Move Kids with Pysical Activity Part 1
George Graham, PhD

Dr. Graham is professor of kinesiology, president of the American Association of Sport and Physical Education and the senior advisor for PE Central Web site for physical education teachers. A popular speaker and author on physical education for children, Dr. Graham has presented over 100 conferences world wide, served as a consultant to over 70 school districts, the United States Tennis Association and the Professional Golf Association, and appeared on National Public Radio and CBS in the Morning

When we say physical activity, what are we talking about?

When children walk, jog, run, climb, chase, dodge - anything walking or above - it's physical activity. They're moving their total body and moving from point A to point B. Physical activity sets the stage for lifelong activity. People often confuse physical education and physical activity. They're different! Physical education introduces children to different sports or movement forms that hopefully lead enjoying and doing them for a lifetime. It's easier for people who played tennis, golf or inline skated as a kid to do it as an adult because those skills are there. The body remembers the skills, as opposed to having never done them.

The recommendation is that kids get at least one hour of physical activity a day? What's magic about one hour?

It's a general guideline. And it's a minimum. Experts are saying that one hour is an amount that seems to be appropriate for children to gain the health benefits from being physically active. I'm leery of being too prescriptive though. Ideally what happens is that parents enjoy being physically active. They have things they like to do, and kids pick up their enjoyment. It doesn't work for parents who do virtually nothing to tell their kids to go out and play and be physically active.

Do they need to get all their activity at once for it to be beneficial?

It's not one hour non-stop as we might think if it, for example, riding a bike or swimming for an hour. It's important to understand the nature of physical activity for children. Children are "spurters." They spurt; they rest and recover incredibly fast, and they're ready to go again. Playing tag, kids run around hard for five or 10 minutes, stop, rest and the game is on again. We're not talking about an hour all at once.

And children need to move. We're coming out with the recommendation that kids don't go longer than two hours without physical activity. It's because of the emphasis on high-stakes testing and pressure for teachers to keep kids at their desks for several hours at a time. Developmentally it's not in their best interest.

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