Health Education - its importance at school

A recent study revealed that sharing BMI results of overweight and obese children with their parents had no affect on whether children lost weight years later http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/07/08/no-point-in-telling-parents-about-kids-weight/ . Although one might think this is surprising, it coincides with our experience when only presenting individuals with their health status data, and little information on what the data means or resources/programs to work on improving such metrics. Without the latter, it can be assumed that individuals, will at a minimum, understand they have health risks, but certainly not understand the importance of those risks or how to better manage them.

Currently, I am working with a local elementary school to improve their culture of health. The goal of the initiative is to increase awareness of healthy habits throughout the community, and ultimately improve the health of the students, families and staff of the school. This study is timely, as the school has been measuring  BMI and fitness levels for all students. To date, a standard one-page report has gone home to parents letting them know of their child's results. It would be ideal to continue these health measurements, but create communication pieces that emphasize the reason for measuring these stats, the importance of managing them, and how the school is working to provide an environment supportive of healthy activities. Ultimately, the changes in policy and environment would improve student health status.

Although it is not the school's responsibility to manage the health of their students, the school environment teaches ideals. Understanding how many hours children are in school during the year, and the impact the school environment can have on children, improving school policies and environment to support healthy habits is a necessity to afford our children a healthy, prosperous life. It is exciting to see how many schools throughout the country are focusing on health as a key priority of their environment.