Exercise empowers individuals suffering from mental illness to take an active role in trying to get better. Patients who exercise often experience increased self-esteem as they take ownership of their condition and gain a greater sense of accomplishment.
Currently, there are limited mechanisms in schools for identifying children with mental illness and tackling it before it becomes severe. The Minds of Steel program provides this mechanism by utilizing and empowering School Based Health Centers in New York State.
In support of promoting optimal physical and mental well being of school age children current recommendations include participation in 60 minutes of moderately vigorous activity every day. Most school age children do not meet these recommendations.
Childhood obesity has detrimental health consequences; including: cardiovascular risk, type-2 diabetes, sleep apnea, asthma and psychosocial effects.
The National Institute of Mental Health found that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, and that despite effective treatments, there are long delays – sometimes decades – between first onsets of symptoms and when people seek and receive treatment. The study also revealed that an untreated mental disorder could lead into a serious, more chronic illness, and to the development of co-occurring mental illnesses.
According to Needham, Crosnoe and Muller (2004) students who rated their general health as poor or fair were 34% more likely to fail at least one class in the next year.
"Twelve minutes of exercise at 85% of your Maximum Heart Rate is like taking a little bit of Prozac and Ritalin."
Dr. John Ratey – Harvard University Research
In 2000, Duke University Medical Center demonstrated that 30 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week is just as effective as drug therapy in relieving the symptoms of major depression in the short term and that continued exercise greatly reduces the chances of the depression returning.
Exercise affects the neurochemistry of mood regulation by increasing serotonin reuptake in the brain. Individuals suffering from depression and anxiety experience a significant reduction in serotonin and often take antidepressant medication to compensate. Physical fitness exerts its beneficial effect on one's mood by influencing the metabolism and availability of central neurotransmitters.
School health experience suggests that the academic potential of most children is impacted by the status of their physical and emotional well being.
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