Health Education Project's Effect on Elementary School Students' Health Status

Abstract

Background. The goal of this study was to prove that children’s physical activity decreases with age. A significant correlation was found between health awareness and regular exercise. The deliberately designed elementary school health education program had a positive effect on health behavior. Material and methods. The same questionnaire was used every year. Questions were alternately connected to health and sports subjects. The nutrition habits and trends of the students were explored, and personal opinions and feedback were welcomed. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis (p<0.05) were applied. Students were aged from 11 to 14 years. Results. Based on the BMI, more than 13% of the students were morbidly obese or undernourished. Almost 10% of the students were overweight or obese. More than 65% of students engaged in sports on a regular basis at the lowest estimate 2 or 3 times a week. Nearly 10% of children never participated in sport activity or physical exercise outside of physical education classes. Conclusions. Starting from the 8th grade, it would be important to include informational lectures on appropriate training in the curriculum, and it is also important to promote a healthy lifestyle among both parents and children and to operate a healthy school canteen. The infrastructure of schools and the range of sports activities should be improved.