Richard Branson is a highly successful entrepreneur and author well known for his Virgin brand record stores and now Virgin airline and mobile companies. I read an editorial written by Branson a few months back. In his editorial, he talked abouk how physical fitness plays an integral role in his life. Physical fitness has become a key component in his desire to create a sense of balance. Branson has a significantly hectic and busy lifestyle due to his business responsibilities yet he has personally prioritized physical fitness and healthy living. Through healthy choices, Branson is able engage in the adventuresome lifestyle he loves while maintaining a strong work ethic and continuing to build his business empire.
Physical health and an awareness of what it means to be healthy need to be a priority for all of us. Richard Branson’s story is not unique but is sheds light on the notion that no one is too busy to make healthy choices become a part of their lives. Parents of school-aged children play a primary role in guiding and defining the lifestyle their children will engage in. Schools in British Columbia are expected to follow healthy choices guidelines for the foods offered in cafeterias and vending machines. Schools are also required to expect students to engage in at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week of school.
When it comes to a child's lifestyle choices, a parent's expectations, guidance and teaching is far more significant than government defined expectations of the volume of physical activity and types of foods offered in schools. In ‘Think Like A Freak’, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner talk about teacher influence in relation to parent influence on student learning and performance. They suggest it’s, “how much kids have learned from their parents, how hard they work at home and whether parents have instilled an appetite for education (Levitt and Dubner, p. 50)” that will positively affect student performance. I would suggest that not only is student performance enhanced though parental intentionality but also student choices connected to healthy living.
Many students are coming to our campuses each day without having eaten breakfast. The old adage, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, is 100% accurate. Humans need to kick-start their bodies with food in the morning. Breakfast tells the body to wake-up, start working and get ready for a busy day! Food in the morning provides the nutrient and sugars the brain needs to work efficiently. Young people (many people) concerned about their body image think that missing breakfast will help them to lose unwanted weight; unfortunately, this idea is far from accurate. Missing breakfast means the body stays in a slowed /sleepy-like state with a reduced metabolic rate; food intake stimulates metabolism.
In addition to missed breakfast meals; far too many of our students walk into our buildings in the mornings fueling their bodies with coffee and energy drinks filled with high volumes of sugar and caffeine. Too much sugar and caffeine leads to energy peaks and crashes. The crashes I refer to negatively affect our students’ capacity to learn. We are in the learning business; the energy drink business is negatively affecting our student’s ability to learn!
Water is one of the greatest drinks our earth has to offer! I’m throwing out another challenge this week to the energy drinkers out there: Trade your energy drink purchase for a few cups of water for a few weeks to and see how you feel after twenty-one days!
Diet and exercise are two significant elements that can have a real impact on students’ physiological capacity to learn. Parents; talk to your children about their dietary choices. Students; drink water; get exercise!
Paul Chisholm
September 12, 2014.
Physical health and an awareness of what it means to be healthy need to be a priority for all of us. Richard Branson’s story is not unique but is sheds light on the notion that no one is too busy to make healthy choices become a part of their lives. Parents of school-aged children play a primary role in guiding and defining the lifestyle their children will engage in. Schools in British Columbia are expected to follow healthy choices guidelines for the foods offered in cafeterias and vending machines. Schools are also required to expect students to engage in at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week of school.
When it comes to a child's lifestyle choices, a parent's expectations, guidance and teaching is far more significant than government defined expectations of the volume of physical activity and types of foods offered in schools. In ‘Think Like A Freak’, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner talk about teacher influence in relation to parent influence on student learning and performance. They suggest it’s, “how much kids have learned from their parents, how hard they work at home and whether parents have instilled an appetite for education (Levitt and Dubner, p. 50)” that will positively affect student performance. I would suggest that not only is student performance enhanced though parental intentionality but also student choices connected to healthy living.
Many students are coming to our campuses each day without having eaten breakfast. The old adage, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, is 100% accurate. Humans need to kick-start their bodies with food in the morning. Breakfast tells the body to wake-up, start working and get ready for a busy day! Food in the morning provides the nutrient and sugars the brain needs to work efficiently. Young people (many people) concerned about their body image think that missing breakfast will help them to lose unwanted weight; unfortunately, this idea is far from accurate. Missing breakfast means the body stays in a slowed /sleepy-like state with a reduced metabolic rate; food intake stimulates metabolism.
In addition to missed breakfast meals; far too many of our students walk into our buildings in the mornings fueling their bodies with coffee and energy drinks filled with high volumes of sugar and caffeine. Too much sugar and caffeine leads to energy peaks and crashes. The crashes I refer to negatively affect our students’ capacity to learn. We are in the learning business; the energy drink business is negatively affecting our student’s ability to learn!
Water is one of the greatest drinks our earth has to offer! I’m throwing out another challenge this week to the energy drinkers out there: Trade your energy drink purchase for a few cups of water for a few weeks to and see how you feel after twenty-one days!
Diet and exercise are two significant elements that can have a real impact on students’ physiological capacity to learn. Parents; talk to your children about their dietary choices. Students; drink water; get exercise!
Paul Chisholm
September 12, 2014.