CPT ESSAY

MRS. AKLEH
PPL101-F
ISABELLA DAMBROSIO

Isabella DAmbrosio

D'Ambrosio 1

Mrs. Akleh
PPL101F
January 11, 2016
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 technologically 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.
The World Health Organization has called childhood obesity one of the most serious public
health challenges of the 21st century. Historically chools, 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 physically active and to make healthy food choices. 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 gains 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)
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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., Teaching physical
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). By participating in
regular physical education classes, students would be more active and thus would more likely 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 that
physical activity helps manage stress because when you work out your stress is being released
through physical exertion. A study in Switzerland 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. ("Do Sports and Other Physical Activities Build
Self-Esteem?" Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2016.) Exercise and other physical
movement produce endorphinschemicals in the mind that which decreases stress and makes us
feel happy.
Physical activity promotes the development of self-esteem and builds self confidence in
young people. Children who are more physically active and fit have a more positive self-image.
There are numerous studies that support the number of studies offer support to the claim that
sports and other physical activities contribute to the development of self-esteem. Canadian
scientists have found that boys and girls who were more physically active had considerably
higher levels of self-esteem. (Do Sports and Other Physical Activities Build Self-Esteem?"
Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2016.) Clearly there is a benefit that comes from
feeling more positive about ones self is that we end up feeling more sure, clear, free and selfD'Ambrosio 3

controlled which helps us to feel more confident. Promoting regular exercise in school exercise
can have a positive result on self-esteem as fitness and appearance improve.
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. 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 of physical and health education as a way to make our students more
physically active and reverse the troubling health consequences facing the youth population.
Bringing back mandatory physical education in school is a positive step toward reversing this
negative health trend.

Work Cited
"Utility Menu - Unauthenticated." Physical Education in School. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2016.
"Do Sports and Other Physical Activities Build Self-Esteem?" Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web.
10 Jan. 2016.

Self Esteem Is Defined By The Degree Worth And Competence That We Attribute To,
Ourselves., Through Sport, We May Enhance Our Self Esteem By Having A Positive Image Of
Our, and Bodies And The Physical Skills And Abilities That We Develop. We Feel Positive Self
Worth. Self-Esteem, Sport and Physical Activity (n.d.): n. pag. Self-Esteem, Sport and Physical
Activity. Web. 10 Jan. 2015. <http://www.caaws.ca/e/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/Self_Esteem.pdf>.