Physical Activity - Children in Virginia

Virginia

Regular physical activity in children and adolescents is associated with improved bone health, weight status, cardiovascular and muscular fitness, cardiometabolic health and cognition, as well as reduced risk of depression. Lack of physical activity is a driving factor of the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. There is evidence that physical activity can improve academic performance and other cognitive and memory functions. Exercise also increases the chances of living a longer and healthier life, and children who engage in regular physical activity are more likely to become physically active adults.

The prevalence of physical activity is higher among:

• Boys compared with girls. 
• Younger children compared with older children.
• Hispanic and Black boys compared with non-Hispanic white boys. 
• Children with obesity compared with children without obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists several strategies for increasing physical activity, including designing more activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations and providing people with community support. 

Strategies to increase physical activity among children include: 

• Encouraging children to spend time outdoors, which can increase their willingness to be physically active. 
• Setting a good example and using family time to do physical activity.
• Promoting access to fun and energetic after-school activities that have outdoor or physical exercise embedded. 

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps has several evidence-based approaches for increasing physical activity among children in school, including:

• Incorporating physical activities into routines, schedules and infrastructure through initiatives like active recess.
• Safe Routes to Schools, a federal program that supports improvements to walking and biking design and infrastructure. 
• Walking school buses, an organized program that encourages children to walk to school safely under the supervision of adult chaperones, whom they meet at designated stops on routes similar to those of school buses.

Healthy People 2030 has several goals related to physical activity, including increasing the proportion of children who do enough aerobic physical activity.

Belcher, Britni R., David Berrigan, Kevin W. Dodd, B. Adar Emken, Chih-Ping Chou, and Donna Spruijt-Metz. “Physical Activity in US Youth: Effect of Race/Ethnicity, Age, Gender, and Weight Status.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 42, no. 12 (December 2010): 2211–21. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181e1fba9.

Donnelly, Joseph E., Charles H. Hillman, Darla Castelli, Jennifer L. Etnier, Sarah Lee, Phillip Tomporowski, Kate Lambourne, and Amanda N. Szabo-Reed. “Physical Activity, Fitness, Cognitive Function, and Academic Achievement in Children: A Systematic Review.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 48, no. 6 (June 2016): 1197–1222. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000901.

Kohl, Harold W. III, and Heather D. Cook, eds. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.17226/18314.

Sahoo, Krushnapriya, Bishnupriya Sahoo, Ashok Kumar Choudhury, Nighat Yasin Sofi, Raman Kumar, and Ajeet Singh Bhadoria. “Childhood Obesity: Causes and Consequences.” Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care 4, no. 2 (2015): 187. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.154628.

Telama, Risto, Xiaolin Yang, Jorma Viikari, Ilkka Välimäki, Olli Wanne, and Olli Raitakari. “Physical Activity from Childhood to Adulthood: A 21-Year Tracking Study.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 28, no. 3 (April 2005): 267–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.12.003.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf.