A Physical Education Revolution [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Daniel Fulham O’Neill

  • Dr. Daniel Fulham O’Neill is an orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine doctor, and sport psychologist.  

  • He is also the author of Survival of the Fit: How Physical Education Ensures Academic Achievement and a Healthy Life.

• [1:20] Inspiration for a book about physical education

  • “It was, sadly, not a hard problem to realize when, when we start getting statistics that this generation has a shorter lifespan than the last. But I think the biggest thing I was seeing was kids not only were not fit, but they were not happy. And the childhood depression and anxiety is through the roof.”

• [2:41] Doctors advocating for a physical education revolution

  • “We've got to take the lead on this, you know, doctors have to take the lead on this, but everybody needs to be part of this revolution, as I call it.”

• [4:38] Doctors as messengers addressing obesity and physical inactivity

  • “It's this aircraft carrier that just can't seem to get turned around. And again, this is not some secret thing. Everybody knows this, everybody. Your entire audience knows that we have a problem in this country with obesity, with fitness.  The COVID pandemic, obviously, put a big punctuation mark on this.”

• [7:22] Allies in a physical education revolution

  • “But what we're trying to do as parents is fight Silicon Valley to not addict our children to screen time. And that is a fight we are losing desperately. So every parent has a dog in this fight, a child in this fight.  Every parent, because Silicon Valley is taking your child from—literally from the cradle—and trying to addict them and doing a really good job of it.”

• [11:13] Physical identity

  • “So then we get the first graders. And now we have kindergarten and first grade doing PE.  Every kid, every day.  And now it’s second grade.  And now we just keep building up through your school system. And by the time these kids graduate from high school, this is what they do. They have their physical identity, they know for at least 180 days a year, they are going to be expected to get their heart rates up.”

• [17:34] Redesigning physical education in all public schools

  • “But it doesn't just have to be the rich schools and the rich kids that get this and shame on us for allowing that to happen. This should be every kid and we can do it. And yes, it's harder in inner city Chicago than it is, you know, out in the suburbs or in the rural areas, but it can be done. You know, people are imaginative and people want to be part of this revolution. We just have to give them the opportunities.”

• [20:33] Reclaiming physical identity

  • “”And that's why if we don't let that big percentage of people lose their physical identity, it's a lot easier. You know, it's a lot easier if you've never lost it, then then to regain it, but it can happen. Seven years old seems to be kind of a tipping point.”

• [23:41] Link between physical fitness and academic performance

  • “This is not a theory. We have the data. We have the data on climate change, we have the data on academics and how it ties to fitness. And, right, and if you are a principal, the easiest thing you can do to bring up your test scores in your school is to get these kids moving, getting their heart rates up for 30 minutes every day.”

• [26:07] Window of opportunity

  • “And I said to someone, this was either a really bad time to publish this book or a really good time to publish this book. And I agree with you, I think it's a really good time. Because guess what, the only young people that died from this virus were unhealthy kids, or kids with obesity. These kids, our children have diabetes and pre diabetes and high blood pressure. When I was a kid stealing cigarettes from my father, I was going to get lung cancer and emphysema when I'm 50 or 60 years old. These kids are sick now.”