Well-designed and effectively implemented school health policies and programs can improve students' health-related behaviors and outcomes, as well as their educational outcomes. Health promotion programs in the school setting are guided and constrained by myriad federal, state, and local laws and policies. Knowledge and understanding of the legal…

A random population survey administered by mail to examine lay people's views of children's food policies and their associations with demographics, personal values and confidence in authorities was conducted among adults in Victoria, Australia. Three hundred and seventy-seven people responded (response rate 57.6%). The questionnaire contained 35…

Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP) are designed to provide expanded opportunities for physical activity beyond regularly scheduled physical education time-including before, during, and after school, as well as at home and in the community. While CSPAPs are gaining support, currently there are no models for designing,…

Studies show that childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Today, more than 23 million American children--or nearly one in every three--are overweight or obese. If childhood obesity is left unaddressed, a generation of individuals could face health, social, and economic challenges that promise to stress government…

The youth of today are faced with a big problem; they are becoming more obese every day. The time of children playing outside all day and being extremely active has been overtaken by the television and video games. The days of sitting down as a family and eating a good healthy meal has been replaced by the rush to the nearest fast food…

New concepts of PE and sports programs are making it more fun for everyone to play. Diets featuring fast food, sugary soft drinks and declining physical activity have contributed to a tripling of childhood obesity rates in the United States in the last 30 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Today, nearly a third of American…

The Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, held in Washington City in the autumn of 1912, was a notable event in the history of sanitation and in the discussion of the conditions of the physical and mental health of the people. The exhibition held in connection with the congress was instructive in many ways, and contained much…

In the biennium 1926-1928 the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of modern physiology was celebrated. A tercentenary is an exceedingly small fraction of the time since man discovered the use of fire, invented clothes and houses, and began to huddle together under conditions which have rendered knowledge of hygiene imperative to his…

The early history of educational hygiene was largely the history of "school hygiene." The name was accurately indicative of character--the hygiene of the school as an environment rather than as a "community of children" learning under the leadership of teachers to know and live health. Environment bulked large; the education of…