Module 9: Health and Wellness (Learning to eat healthy, exercise, proper sleep and avoid drug use.)
- More than 1/3 of adults and over 12.5 million children and teens in the U.S. are obese. In the last 30 years, obesity in children and teens has nearly tripled.
- 75% of executives say good physical fitness is critical for career success at the executive level.
TheLadders.com, November 2005 - In a survey of 9th through 12th graders in 2011, 13.1% of the teens admitted to skipping breakfast in the past 7 days, while 11.3% had drunk 3+ servings of soda per day in the same time frame.
- In 2011, more than 15% of the students were overweight, and more than 12% admitted to starving themselves for 24 hours or more in the last month in an attempt to lose weight.
- An unhealthy diet leads to diseases like diabetes, hypertension, certain cancers, obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies.
- Most U.S. youth do not meet the recommendations for eating 2½ cups to 6½ cups of fruits and vegetables each day. They also do not eat the minimum recommended amounts of whole grains (2–3 ounces each day). But, they do consume more than the recommended maximum daily intake of sodium (1,500–2,300 mg each day).
- Empty calories from added sugars and solid fats contribute to 40% of daily calories for children and adolescents aged 2–18 years, affecting the overall quality of their diets. Approximately half of these empty calories come from six sources: soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza, and whole milk.
- Adolescents drink more full-calorie soda per day than milk. Males aged 12–19 years drink an average of 22 ounces of full-calorie soda per day, more than twice their intake of fluid milk (10 ounces), and females drink an average of 14 ounces of full-calorie soda and only 6 ounces of fluid milk.
- Eating a healthy breakfast is associated with improved cognitive function (especially memory), reduced absenteeism, and improved mood.