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D-day: New US & AZ Physical Activity Report Card published

Sorry for another Downer but...

The 3rd biannual Physical Activity for Children and Youth, 2018 US Report Card was published recently.  No surprise: the USA received a D- grade for overall child physical activity.

One thing I like about these report cards, even though the data are imperfect and the bad news is daunting:  they get media attention.  Both Cronkite News and the local CBS and independent TV affiliate have contacted us about this so far.

One of their initial takes: well, at least Arizona is more fit than most other states.  Boy, that is looking hard for a silver-lining in a very dark cloud.

This Report Card measures fitness by % of children who are overweight or obese--using BMI: Body Mass Index.  This is not a great approach for measuring fitness. (We all know that kids--and adults--can be fit yet overweight, or unfit though normal weight.)  But BMI is a readily available proxy statistic that is roughly comparable across all states.

And the really bad news:  that bright spot is disappearing fast in Arizona.  AZ has one of the fastest growing child obesity rates in the nation, as our child demographics have shifted rapidly to a much lower income and more Latino population.

(The Report Card also notes that AZ's community and built environment, such as availability of sidewalks and playgrounds, are better than most states, too.  But the AZ physical activity and sedentary behavior data show that our children are not using that infrastructure anywhere nearly enough.)

So Arizona's past demographics helped get us a C-, for now, for Overall Physical Activity--while the US as a whole got a D-.  But without a herculean effort, AZ's grade will dive downward quickly.

All the more reason, why we need to better and more frequently measure what is going on in schools and hold schools accountable--but also fund the professional development and other programs and resources which educators need to increase physical activity and healthy nutrition.

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