Denis Morris High School phys-ed teacher Honee Barnowski leads a dancefit class.
Photo: Staff photo by Denis Cahill
Out-exercising childhood obesity PETER DOWNS / Standard Staff
Local News - Tuesday, April 17, 2007 @ 01:00
She doesn't look overweight or unhealthy.
But until very recently, 18-year-old Cristina Zuluaga had been largely sedentary.
The Colombian native isn't involved in any organized sports.
She doesn't hit the gym in her off hours outside of school.
And she doesn't jog or take long walks or do any other form of exercise on her own time.
But a relatively new physical education course at Denis Morris High School caught Cristina's attention after she moved to St. Catharines two months ago.
The newcomer decided to finally add some fitness to her life.
She signed up for a phys-ed course that focuses on boosting aerobic and cardiovascular health through fun, dance-style exercise.
"I don't practise any sports, so I think this is a good opportunity for me to do some exercise," Cristina said recently following some warm-up exercises with her class.
Cristina is the exact type of student phys-ed teachers at Denis Morris have in their sights - senior level females who generally opt out of elective physical education courses.
The school introduced three girls-only dancefit classes last year and generated enough interest among students to double the number of classes for the current school year.
There are now 150 girls in the courses, many of whom would otherwise not be taking any health and phys-ed classes.
"We're offering them what they like - a lot of aerobics, abdominal exercises and it's all girls," said Daryl Mahler, head of the school's physical education department.
Mahler and phys-ed teacher Honee Barnowski, who leads the dancefit classes, are hoping to add even more sections for more students next fall.
Expanding the program may cause scheduling difficulties for school administrators, but it's well worth the trouble, said principal Tony Bozza.
"Growth is a good headache, knowing that you're going to create a lifelong learning for activity," he said.
Health officials across Niagara and the rest of the country would be happy to have similar headaches.
But instead of figuring out how to deal with a growing number of people interested in healthier, more active lifestyles, they're facing the exact opposite problem.
Rapidly increasing numbers of sedentary kids who become sedentary adults.
An epidemic of people who are overweight or obese.
And hospitals jammed with patients who are battling chronic illnesses such as cancer and cardiac disease related to their excess weight.
So what can be done to turn the tide? How do you get people to live healthier? And who should bear the responsibility for curing the obesity epidemic?
There are no simple answers to such fundamental questions, say health officials.
And it will take decades to curb a multi-faceted problem that has been effectively built into a culture that relishes convenience and excess in equal measures.
"There's a piece of it that comes down to the individual, convincing people to lead healthier lives," said Dianne Coppola, who leads the Niagara Region public health department's obesity prevention strategy.
"But the bigger piece is what do we collectively do as people in Niagara to ensure our communities are built in ways that people can just step out and get on a bike or walk and be active."
Three years ago, Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, issued her influential report - Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives - recommending ways to counter the province's obesity epidemic.
Basrur maintained individuals alone cannot reverse the serious health threat facing the province.
They also need the help of all levels of government, the health-care sector, food industries, workplaces, schools and families, she argued.
"As a society, we have lost the balance between the energy we take in and the energy we expend, which is the key to a healthy weight. Just when Ontarians are faced with more food choices, more processed foods and large food portions, we have engineered physical activity out of our lives, replacing it with remote controls, computers and video games," Basrur writes in the report.
With one out of every two adults overweight or obese, Niagara's public health department has taken up Basrur's rallying call for change.
Niagara Region Chairman Peter Partington struck a leadership round-table in April 2005 to develop strategies to coax Niagarans into better shape.
A subsequent report by the panel came up with nine specific strategies, focusing on increased physical activity, healthier eating and improved community design.
One of the strategies - a Trekzone challenge - encourages all residents to walk, cycle or in-line skate the length of the 160-kilometre Niagara Circle Route.
The report also urges the expansion of the Region's Eat Smart awards program, which recognizes restaurants, schools and other venues for providing healthy food choices.
"We have the strategy now and the framework, but it takes a long time to implement it," Coppola said.
