How can we inform International Academy students about the benefits of physical fitness? Physical fitness as shown earlier can help in more than one area of a student’s life. Our solution to the problem of not enough students being aware of the benefits of physical fitness is multilayered. First we have to educate the students about the benefits of physical fitness. Physical fitness can boost grades and over all emotion state of a student. It offers stress release and an outlet not otherwise offered in an academic situation. Next we need to offer some sort of physical fitness activities at the International Academy. We can talk all we want about how physical fitness is good for students and all the benefits, but to truly reach people we need to offer a solution. Joining home high school sports’ teams and out of school activities is not always ideal for IA students. Time restrictions based on homework load may cause students to drop out of sports’ teams, but the benefits of sports sometimes outweigh the time restrictions.
In coming to the International Academy in 9th grade, and completing the schooling through senior year, the physical fitness ofstudents is often overlooked. For most IA students, the focus of their time after school is lead by clubs, homework, and studying. Unfortunately, many disregard the benefits of including physical fitness in their daily routine. Our research topic, ‘How can we help IA students find the time to be physically fit?’, targets all IA students, and is a problem we may be able to help. This is important in the IA community because it is not stressed enough by the school, yet could help in everyday academic studies. In addition, there is a great amount of research about the positive correlation between exercise and learning.
Every year, the IA only seems to get harder and harder. The mental stress that IA inflicts on the students can really affect the grades of those students. According to sciencedaily.com, approximately one third of Americans ages 12-19 do not even meet the standards for physical fitness. The IA does not want to be known for being physical unfit. We want to have both an attractive brain and body. According to fitness.gov, participating in regular physical fitness can reduce anxiety and depression. Along with anxiety and depression, being physically fit can also enable you to get better sleep that is from 8.5-9.5 hours instead of the normal 6 hours that IA students sleep. Due to physical fitness, students will receive better sleep, reduced anxiety, and less depression that are all factors that have been proven to improve not only your body, but also your academic achievements.
Daniel M. Landers, a researcher from Arizona State University, found a link between mental health and excercise. He discovered that if a person excersice more often, it would boost that persons mood, and improve depression and other anxiety in life. Excercising also leads to a higher moral of a person, which often give them more confidence in what they do. Not only that, but it will also lead to a good self-esteem, and will contribute into a more peaceful sleep. In another report, from psych central news, discovered that stress increase blood flow to the brain. Of course, many would wonder, so what does that mean? The thing that matters, is of long term effects, increase blood flow leads to increase in blood pressure, and increase in blood pressure would lead to heart problems, such as heart failure or cardiac arrest and other activities "...blood flow increase to the brain during mental activities may potentially affect cognition and cerebral performance during complex cerebral tasks" (The medical news 2. July 2009 20:11)
All these news are always stressed through the internet and in the news, so how come the students still dont excercise? The reason is quite simple, poor time management and excuses and above all, disbelief. Many do not believe that working out or excercising daily would have a huge impact on their bodies, which is why most dont choose to excercise. Also, the minimum of working out is 30 min, and in the day, there is 1440min in a day, so 30 min does sound reasonable, does it not? Also, on our survey, people who usually excercise has testified that they have a higher grade score than usual performance, and better mental response as well.
This video shows that not only are physical activities fun and beneficial, but are not time consuming. Many students claim they simply do not have the time to excercise and stay physically fit. According to the USDA dietaryguidlines "To reduce the risk of chronic disease in adulthood: Engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, above usual activity, at work or home on most days of the week." This activity will not only make students feel good now, but also in the long run.There is an amazing amount of unused time in a students life. After school, if a student is waiting to be picked up, for half an hour they could excercise, instead of sitting around. Students need to make time to stay active. Being physically fit helps with many aspects of a students life. Though any activity is good, some aerobic activity is better than others. For example, swimming involves almost all muscle groups, while stretching the muscles at the same time. Common exercises like running and biking also cover multiple muscle areas. Running builds calf and abdomin muscles, where as biking builds more inner and outer thyroid muscle. It is best to do different activities each time you exercise, so that not only one area of the body finds strength.
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