The importance of Physical Education

By
I. DAmbrosio

Introduction: There is a frightening health trend that has developed over the last 20 years. This
is the most inactive and unhealthy generation in history. The more technolgically advanced our
society becomes the less active we are becoming. The introduction and evolution of the internet
over the last two decades has led to a significant drop in daily physical activity among school
aged children who prefer to spend endless hours sitting playing on their electronic devices
connected to the internet than being engaged in physical play . The reality is that students are
far less physical today than they used to be and as a result are growing more obese and less
healthy. According to the World health Organanization, childhood obesity has been called one
of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century, Historically schools, through
daily physical education classes have played an important role in educating students about the
benefits of a healthy life style, encouraging them to be physical active and to make healthy food
choices.
Thesis: Every student should be required to take physical education class every year of high
school because it helps control your weight, reduces stress, and improves self-confidence and
self-esteem.
In order to control weight, one needs to have both a healthy and nutritious diet and to
exercise daily. A persons gain weight when the calories he/she burns, including those burned
during physical activity, are less than the calories you eat or drink. Alarmingly, one-quarter of
Canadians aged two to 17 are overweight or obese (Active Health Kids Canada, 2007, p.13)
(http://www.phecanada.ca/physical-education-school)
Physical and health education classes would teach and encourage students to be active and make
health choices not only while attending school but for their whole lives. According to the Gealth
Challenge Executive Summary published in 2006, teaching hysical education in schools [is one
of the] most effective vehicles to reinforce a lifetime pattern of healthy eating and exercise."
( Health Challenge, Executive Summary, 2006) (http://www.phecanada.ca/physical-education-

school) According to the Public Health Agency of Canada has stated that, helping kids build
physical activity into their daily routine, helps to create a pattern that may very well stay with the
for the rest of their lives (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2002, p.2) . Students must be more
active than others to accomplish or maintain a healthy and solid weight.
Regular Physical activity reduces stress and acts as a good stress reliever because it acts
as an outlet for releasing tension, and nervousness. It has been proven in multiple studies to help
manage stress because when you work out your stress is being released through physical exertion
. A study in Switzerland (link is external) found that adolescents who participated in sports
clubs had greater well-being, including being better socially adjusted, feeling less anxious, and
generally being happier about their lives. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smartmoves/201408/do-sports-and-other-physical-activities-build-self-esteem). So it has been said that
if your body feels better, so does your brain. Exercise and other physical movement produce
endorphinschemicals in the mind that which decreases stress and makes us feel happy. e

.Physical activity promotes the development of self esttem and builds self confidence in
young people. Children who are more physically active and fit have a more positive self image.
A number of studies offer support to the claim that sports and other physical activities can
contribute to the development of self-esteem. For example, Canadian scientists found that [grade
6] boys and girls who were more physically active had considerably higher levels of selfesteem. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/smart-moves/201408/do-sports-and-otherphysical-activities-build-self-esteem)
A benefit that comes from feeling more positive aboit ons self ist that we end up feeling more
sure, clear, free and self-controlled which helps to feel build . Regular exercise can have a

positive result on self-esteem -- particularly for those who suffer from low self-esteem -- as
fitness and appearance improve.
http://www.caaws.ca/e/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Self_Esteem.pdf
Physical Education is very important in everyday life. Every student should be required
to take physical education every year of high school because it helps control your weight,
reduces stress and improves self-confidence and self- esteem, and. It is difficult to deny the
benefits of an active life style. We need to encouraging good eating habits and promoting
physical activity through the teaching physical and health education as a way to make our
students more physically active and reverse the troubling health consequences facing the youth
population. Bring back mandatory physical education in school is a positive step toward
reversing the negative health trend.