"You cannot expect any significant changes in three years. Now we have to move to the implementation."
But Dr. Andrea Feller, Niagara Region's associate medical officer of health, is confident the public health department and its community partners can significantly reduce obesity in Niagara.
"What I've seen so far is such a willingness to work together and to collaborate," said Feller, who joined the health department last summer.
"We can actually stand up as a community and say, 'OK, we need to make this change and we're going to do it.' I believe that is actually going to happen."
But Hamilton-based obesity expert Dr. Arya Sharma isn't as convinced society on a broader level is prepared to shoulder more responsibility.
The provincial and federal governments spend millions of dollars on obesity-prevention education, Sharma acknowledged.
But massive investments are also needed to change public infrastructure to encourage more activity, such as building more sidewalks and providing better public transportation.
"The big-dial issues, nobody apparently wants to touch those because they're very, very complicated ," said Sharma, who runs an obesity clinic for adults at Hamilton General Hospital. "Those are very expensive.... I'm not optimistic that any of that would happen."
Infrastructure changes and public policy changes to encourage healthier living are extremely expensive and complex, agreed child obesity expert Dr. Goutham Rao.
But they would end up saving the health system more money than is currently being spent treating patients who suffer medical problems related to being overweight, Rao said.
"I don't think, in general, politicians see that," said Rao, an Ontario native who runs the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
"It's kind of a tenuous connection to say that you make these changes now and 20 years later you see the benefits."
Different levels of government have started to focus more attention and more resources on the spread of obesity, said Dr. Bill Shragge, chief of staff for the Niagara Health System.
"It wasn't seen as an issue five and 10 years ago," he said. "I think governments are beginning now to look at what their duties and responsibilities are. It's beginning. Is it enough? No. Is it a start? Absolutely."
In the meantime, as they wait for wider societal changes, Niagara's public health department and partner Heart Niagara are reaching out directly to young high school students to help them better understand the health consequences of their lifestyles.
For the past 20 years, Heart Niagara has measured fitness levels of Grade 9 phys-ed students across the region through its Healthy Heart program.
The initiative, which now reaches approximately 5,000 students at 30 schools annually, combines regular classroom education on healthy lifestyles and individual fitness tests that give students an appreciation of their own health.
In addition to blood pressure and cholesterol tests, all students in the program learn their body mass index or BMI - a calculation that lets them know how much of their weight is actually fat. They can then learn how they compare to healthy BMIs for their age group and gender.
The BMI testing, which is provided to Brock University researchers for further study, is not done on a similar large scale in schools anywhere else in North America, said Dr. Stafford Dobbin, who founded Heart Niagara and created the Healthy Heart program.
The information is valuable because it helps young teens understand the role genetics and their family's coronary history play in their health, he said.
"It's an attempt to show kids that they do bring some baggage into this world that they get from their parents and grandparents," he said.
"There are lots of people who've got lousy genes who find out about it early enough in life and become marathon runners, etcetera."
Back at Denis Morris High School, Cristina Zuluaga isn't planning on running any marathons.
But she's sure the dancefit class she's taking will help her get in the habit of regular exercise and activity outside of school. "For me, this is great," she said. "It gives me a routine to follow."
Classmate Jill Limebeer is also impressed by the program.
The 17-year-old, who plays organized baseball, said she was looking for something to keep her active in the off-season. "It's a good break from sitting in a chair all day. It gives you energy for last class," she said.
Coming up with more appealing phys-ed classes may be just a piece of a much larger puzzle to battle obesity, but it's an important one, Dobbin indicated. "I think you can get a kid to out-exercise obesity. It's more difficult for adults," he said. "Adults have to do a huge amount of exercising to cope with overeating."
Childhood Obesity
Finally schools get the hint. PE is unappealing to most students, especially girls. Offer classes like dance, martial arts, basketball, baseball, etc and you will get much more elective participation from students, which is needed to combat childhood obesity.
the lack of motivation for kids to exercise has dropped below the floor and i hope others will follow suit. we have to start fighting childhood obesity better at the schools
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