Expert Q&A: Hasson on increasing youth physical activity at school and in the home

Childhood physical activity is critical for healthy growth and development, yet many children struggle to get enough movement each day. Rebecca Hasson, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology and director of the University of Michigan Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory, studies youth physical activity and develops evidence-based practices to increase movement in school and at home. As principal investigator of the Interrupting Prolonged sitting with ACTivity (InPACT) program, she works with teachers, school leaders and families to incorporate opportunities for exercise into young people’s lives.

How physically active are children and adolescents in Michigan?

Every two years for the past ten years, the Physical Activity Alliance has issued a report card on youth physical activity. On average, children and adolescents in Michigan receive a D-minus. That means little more than half of children ages six to 17 are meeting physical activity recommendations. 

As kids age, they move less and less, with physical activity declining by 75% between ages nine and 15. Some of that is biological or behavioral preferences, but a lot of it is because of environmental changes, such as decreased access to physical education and recess. The pandemic also contributed to a drop in physical activity and changed how young people choose to exercise. 

The number of children participating in organized sports has also declined. For some communities, this reduction is likely due to a lack of access to structured sports. We need to make sure we’re providing multiple opportunities for kids to engage in exercise, irrespective of socioeconomic background or geographic location — which is what the InPACT programs were designed to do. Through the initiative, we work with schools and families to integrate exercise “snacks” into the daily routines of our children, which are bite-sized, one- to five-minute-long activities that are designed to interrupt long periods of sitting.
 

How important is physical activity to child and adolescent health?

Physical activity is vital for child development — not only for physical health but also motor skill development and social emotional learning.

There are clear mental health benefits as well, especially with many kids still recovering from the pandemic. We’ve seen increases in student anxiety and depression over the last several years, and we know physical activity can help manage those symptoms. Exercise helps regulate stress arousal, and it can affect a person’s overall sense of pleasantness. Part of our work focuses on training teachers to help kids who are in the “red zone,” or when their emotions are high, to use physical activity to lower their arousal and decrease feelings of unpleasantness. We hope as children learn to use physical activity as a coping mechanism, they become more resilient over time. 

The intellectual benefits of exercise are also quite clear, including higher standardized test scores and improved academic achievement. We’ve also observed improved focus and attention following physical activity, with 99% of children returning to task within 30 seconds after an “activity break.”

Most importantly, engaging in exercise helps children maintain a healthy weight trajectory over time. Children who are physically active are more likely to stay active as adults. In contrast, not getting enough exercise can raise the risk of chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers later in life. 

The current inactivity epidemic we’re seeing, and the associated weight gain, is so severe that some believe this generation may be the first to have a shorter lifespan than their parents. 

Why focus on increasing physical activity in schools, and how can exercise “snacks” help? 

We focus on the classroom because it’s where kids spend the majority of their waking hours, and they sit almost the entire time they’re there. Adding movement into the day primes students’ brains for learning, helps them manage their emotions, and offers a great way for kids to have a little fun and get the wiggles out. 

Through the InPACT program, we’ve worked with 30 schools across Michigan to introduce “exercise snacks” into the classroom to increase opportunities for a little movement throughout the day. Although teachers love exercise snacks, some can find implementing them to be challenging. Teachers might be hesitant to make reluctant students participate, and others may feel unsure about leading the exercises. These activities also require time – a valuable and limited resource in the classroom.

To help teachers and students, we provide evidence-based implementation tools that make it easy to integrate exercise snacks into the day. We have a three-tiered system of resources that includes strategies for gamifying activities to make them more fun, behavioral management posters for the classroom, and a weekly newsletter with instructional videos on how to perform each exercise.

Our resources have helped reduce many of the barriers teachers and school leaders face, leading to some really positive outcomes. After implementing the InPACT program, one school we work with reported a 34% decrease in behavioral referrals to the principal’s office during the first year. Obviously, we don’t give exercise snacks all the credit for that progress, but we do believe they’re a part of it. 

We also partner with Michigan Virtual, which provides online courses for both students and educators, to make our professional development freely available online, and teachers can earn eight continuing education credits by engaging in our training. We’re also working with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Building Healthy Communities Program to train school leaders, and we’ve partnered with the Michigan School Health Coordinators Association to provide expert consultations to schools across the state who may face persistent implementation barriers.

How can families encourage movement at home?

We realized during the pandemic, when most kids weren’t in schools, that we needed to find a way to support student movement outside of the classroom. We love to promote outdoor exercise, but it’s not always safe in every community, and not all families have access to playground equipment or parks that they feel comfortable using. That’s why we created InPACT At Home. 

By adapting exercise snacks into videos, we made our activities available to families for the first time. We originally put the videos on our website but quickly learned that wasn’t sufficient because a third of our children didn’t have broadband internet at home. We then partnered with Detroit Public Television and the Michigan Learning Channel to broadcast our videos, since 98% of households have access to public television. It has been a wonderful avenue for promoting universal access to physical activity resources like exercise snacks.

We also created playing cards that turn exercise into a game families can play together, and we developed a curriculum that helps families talk about physical activity and other important needs like sleep, nutrition, love, belonging, and resilience. 

It’s important for parents to know that the best way to support their child’s physical activity is through co-participation. Parents are the primary influencer in a child’s life; they’re the first teacher of everything, including healthy behavior. By participating in exercise snacks along with their child, they model that physical activity is both fun and important.

How can school and policy leaders in Michigan support initiatives that encourage youth physical activity?

One key step that leaders can take is to increase support for regional school health coordinators, whose primary responsibility is to help implement health education programs. We have a fantastic system here in the state of Michigan where regional school health coordinators are a line item in the state budget. We currently have 24 coordinators who provide technical assistance to every school across the state. Each coordinator is responsible for several schools, but because they only serve part-time, they must cover the other half of their salary with different grants and opportunities. With more support, they could focus full-time on the state health curriculum and on coordinating programs that promote physical activity. 

We’re also trying to raise awareness that funding these positions can lead to a variety of positive outcomes. Eliminating socioeconomic disparities in youth physical activity can result in billions of dollars in health care savings. We also know exercise helps students do well academically, and those who do well in school are more likely to get a good job later in life, benefitting both themselves and society as a whole.

It may sound lofty to attribute such impact to physical activity, but the data speaks for itself. That’s why our mission is clear: to get every child moving and help build a healthier society — not just in Michigan, but across the country and, eventually, the world.