When I started Teaching in 1983:
When I started Teaching in 1983:
When I started Teaching in 1983:
We were considered leaders in the world in among other things, education. Today, despite increasing awareness of the importance of high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC), enrolment in ECEC at the age of 3 in the United States is 35 percentage points below the OECD average.
The obesity rates have skyrocketed. According to the OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2014 it was reported, the US will be the fattest nation among the 33 countries by 2020. 3 out of 4 United States Citizens will be obese by 2020. 75% of our country. Today in 2020 we are in fact the most obese country in the OECD, the 12 fattest nation in the world.
In the 1980’s Obesity and Diabetes were NOT public health problems, it’s only taken us 40 years to do that.
The CDC, Center for Disease Control reported that over the last 30 years, over 20% of our children have become obese.
Health Risks resulting from Obesity:
- Heart Problems
- Heart Disease
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Sleep Disturbance
- Emotional Stress
International Diabetes Ass. Says 1-10 Adults (world wide) will have diabetes by 2030. Today we are at 1 in 11.
If the current trends continue; 1 in 3 kids born in 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.
In the 1960’s the incident of Autism was 1 in 10,000. Today, prevalence in the United States is estimated at 1 in 54 births. (CDC)
In 1970 approximately 150,000 cases of ADD were diagnosed. 500,000 in 1985, and in 1990 1,000,000 in of our Nation’s children were diagnosed with some form of ADD. Today The CDC says that 11 percent of American children, ages 4 to 17, have the attention disorder. That’s an increase of 42 percent in just 8 years.
We have a brain to move
When I started Teaching in 1983:
When I started Teaching in 1983:
BDNF
Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor is created when we do aerobic exercise. A substance that strengthens cells and axons, fortifies the connections among neurons and sparks neurogenesis. Among other things, BDNF stimulates the growth of new brain cells.
Large Muscle Movements seem to create more BDNF.
The Smallest life form with a brain, common name “sea squirt”, finds a rock to feed and first, eats it’s own brain! Only life that “Moves” on it’s own, has a brain.
Brain Rule #1
When I started Teaching in 1983:
Brain Rule #1
Brain Rules by John Medina
Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
The human brain evolved under conditions of almost constant motion. From this, one might predict that the optimal environment for processing information would include motion. That is exactly what one finds. Indeed, the best business meeting would have everyone walking at about 1.8 miles per hour.
Researchers studied two elderly populations that had led different lifestyles, one sedentary and one active. Cognitive scores were profoundly influenced. Exercise positively affected executive function, spatial tasks, reaction times and quantitative skills.
So researchers asked: If the sedentary populations become active, will their cognitive scores go up? Yes, it turns out, if the exercise is aerobic. In four months, executive functions vastly improve; longer, and memory scores improve as well.
Exercise improves cognition for two reasons:
- Exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain, which reduces brain-bound free radicals. One of the most interesting findings of the past few decades is that an increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness.
- Exercise acts directly on the molecular machinery of the brain itself. It increases neurons’ creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.