March 20th, 2009 by Learning Systems

The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the prevalence of obesity in adult Americans is 32.2%, while the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry reports between 16-33% of children and adolescents are obese. But the obesity epidemic not only affects adults who lead sedentary office lives or kids in LMS or classroom learning systems. Organizations may suffer from the effects of the health problem.

A healthy staff means a more productive, collaborative and creative staff. Additionally, encouraging healthy lifestyles and exercise in training programs and other company learning systems can save organizations thousands of dollars annually.

A study in the journal Health Affairs noted that: “Per person healthcare spending for obese adults is 56 percent higher than for normal-weight adults. Over 15 years, the additional costs incurred by obese adults with private health insurance versus normal-weight adults increased from $272 to $1,244 per person per year.” 

March 19th, 2009 by Learning Systems

A simple way to encourage exercise in your organization’s learning system or training program is to use energizers to get participants going. These may include breaks, question and answer sessions, LMS-hosted activities, or exercises. After a morning and/or afternoon dedicated to a residential learning system, encourage participants to use the gym or other facilities, or get outside for a walk. 

A more complicated and costly way, albeit an increasingly interesting one (especially considering the growing obesity problem in the U.S.) to energize participants in company learning systems is the installation of treadmill desks. Dr. James Levine’s famous Steelcase Walkstation, among other pricey systems, is probably not a realistic option for most organizations. But poke around the web and you’ll find sites devoted to help you build your own, with the help of some heavy duty plastic shelving, thick Styrofoam planks and cable ties, for about $50.  

March 19th, 2009 by Learning Systems

“Life is movement,” Aristotle said. Like Dr. John J. Ratey’s book which explores the connection between exercise and the brain, in John Medida’s book Brain Rules, he asserts that exercise makes students in a learning system perform better intellectually. Studies show that thinking skills are improved by exercise, which stimulates the flow of blood to the brain. 

Medida argues that our brains were designed for a way of life that involved continual movement. Brain power was applied to learning systems like hunting and gathering, dodging danger, and seeking new opportunities. Early human beings, he says, walked about 12 miles a day, which meant they were used to thinking as they walked.

How might we promote this flow to the brain in workplace learning systems, during LMS or face-to-face training and workshops? See the next post.

March 19th, 2009 by Learning Systems

Getting the heart pumping isn’t only important for the age bracket of school learning systems. Aerobic exercise–which should involve sweat and a nicely accelerated heartbeat–causes a rush of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is associated with feelings of pleasure. Dopamine has been shown to slow metabolism in areas of the brain linked to cognition. 

Besides its ability to boost learning system performance, aerobic exercise helps the brain in myriad ways, including preventing brain-related diseases. For older people especially, exercise combats the buildup of plaque, as well as depression and oxidative stress, three other factors that lead to Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, only a small percentage of older people follow the recommended 30 minutes, five days a week minimum guideline for exercise. Between 28 and 34 percent of adults aged 65 to 74 do not engage in any leisure-time physical activity.  This percentage grows with adults over 75, with 35 to 44 percent not getting any aerobic exercise. 

March 18th, 2009 by Learning Systems

Medical College of Georgia (MCG) researchers say that less than an hour of daily exercise reduces depressive symptoms and improves self-esteem in overweight children.

The study included 207 overweight, typically sedentary children ages 7-11 randomly assigned to either continue their normal, sedentary routine or exercise for 20 or 40 minutes ever day after their regular school learning systems, for an average of 13 weeks. Those who exercised engaged in after-learning system activities that increased heart rate, like soccer and basketball, jumping rope and running games.

Even though the children’s weight did not change much over the three months, their psychological benefits proved great. “Just by getting up and doing something aerobic, they were changing how they felt about themselves,” says the study’s first author, Dr. Karen Petty.

Students who feel better about themselves will probably perform better in school and pay more attention, Dr. Petty says. MCG is compiling a heap of evidence that suggests that these go hand-in-hand. 

March 18th, 2009 by Learning Systems

Dr. John J. Ratey will be in Richmond, Virginia this month to talk about his book, “Spark–The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” and the link it makes between exercise and active, healthier minds. 

Another recent conference in Richmond touched on similar themes, entitled: “Save Our Kids: The Obesity Crisis Conference.” It was held February 18, and focused on the necessity for daily physical activity in our online, LMS and classroom learning systems as a way to fight the growing percentage of overweight children in America. 

Maine Senator Peter Mills is among other lawmakers concerned with obesity and fighting for more time for physical exercise in school learning systems. As Mills points out, “Kids perform better academically, consistently, when they’re given a break from the tedium of staring at a blackboard or white board all day.” Although as educators we hope that our learning systems couldn’t be described in such mundane terms, the argument that more time should be set aside in a school day for physical activity is hard to argue with. 

March 18th, 2009 by Learning Systems

Plato said it well: “The body is the source of all energy and initiative.” 

In our LMS and classroom learning systems, how can we justify a strong emphasis on active, healthy minds while maintaining an outrageous neglect for the body?

Many people don’t realize that exercise isn’t just an avenue to avoid disease and have a good-looking physique. Experts say that aerobic exercise’s benefits to the brain might actually outweigh those of the body.

In Dr. John J. Ratey’s book, “Spark–The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” he demonstrates the link between learning system performance and regular exercise. In his introduction he writes: “The real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best, and in my view, this benefit of physical activity is far more important–and fascinating–than what it does for the body.”