Fewer Kids Walking to School

Posted by Paul A. Heckert Aug 22, 2007

I saw two seemingly unrelated news items today, but there is a connection.

First, fewer kids are walking to school than a generation or even a few years ago. A study conducted by S.L. Martin, S.M. Lee, and R. Loury published in the National Journal of Preventive Medicine found that fewer kids are walking to school.

In the United States, more than 1/3 of kids live within a mile of their schools, yet only 15% of these kids walk or ride bicycles to school. A generation or so ago in 1969, 90% of kids living less than a mile from their schools walked. Even as recently as 2004, the number was 48%.

Many neighborhoods are unsafe for children to walk, and these kids should not walk to school. Traffic and crime have increased with population density quite a bit since 1969. That can certainly justify some of the decline, but the increase since 2004 hasn't been that much. Kids are walking less.

The second item I saw concerned high blood pressure in kids. It surprised me that about 2 million American children have high blood pressure. Much of it is undiagnosed. This finding came from a study published in the August 22, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

High blood pressure is often associated with obesity, so the high rate of high blood pressure in kids is related to the increasing problem of childhood obesity.

These two news items have a connection. Walking, bicycling, and other aerobic exercises help reduce blood pressure. They also burn calories and help with weight loss. If more kids walked or bicycled to school, it would help with the problems of childhood obesity and hypertension.

Kids who can't walk or bicycle to school for safety or distance reasons need to find some other safe way to get their exercise. Kids who can walk or bicycle should do so more often. Parents can help encourage their kids to walk by taking family walks and by walking more themselves.