Child obesity in the broader population continues to rise within our nation.

The United States education departments is receiving less amounts of revenue and are seeking cancellation of various physical activities our youths are participating or are interested in. The state of wellbeing for our youths has high relevance in life for, obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, social stress, and various other delinquencies; due to mal nutrition, excess levels of body fat, excessive cholesterol and triglycerides, and higher blood pressure resulting in decreased blood flow (Strong, Malina, and Blimike 2005). The frequency of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% to 19.6% from 1980 to 2008 (Koffman, Granade, Anwuri 2008). Physical Activity produces numerous benefits from building healthy bones and muscles, reducing risk of harmful chronic diseases to even bolstering academic performance (Boles, Dent, and Elman 2011).

Investigating the effects of school based physical activity will have on school aged children health in the United States will prove to be highly beneficial, since prevention methods have less financial requirements, maintains the desired health status than developing the disease and going through a series of care and treatments. The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association approximation for the cost of cardiovascular disease in the United States in 2007 were around four hundred and thirty eight billion dollars (Katz, Cushman, and Reynolds 2010). There is not as much involvement and implementation towards raising child obesity awareness and the importance of physical activity within our youths (Sylvestsky, Hennink, and Comeau 2013). Children see obesity as a genetic factor, excluding poor lifestyle and lack of physical activity as contributions (Sylvestsky, Hennink, and Comeau 2013). The objective of my systematic review is to investigate what impact school based physical activity has on school-aged children.

References Boles M, Dilley J, Dent C, Elman M, Duncan S, Johnson D. Center of Disease and Control, ( November 11, 2011) Changes in Local School Policies and Practices in Washington State After an Unfunded Physical Activity and Nutrition Mandate. http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2011/nov/10_0191.htm

Koffman D, Granade S, Anwuri V. Center of Disease and Control, ( July 2008) Strategies for Establishing Policy Environmental, and Systems- Level Interventions for Managing High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol in Health Care Settings: A Qualitative Case Study http.://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jul/07_0218.htm

Katz D, Cushman D, Reynolds J, Njike V, Treu J, Walker J, Smith E, Katz C. Center of Disease and Control, ( July 2010) Putting Physical Activity Where It Fits in the School Day: Preliminary Results of the ABC (Activity Bursts in the Classroom) for Fitness Program http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jul/09_0176.htm

Sylvestsky AC, Hennink M, Comeau D, Welsh JA, Hardy T, Matzigkeit L, Swan DW, Walsh SM, Vos MB. Journal of Obesity, (July 17, 2013), Youth Understanding of Healthy Eatting and Obesity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23956844

Strong, Malina, Blimkie, Daniels, Dishman, Gutin, Hergenroeder, Must, Nixon, Pivamik, Rowland, Trost, Trudeau. Journal of Pediatrics, (June 2005), Evidenced Based Physical Activtity for School Aged Children. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347605001009

Anderson, Laska, Mortenson, Farbakhsh, Budovitz, Story. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, (May 2012), A School-Based, Peer Leadership Physical Activity Intervention for 6th Graders: Feasibility and Results of a Pilot Study. http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=52545e1c-8571-4ada-9402abaae7d7a7d0%40sessionmgr11&vid=6&hid=110 Huang, Gao, Hannnon, Schultz, Newton, Jenson. Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport, and Dance, (November 2012) Impact of an After School Physical Activity Program and Youths Physical Activity Correlates and Behavior http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=52545e1c-8571-4ada-9402abaae7d7a7d0%40sessionmgr11&vid=11&hid=110

Methodology

The databases used for my research were PubMed, Google Scholar, Center of Disease and Control (CDC), One Search and Embase and had to be published after 1995. Within the databases, the MeSH terms/ key words used were: obesity, AND child obesity, AND obesity prevalence, AND physical activity, AND benefits in physical activity, AND obesity disorders, AND chronic illnesses caused by obesity, AND school based exercise, AND school based physical activity, AND the effects of school based activities, AND school based physical activities. To meet the qualifications to be included in this review, the articles must be peer reviewed, English, and full text available. The results excluded from this research are: those not in English, abstract only result, and articles that represent countries other than the United States. For the matrix the following information author, sample, size, intervention, and overall support, were extracted from all included articles.

