Modifying classroom environments to reduce childhood obesity: Implications for practice and policy

Despite considerable resources and extensive efforts to reverse the trends in childhood obesity, America's children are continuing to gain excess weight at younger and younger ages. Given all that has been tried and the continuing problem, experts and funders are supporting an emphasis on environmental and policy changes to address childhood obesity. Research in adults has shown that intermittent standing of two to three hours per day when one would normally be sitting burns enough calories to lose (or prevent gain of) up to 20 pound in one year—just from standing. The dynamic classroom project pilot tested in five first grade classes in Texas seeks to understand how these results might translate if children use stand/sit desks in the classroom. Students in each of the five participating classrooms have been measured in terms of height, weight, body fat, and BMI. In addition, the students wear a device measuring caloric expenditure at regular intervals throughout the school year. Preliminary analysis indicates that children in the treatment classrooms are standing more often as they acclimate to the stand/sit desk, burning more calories than their seated peers, and showing less increase in BMI over the course of the school year—even accounting for normal growth. If the stand/sit desks prove effective in preventing (or slowing) the progression of overweight/obesity in children, this will hold significant policy implications for schools in Texas and nationwide.