Abstract

Sufficient amounts of daily physical acitivity can build and sustain fitness, equally in the child and the adult. The necessary acitivity can be provided through structured leisure pursuits, but this is costly in terms of facilities, and the maintenance of interest is hard. The most effective approach seems to build optimal amounts of endurance activity into the normal working day. In childhood, this can be accomplished quite easily by minor rearrangements in such items as the boundaries of school districts, and the routing of school buses. On a long-term basis, schools should also be redesigned to require substantial stair-climbing. A combination of a long walk to school and frequent use of stairs within the building will provide both immediate fitness and lifetime habits that may yield substantial dividends in the coronaryprone years of adult life. Verf.-Referat