To the Editor:

Health problems. Obesity. Overweight.  Why can’t people just exercise or participate in gym 30 minutes each day?

People are overweight and don’t do much exercise as they are supposed to.  Nationwide, 32 percent of American kids ages 2 to 19 are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Staying fit or exercising can make you feel better.  Physical education involves teamwork and getting along with each other.  It also helps kids take their minds off of schoolwork. 

First, let’s define what exercising means: It’s an activity requiring physical effort carried out especially to sustain or improve health and fitness.  People, who do not like gym class, think that gym needs to be cut or should be once a week.

People want to do other things instead of P.E.  For instance, they want more math, science, language arts, and music.  I understand that education is important in order to get a good job, but, once in a while, it is good to take your mind off of learning. Learning can be stressful and exercising can help you with those problems.

But people don’t understand that P.E. helps you keep your body healthy.  Plus you need to stay active.  P.E doesn’t have to be running all the time; you could do adventure and bowling instead.

I have a family member who is overweight.  She is only in high school but she is overweight for her age.  Because of her situation, she is more prone to have diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart problems when she gets older. A little exercise could help put her on the right track but she has to take the initiative to become more fit and healthy.

But most of my family tries to stay healthy by exercise.  Most of us swim and take walks in the summer.  My dad plays volleyball for 10 hours each week.  My mom sometimes does Zumba and, after my parents work-out, they feel great and fit.   My sister and I dance and run.  My sister and I run around our neighborhood for 45 minutes each day. 

Everyone needs to try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.  Exercising can relieve your stress.  We all know that we don’t live in a perfect world and there may be times where we don’t push ourselves to get enough exercise.  Some actions in order to fix this problem are by exercising more than what you do now.

One idea would be to make gym at least 30 minutes long each day.  Be active in all four seasons.  Also be active in school sports.

Let’s get together and change the percentage of America’s overweight kids from 32 percent to 10 percent.  Even though 10 percent is still high, it will be a great start for kids in my generation to become healthier.

Gauri Subramaniam

Farnsworth Middle School

Guilderland