40 minutes of exercise a week: Is it enough?

Nearly all public elementary schools schedule physical education for their students, says the newsletter sent home from school with my first-grader the other day. Yet only 17 to 22 percent -- depending on grade level -- provide physical education on a daily basis. That's how it works at my kid's school. Every Thursday, Joey reports for PE class. It lasts for 40 minutes, I think. Forty minutes for the whole week. He spends 29 hours per week at school.

This is interesting stuff, this lack of fitness in the course of an average day, because studies show that children whose exercise needs are met are more able to learn and achieve. Exercise can lead not only to healthy bodies but improved test scores -- especially in math -- and better attendance, and more positive attitudes about school in general.

Children who send less time focusing on other subjects in order to commit more to physical education pursuits actually do equally well or better in academic classes. So it wouldn't be so bad if Joey's school worked in some more exercise at the expense of classroom time. Will his school, which sent home this enlightening newsletter, make any changes? I'm not sure. But it sure would be nice.