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Physical activity for children in elementary schools: time for a rethink?

  • Practice and Public Health Policies
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

In spite of the well-known benefits of physical activity, the vast majority of children in North America do not meet current international guidelines for accumulating sufficient health-enhancing physical activity. Indeed, despite considerable attention to this population health crisis, the current prevalence of inactivity, along with its concomitant health consequences, shows little sign of abating. In this paper, we identify acknowledged barriers to wide scale physical activity adoption and maintenance at the population level among children and propose a viable tripartite framework (albeit one that would require political support) that we hope will provide the basis for debate and implementation. We emphasize that each of these considerations, in isolation, would be insufficient to substantively address the problem, but when combined would ensure that all elementary school children (without any medical contraindication) are sufficiently active, rather than the minority of this population.

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Acknowledgments

The authors can confirm that the manuscript has not been previously published and is not being simultaneously submitted elsewhere. As the submission is a commentary paper, no primary data were collected and so no statements are necessary with regard to previous reporting of data, control of primary data, human rights and informed consent related to study participants, the Declaration of Helsinki, and IRB approval. Mark R. Beauchamp is supported by a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award as well as through funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Ryan E. Rhodes is supported by a Canadian Cancer Society Senior Scientist Award and the Give to Live organization as well as through funds from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Claudio N. Nigg is supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Hawaii Medical Services Association Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology of Exercise, Health, and Physical Activity Laboratory, School of Kinesiology, The University of British Columbia, War Memorial Gym, 122 - 6081 University Blvd., Vancouver, V6T 1Z1, Canada

    Mark R. Beauchamp PhD CPsychol

  2. University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Ryan E. Rhodes PhD

  3. University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Claudio R. Nigg PhD

Authors
  1. Mark R. Beauchamp PhD CPsychol
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  2. Ryan E. Rhodes PhD
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  3. Claudio R. Nigg PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark R. Beauchamp PhD CPsychol.

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Beauchamp, M.R., Rhodes, R.E. & Nigg, C.R. Physical activity for children in elementary schools: time for a rethink?. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 7, 64–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-016-0443-3

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