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Q. Do School Physical Education Classes Provide the Recommended Amount of Exercise for Kids?
A. It depends. Guidelines for physical activity in children were first established by the American College of Sports Medicine in 1988 with the goals of optimizing bone health, muscular strength, flexibility, and general health.1
The initial recommendation of the convened expert panel at that time was for 20 to 30 minutes of vigorous exercise daily. Subsequent recommendations established in 1994 by the International Consensus Conference on Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents were also based largely on expert opinion.2
With their dual goals of promoting physical and psychological health and well-being during adolescence as well as enhancing future health, this panel concluded that: 1) "all adolescents should be physically active daily or nearly every day;" and...