Your questions answered by Brian Mooney
As a teacher, I am deeply frustrated that most students seem to subsist on a diet of junk food. Many students arrive in school without having eaten breakfast. Students have become less physically active - participation rates in sport have fallen, and very few students walk to school. What can we do?
Lifestyle is the most important health issue in the 21st century. Childhood obesity levels in Ireland are at an all-time high and cardiovascular disease, which begins in childhood, kills four in every 10 adults. Lifestyle-related cancers are common in Ireland, with 25 per cent of all deaths due to cancer. The incidence of type II diabetes in young adults is also on the increase.
These chronic illnesses are heavily influenced by lifestyle, with poor eating habits and physical inactivity having a huge effect upon health. Simple lifestyle changes have great significance in terms of quality of life and life expectancy. Lifestyle habits are learned in childhood and this issue has huge relevance for children and young people. Quite apart from health concerns, lifestyle choices affect performance in every area of human endeavour. Poor lifestyle habits affect mood, academic performance, and contribute to disruptive behaviour. There are three main areas that schools should consider to address this issue: policy, education and the school environment.
POLICY - It is important that schools support healthy lifestyle choices. School policy should address healthy eating and food issues. Cycling and walking to school should be encouraged. Sport should be valued and there should be opportunities for students to take part in non-traditional health-related physical exercise. Schools might allow fruit - and no other food - to be eaten in the classroom at certain times. Similar concessions can be made regarding getting students to drink water rather than fizzy drinks. Transition year projects might even involve the promotion and sale of fruit to students and teachers.
EDUCATION - Many students and parents are not sufficiently aware of lifestyle issues. The Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) syllabus does address the topic, but a whole-school approach to health education is best. For example, a school lifestyle survey will help to raise awareness of important health issues, and will provide valuable real-life data for maths classes. Healthy lifestyle themes can be incorporated into a wide range of subject areas, as diverse as art, home economics, English and maths as well as SPHE and PE.
Outlining the dangers of junk food to young people will not bring about behavioural change. A better approach is to explore in class the marketing tools that are used to drive the consumption of unhealthy food.
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT - When food is sold inside school grounds, it becomes part of the school environment and as such has an educational role. If young people learn about the importance of a healthy lifestyle in the classroom and the school shop sells and promotes unhealthy options, they receive mixed messages. On the other hand, healthy school food helps to reinforce the health education message.
Schools need to move away from the traditional model of the shop selling sweets and soft drinks, which benefits nobody, least of all the teachers who have to deal with the aftermath of sugar/caffeine consumption. There is no reason why vending machines cannot sell water rather than soft drinks.
Help on school lifestyle issues, including policy development, lifestyle surveys, educational resources, parent factsheets and the sourcing of healthy school food can be found at www.red-branch.com
