为什么孩子在学校需要运动?

为什么孩子在学校需要运动?

A few years ago, when my girls were in the second and third grades, they raved about the dance breaks they would occasionally have during the school day.

几年前，当我的女儿们上二年级和三年级的时候，她们对学校里偶尔的舞蹈休息赞不绝口。

Their teachers would put on a video, which encouraged the kids to get up and dance, and then they'd get back to work.

他们的老师会放一段视频，鼓励孩子们站起来跳舞，然后他们就回去继续跳舞。

"What a brilliant idea," I remember thinking at the time.

“多么聪明的主意，”我记得当时在想。

My kids' teachers were certainly not alone. More teachers are incorporating some form of movement into the school day, especially as the research is pretty clear: Physical activity in school leads to better cognitive performance and fewer behavioral issues, not to mention cutting down on stress and anxiety.

我孩子的老师当然不是唯一这样做的人。越来越多的教师将某种形式的运动融入到学校的日常生活中，尤其是在研究结果相当明确的情况下:学校的体育活动能带来更好的认知表现和更少的行为问题，更不用说减少压力和焦虑了。

Groups such as the National Association of Physical Literacy tout the importance of teaching kids to move while they're young so that they will make movement part of their lives when they grow up.

美国国家身体素质协会(National Association of Physical Literacy)等团体宣扬，教育孩子在年轻时运动的重要性，这样他们长大后就能把运动融入生活。

It all seems like a no-brainer, especially as research shows that childhood obesity seems to be getting worse. As former first lady Michelle Obama advocated, let's get our kids to move.

这一切似乎都是显而易见的，尤其是研究显示，儿童肥胖似乎正在恶化。正如前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马(Michelle Obama)所倡导的，让我们让孩子们行动起来。

The challenge, though, is persuading school administrations to consistently make time for physical activity when they are pressed to meet stringent academic requirements and find the money to pay for some of the training.

然而，面临的挑战是说服学校管理部门，当他们面临严格的学术要求，并为一些培训筹集资金时，始终抽出时间进行体育活动。

Research: Physical activity benefits students

研究:体育活动有益于学生

Just as our schools teach math literacy and reading literacy, they can teach physical literacy, teaching children the basics of movement so that they can stay active for life, said Susan Kamin, chief wellness officer for the National Association of Physical Literacy.

美国国家身体素质协会的首席健康官苏珊卡明说:“正如我们的学校教授数学和阅读能力一样，他们也可以教授身体素质，教授孩子们一些基本的运动知识，这样他们就能终生保持活跃。”

The for-profit association provides in-person and online training to teachers and communities and provides "BrainErgizer" videos, five-minute movement videos developed in conjunction with the University of Connecticut based on research on what stimulates the brain.

这个营利性组织为教师和社区提供面对面和在线培训，并提供“BrainErgizer”视频，这是与康涅狄格大学(University of Connecticut)合作开发的五分钟运动视频，基于对刺激大脑的研究。

Dr. John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says activity breaks during the school day create better learners because of the impact of movement on the brain.

哈佛医学院(Harvard Medical School)精神病学临床副教授约翰·拉蒂(John Ratey)博士表示，由于运动对大脑的影响，在校期间的活动间歇能培养出更好的学习者。

"When you move, you stimulate all the nerve cells that we use to think with, and when you stimulate those nerve cells, it gets them ready to do stuff," said Ratey, an expert in neuropsychiatry and author of "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain"who has spent the past 30 years focusing on the "attention systems" of the brain.

“当你移动时，你会刺激我们用来思考的所有神经细胞，当你刺激那些神经细胞时，它会让它们做好做事情的准备，”神经精神病学专家、“火花：运动与大脑的革命新科学”(Spark：The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain)一书的作者雷蒂说。过去30年里，他一直专注于大脑的“注意系统”。

"When you exercise, you turn on the attention systems, so that means you're (paying) better attention, you're able to deal with more frustration, you're able to stay with it longer," he said. "You're able to manipulate information by turning ... on the front part of our brain to make it work better, and that's really key and important in terms of taking in information as well as performing with it."

“当你锻炼时，你会打开注意力系统，所以这意味着你(给予)更好的注意力，你能够处理更多的挫折，你能够坚持更长时间，”他说。“你可以通过转动我们大脑的前部来操纵信息，使其更好地工作，这对于吸收信息以及利用信息表现来说真的是关键和重要的。”