Along with pleas for bathroom breaks, water runs, and locker trips, the question, “Can we go outside today?” rings in the ears of teachers often. Sitting in chairs for the majority of the day with extremely minimal movement not only promotes restlessness but is also unhealthy for students.

The workplace has been making changes due to evidence that sitting too long leads to chronic diseases. According to an article by Sumathi Reddy in The Wall Street Journal, “The Price We Pay For Sitting Too Much”, these debilitations include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and fatty liver disease. As a result, some offices now use standing desks, and people will have meetings while walking.

If you do not take a fitness or strength and conditioning class, passing period and lunch make up your only standing and moving time, which added together equals up to one hour.

“Your body is designed to move. Research links the amount of movement to brain functioning, memory, and our ability to focus. If you’re just sitting all day long, your brain is dulling. Exercise helps sharpen it,” said Annie Sullivan, upper school female fitness teacher.

Westminster classrooms stand among the top in the nation. However, the lack of movement in many students’ days hinders their capacity to think and learn.

“We tend to treat people as minds. If students are not being engaged mentally, emotionally, and physically, sometimes they realize after fifty minutes that they were  just sitting,” said Jacob Mohler, upper school math teacher.

Although teachers cannot be expected to alter their lessons, there are potential ways to incorporate more movement.

“We should be doing more activities that get our brains and our bodies moving, even if it’s just taking a walk around the campus or school,” said Tessa Copeland, senior.

Another idea is moving the classroom outside.

“We could have a student to teacher agreement that we could go outside periodically and when we do, it has to be a productive time. The key is engaging more than just the mind,” said Mohler.

Although the solutions are by no means simple, the need for movement is apparent. Little steps can make a difference, even if it is just an especially tired class politely asking to do a few jumping jacks before the lesson.