Results

Table 1 [Correlation between School Based Physical Activity and Obesity] Author
Sylvestsky et al. (2013)

Sample size
14 normal weight (12-14 years) 9 overweight (9- 11 years) 18 overweight (1214 years)

Intervention/ Exposure
Sample Surveying School Based Exercise

Outcome
14 normal weight (12-14 years) 30% unaware 9 overweight ( 9-11 years)50% unaware 18 overweight(12-14 years) 50% unaware

Overall Support
Most children are unaware of obesity and its relevance towards lifestyle and school based exercises.

Katz et al. (2010)

559 control students (active) (grades 2nd 4th grade) 655 intervention students (inactive) (grades 2nd 4th grade)

Sample Surveying School Based Fitness

Control students had less BMI and weight, more enthusiastic towards physical activity, physical performance was greater, and had better academic performance than intervention students. 60-45minutes of daily school exercise impact health greatly. 30-45 is still adequate to increasing health 0 minutes begin to have harmful effects on health Students involved in school based activity scored .74-.88 Students not involved in school based activity scored .53.79

The Programs of physical activity, fitness, and health measurements prove to be beneficial to childrens health

Strong et al.(2005)

370 present articles 850 retrospective articles

School Based Exercise

The prevalence in numerous disorders and the weight associated in children with less school based or no exercise at all. The scores were based on a series of questionnaires based on questions such as physical performance, expectations, social support, activities desired to participate

Huang et al.(2012)

130 students (seventh and eighth grade)

School Based Exercise

in, etc. Anderson et al.(2012) 61 control students (active) (6th grade) 87 intervention students (less active) (6th grade) School Based Exercise Control Students had fewer students in the moderate and high levels of BMI but nearly the same results in the low BMI category as the intervention students. Physical activity was measured in certain categories from low, moderate, to intense based on certain activities. The BMI was also calculated.

Strong et al.(2005) searched over 850 articles the evidence, conclusions, key issues, and gaps of these articles were summarized and evaluated, school aged children were investigated, showing the correlation of obesity in children and development of chronic illnesses. Koffman et al. (2008) identified 34 health care practices and the policies involved, in management of high cholesterol, blood pressure, and obesity, evaluating the increase in children associated with obesity in the population of the U.S. Boles et al. (2011) performed a secondary analysis on school health profile surveys from 2002- 2006 in Washington and Oregon showing the impact physical activity has on children. Sylvestsky et al. (2013), used 41 participants at the ages 9 to 14 to conduct their experiment determining that children at these ages were receiving insufficient amounts of physical activity and lacked the knowledge to see the correlation between obesity and lifestyle choices/physical activity. Huang, Gao, Hannnon, Schultz, Newton, and Jenson (2012) goals were to promote physical with in children, by demonstrating their results through a series of questions. These questions ranged from: Whether they enjoy doing physical activity, do your parents support your physical status, how much school physical activities do you partake in, etc. Children who generally enjoyed physical activity and participated in school based physical activities received positive scores in the questionnaires. Anderson, Laska, Mortenson, Farbakhsh, Budovitz, and Story (2012) measured activity levels in 148 sixth grade students. Sixty One of these students

were involved in school based activities and 87 were not; however they were lightly physically active. They measured the activities based on intensity from physical demands in the following exercises. The body mass index was used to determine the results; it evaluated the students height, body fat, weight, and physical activity. Each of these studies found the correlation of school based physical activities have a beneficial impact on childrens health. These studies, however examined different aspects of children from their mental capabilities and understanding, to physical prowess and involvement, and finally the health and wellbeing of the individual.

Discussion The purpose of my systematic review is to illustrate the impact of school based activities on childrens health. Children were unable to associate healthy foods and obesity as both a disease that may cause chronic and acute disorders (Sylvestsky et al. 2013). With proper nutrition and involvement in school based activities, children had a reduction in BMI and other characteristics of obesity (Huang et al 2012). The physical fitness of children profit from involvement in school based activities; however there are also other benefits. Children participating school based activities have higher academic performance and are less concerned with social concerns such as appearance, acceptance, etc (Katz et al 2010). There were several limitations with in my review: Public health practitioners may use this review to benefit the populations of various children. Suggestions for any child to participate in school based activities to improve their health. Informing parents and guardians of children the benefits of school based physical activities and the harms that may be caused due to the lack of physical activity. Involvement and awareness of a school based activity allows children to advance in their health status, being a stout to obesity, social, and physical disorders.