Nutri Strategy writes that regular exercise can help protect you from heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, noninsulin-dependent diabetes, obesity, back pain, osteoporosis, and can also improve your mood and help you to better deal with stress. In order to obtain the greatest overall benefits experts recommend that you do 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic activity three or more times a week along with some type of muscle strengthening activity and stretching at least twice a week. And yet in spite of the growing awareness of the vital importance of exercise for good health, many colleges and universities across the United States have been dropping their physical education requirements.
In a news release on Jan. 7, 2013, Oregon State University has reported, Physical education requirement at four-year universities at all-time low. Yet, even as policy makers and health experts have pointed to an increased need for exercise, greater than half of four-year colleges and universities in the United States have dropped physical education requirements in comparison to historic levels. Furthermore, lead author of the study, researcher Brad Cardinal of Oregon State University, has said research shows that exercise not only improves human health, but exercise also improves cognitive performance.
Cardinal has commented, “We see more and more evidence about the benefit of physical activity, not just to our bodies, but to our minds, yet educational institutions are not embracing their own research. It is alarming to see four-year institutions following the path that K-12 schools have already gone down, eliminating exercise as part of the curriculum even as obesity rates climb.” This really is an alarming trend. Colleges and universities across the United States should encourage exercise among their students and should search for appropriate funding to maintain good physical education departments.
