Basic Benefits of Physical Education

Introduction: 

Our body is designed in such a manner that it needs consistent and sufficient activity of all the body parts on regular basis. If we spend our entire day doing sedentary work and don't give enough movement to our body then it is not really happy with us that day. From indigestion to lack of peaceful sleep to mental dissatisfaction, physical inactivity is the root cause of all the little to big health problems in our lives. As much as academic education is important for everyone, physical education is equally essential for us and our children. It plays a major role in contributing to the development and growth of our bodies since youth. 

Physical education or P.E. positively impacts a person’s health in different ways.  It’s not important only for children but also for adults who are mostly occupied in deskbound jobs. Some of the major benefits of P.E. that make it immensely important are as follows: 

Prevention of diseases 

It prevents serious ailments like type 2 diabetes and other problems like bone complications, stopped growth and obesity in kids, poor stamina etc. 

Career building 

They can contribute to gaining expertise in sports which can later be helpful in career building. Majority of the famous soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming and karate champions in the world began with their sports training in school. P.E. also helps in determining the areas in which one is naturally exceptional and extraordinary. 

Evaluation of students 

It helps in increasing the ways in which students can be evaluated in school on the basis of their super-active participation and indulgence. 

Development of interest in school 

P.E. provides kids with a variety of activities to choose from. Activities like dance, gymnastics, aerobics etc. are fascinating and exciting to kids so much so that they attract them into going to school and taking interest in academics at the same time.

Healthy diet

P.E. also involves preventing the repercussions and risks of poor diet. When we’re engaged in excessive physical activities, we need the required amount of nutrition to be able to perform our best physically. This in turn improves our food and water intake.

Psychological grooming

P.E. adds to the psychological grooming of children in initial stages of their lives. Exercises and physical activities increase the dopamine level causing behaviors like motivation, pleasure seeking, and mood swings to improve. It also prevents conditions like fatigue and depression by boosting pleasure and concentration in life.

Social implications

By participating in sports and other physical activities, students are given the environment to socialize and know more people around them. It improves their conversational and communication skills and also boosts their level of confidence.

Overall, physical education is essential to incorporate in schools and colleges. Children and adults don’t get the required basic grooming only via studies but the mental and physical growth is preeminent to help boost their academic skills. Without P.E., we cannot make our students act to the maximum level of their potential. Insufficient physical activity results in rusting of brains that are otherwise capable of excelling in diverse fields of life.

Key Facts and Statistics

• According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, every day only one among three children are active physically in the United States.
• As per National Association for Sport and Physical Education/American Heart Association, in the United States, only 6 of the states (Hawaii, Mississippi, Vermont, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York) need physical education in each grade.
• According to a report by the Physical Activity Council, 28% of American people aging 6 and more are not active physically.
• As per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on an average, about 1/3 of the students of the US high schools play computer or video games for 3 hours or more on a school day.
• According to the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance, 21.6% of 6-19-year-old US children and adolescents achieved 60 to more minutes of moderate to high level of physical activity on minimum 5 days a week.
• In the year 2015, as per Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, on an average, 51.6% of the students of the US high schools were present at the physical education classes in a week, and 29.8% of the high school students were present daily at the physical education classes.