Currently the United States has 50.1 million high school students. Of these high school students 39.5% is obese. The main causes of obesity at this age are a lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits, as stated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The young adults who are overweight at this age often follow this pattern throughout their life, causing medical costs throughout their lifetime that are on average 19 thousand dollars higher than a non-obese individual at this age. On an annual base, obesity at this age is associated to 14.1 billion dollars in medical costs. On top of the obvious costs obese young adults also face higher health risks. The Unites States child obesity rate far outweighs other nations, as displayed in the diagram.
The average distance from a high school to a student’s home is three miles. This average distance for a cyclist to bike three miles is 12 minutes. Exercise in the form of biking to school every day reduces the risk of heart disease, as stated by Harvard University. The child or young adult will be less likely to suffer from the number one cause of death in the US by exercising regularly. Exercise also reduces the risk of cancer, according to the Anderson Cancer Center. Regular exercise is also extremely beneficial for mental health and it has shown to increase a student’s mood and mental capacities. Last but not least regular exercise has shown to make people happier and feel better about themselves, thus performing better.
This proposal proposes that high schools focus on making their campus more bike friendly, and ought to only provide parking passes to students who live further than five miles from school. A school can become more bike friendly by installing bike racks and ensuring safe way to get to school on bike, such a posters with bike riding rules. On top of that the school bus should only pick up students who live beyond a distance of five miles from school. This proposal will allow students to gain exercise every day and help students develop healthy exercise habits.
The United States is the second most obese country in the world, with an obesity rate of 36.2%. Obesity brings all kinds of health risks along with it such as heart disease and cancer. Heart disease and cancer happen to be the main causes of death in the United States. One in every four deaths in due to heart disease and roughly 23% of deaths are caused by cancer. The World Health Organization has expressed concerns about the obesity rate and the effect it has on the health of the US population. Limiting students who live within a five mile radius of school to drive to school might seem trivial at first. However many experts such as Harvard University, the CDC, and the WHO argue that an increase of exercise, such as biking, can save lives, and save in a lot of future medical cost. This not only is of extreme benefit to students, but also to the average American. By ensuring a healthier young population, which due to an increase in exercise has less health risks, will also decrease the cost of US health care.
How biking can save lives 