Most children don’t have access to physical education
Two-thirds of secondary school children and over half of primary school pupils worldwide don’t receive the required minimum weekly physical education, reveals the unprecedented Global Status of Play Report on Quality Physical Education published by Unesco. The report highlights that only 58 percent countries provide physical education for girls; just 7 percent of schools provide equal physical education time for boys and girls, and that two-thirds of pupils with disabilities are deprived of any physical education.
Moreover, the report flags major differences in funding for physical education between countries — two-thirds devote less than 2 percent of their education budget to it while one in 10 allocates more than 7 percent. It also reveals that less than one in two primary school teachers has received specialist training in physical education.
“Physical education is a worthwhile investment. It not only improves pupils’ health, but also their academic performance and personal development. Yet it is still often treated as a lesser subject. Unesco is calling on its 194 member states to make it their top priority and to allocate the necessary time, human resources and budget to it,” says Audrey Azoulay, Unesco’s Director-General.
Lack of school readiness linked to persistent absenteeism
Students who aren’t considered ‘school-ready’ by their teachers are at least twice as likely to become persistently absent at some point in their education, according to a study published in Royal Society Open Science. Researchers from the University of Leeds (UoL) analysed data of over 60,000 children in the 5-13 age group in Bradford district alongside school absence records from 2012-13 and 2019-2020.
The study reveals that school readiness assessments can identify academic and non-academic signs that a child is not school-ready. The report also cites previous research “that suggests that such assessments can indicate later ‘vulnerability’. For example, school readiness assessments have been used to identify children at risk of autism and special educational needs (SEN) more generally”.
“School is where children develop and flourish, academically, emotionally, socially, and physically. However, as a society, we are edging towards a school absence epidemic, with many pupils missing out opportunities to thrive by not attending every day. This has worsened dramatically since the pandemic,” says lead author Dr. Megan Wood, a post-doctoral research fellow in UoL’s School of Psychology.
Pre-teens’ screen exposure at bedtime causes insomnia
Screen/online activities such as watching a movie, scrolling on social networks or texting before bedtime affect the quality of sleep of preteens, says a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
University of Toronto and University of California researchers surveyed 9,000 preteens in the 11-12 age group and found that bedtime screen-use behaviours in early adolescents are associated with adverse sleep outcomes, including sleep disturbance and shorter weekly sleep durations.
“Our research found that leaving notifications on, even in silent mode, leads to less sleep compared to turning the phone off completely or keeping it outside the bedroom. Ensuring adolescents get enough sleep is vital as it supports their physical and mental growth and development. Screening for and providing anticipatory guidance on specific bedtime screen behaviours in early adolescents may be warranted,” says Jason Nagata, lead author and associate professor of paediatrics at the University of California.
Vegan diet reduces biological age
Following a vegan diet can slow signs of aging at a molecular level in as few as eight weeks, says a study published in BMC Medicine. The eight-week study conducted by researchers at Stanford Prevention Research Center and TruDiagnostic, an epigeneric lab, surveyed 22 pairs of adult twins, half of whom were randomized to a “healthy vegan” diet, while the other half consumed a “healthy omnivorous” diet. Participants who consumed the vegan diet lost more weight and improved their LDL (bad) cholesterol and insulin levels compared to their omnivorous diet counterparts. In addition, vegans also improved epigenetic markers — clocks hidden in our genes and associated with aging.
“We didn’t really expect much from these clocks, which was the surprising bit because out of all the clocks we studied, there were 12 that showed consistent decreases in their epigenetic age,” says Varun B. Dwaraka, head of bioinformatics and chief investigator of TruDiagnostic and first study author.
