We promote healthy living through ACTION!
While Shape Up US believes that creating awareness of and education on healthy lifestyles are critical components of building a healthy life, it knows that only if people put their knowledge into action will they achieve advances in their well-being. That is why Action is such an important part of the recipe for a healthy life. Shape Up US’s premier action-oriented program is Clap4Health℠! The program uses the simple activity of clapping to encourage physical activity while lifting participants’ spirits.
What Research Shows
According to research published in “Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine,” long-term studies show that for each weekday adolescents participate in physical education (PE) at school, the odds of becoming overweight as an adult decrease by 5 percent. Therefore, if children have significant physical activity every day at school, they are 25 percent less likely to becoming overweight. If they are also active on the weekends, they would be 35 percent less likely. There is no debate: participation in physical activity and sports promotes better physical fitness for children of all ages – now and in the future!
This is why the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) all advocate that elementary age students participate in at least 150 minutes of PE per week and middle and high school students participate in at least 225 minutes of physical education per week.
However, as NASPE and AHA report, there is no federal law mandating PE be provided in our schools or incentives for offering these programs. Therefore, many US schools focus efforts and funding on achieving high test scores in core classes over strengthening PE. However, in the 2005 text “The guide to community preventive services: What works to promote health?” researchers found—despite concerns of administrators— that PE classes do not detract from core curricula.
Shape Up US provides comprehensive and fun physical activity programs for schools so our education system can promote physical, mental and emotional health in addition to academic readiness.