your overall sense of well being and self-esteem, reduces stress and increases energy

11. How Physically Active Are High School Students?
NARRATIVE:
CDC conducts a national survey that monitors health-risk behaviors among youth enrolled in public and private schools in grades 9-12.
Data from the 2007 survey shows that among high school students, 11% of females and 24% of males said that they were physically active at least 60 minutes per day.
With such a low proportion of high school students meeting the physical activity guidelines, it is clear that there is a need to help youth get and stay active.
NOTE TO FACILITATOR:
Customize this slide by adding results from your local or state YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey). Go to for more information.
* Were physically active doing any kind of physical activity that increased their heart rate and made them breathe hard some of the time for a total of at least 60 minutes/day during the 7 days before the survey.
Source: National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007.

12. Barriers to Meeting the Guidelines
Personal
Attitude
Belief in ability to be physically active
Social
Influence of their peers
Parental support
Environmental
Safe locations to be active
Access to equipment
Financial costs of physical activities
Time
NARRATIVE:
There are many barriers that make it difficult for individuals to meet the physical activity Guidelines.
Young people may not believe that physical activity is important for a healthy lifestyle or feel that they have the ability to perform a physical activity.
Lack of support from family and friends can also prevent youth from meeting the guidelines.
Environmental factors that make it difficult to participate in physical activity include low availability of safe locations to be active and physical activity equipment, costs of physical activities, and time constraints.

13. YOUTH PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Despite the many barriers that prevent children and adolescents from being active, there are multiple opportunities for promoting youth physical activity.
Each of the sectors in this diagram plays an important role helping young people engage in physical activity.
Today, we are going to focus on the role of schools, families, and communities in promoting physical activity.
YOUTH PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

14. How do us “teenagers” get more physical activity and ensure that our family gets enough physical activity in the future?
NARRATIVE:
Schools can play a unique role in promoting the Physical Activity Guidelines and can increase physical activity through a comprehensive physical activity program.

15. Set a Positive Example Lead an active lifestyle yourself
Make family time an opportunity for physical activity
Take a walk together after dinner
Do housework or yard work together
Walk the dog together
Make use of low- or no-cost resources
Public parks
Community fields and courts
Recreation areas
Replace inactivity with activity whenever possible
Example: walk or bike to school instead of riding in a car
NARRATIVE:
Adults can set a positive example for their families by leading an active lifestyle themselves.
Parents and other adults can help to incorporate physical activity into their family’s daily routine.
Ideas include taking a walk together after dinner;
doing housework or yard work together;
and walking the dog together.
Families can also utilize local low or no cost facilities like public parks, community fields and courts and other recreation areas.
In general, replacing inactivity with activity whenever possible helps to increase physical activity.
For example, walking or biking to school instead of riding in a car.

16. Limit “Screen Time”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends less than 2 hours of media time per day.
Television
Computer
Movies/DVDs
Video games
Turn commercial breaks into activity breaks
Turn off the television during mealtimes
Do not use screen time as a reward or punishment
NARRATIVE:
Families and other caregivers can help youth balance “screen time”, which is time spent watching TV, using the computer, movies/DVDs and video games.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting children’s media time to two hours a day.
Other suggestions include:
Turning commercial breaks into activity breaks.
Do jumping jacks, pushups, crunches or run in place during commercial breaks.
Turning off the television during mealtime.
Not using ‘screen time’ as a reward or punishment for your child.

17. How Communities Can Promote the Youth Physical Activity Guidelines
Community-wide campaigns
Enhance access to places to be physically active
Involve multiple sectors of the community
NARRATIVE:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified several effective, community-level strategies for promoting physical activity.
One strategy for physical activity promotion is through community-wide media campaigns that combine physical activity messaging with activities such as community health fairs.
Another way for communities to promote physical activity in youth is by improving access to places for people to be physically active.
In order to implement successful community level approaches to physical activity, it is important for various sectors of the community to collaborate with one another.
Let’s look at each of the strategies in more detail.

18. The key to physical activity