IHPRA Newsletter
May 2003
The Davenport Fire Department has a long tradition of second-to-none professional standards and service to the community. They are also committed to physical readiness. This month the IHPRA salutes them and the other firefighters throughout Iowa who put there lives on the line to protect us all.
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World-class Super Rope instructor Don Race recently trained the Mt. Pleasant Crossroads Consortium. Teachers and students representing the 13 school consortium spent two days learning the same techniques Don teaches to world-class athletes. Thanks Don and the Mt. Pleasant team for promoting top-rate physical education in Iowa, and thanks to the student leaders for their focus and efforts.
The rise of obesity in the United States is impacting on pregnant women and their newborn. Here are a few examples.
Obesity Among Pregnant Women on the Rise in the US
Perinatal outcome in pregnancy complicated by massive obesity.
Study: Obesity Ups Risk of Birth Defects
While both normal-weight and obese women have similar sleeping patterns while pregnant, obese pregnant women have significantly more sleep-disordered breathing than their non-obese counterparts. Finnish investigators reported that obese pregnant women experienced more sleep apnea and had longer snoring times, with snoring increasing as the pregnancy developed. The authors believe that sleep-related disordered breathing was one possible explanation for adverse pregnancy outcomes. [Reuters Health Service, November 30, 2001]
Recent studies conducted on obese pregnant mothers show that it increases problems such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipedemia, arthritis, respiratory failure, obstructive sleep apnea, heart failure etc. The studies further reveal that those who are overweight before pregnancy may be at an increased risk of gestational diabetes, cesarean delivery and other problems that can occur during pregnancy. Putting on too much weight during pregnancy has its own pitfalls. Women who gain more than the amount recommended during pregnancy are four times more likely to be obese one year after giving birth compared with mothers who gain within the recommended range.
Ironically, many parents don't seem aware that their children are overweight
"Bronzed Aussies no longer" as obesity spreads Down Under
Lawyers planning another assault on fast food
The Feds might also join the attack
We looked at the fast food issue in a previous newsletter
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Thirty-five years ago this month, Sgt. Ed Thomas was patrolling the Korean DMZ and guarding the barrier fence with the 7th Infantry Division during the Pueblo Incident. He has since dedicated his personal and professional life to helping youth become physically prepared for any and all hardships and responsibilities they might face. This includes homeland security and national defense. Like many who have served in the military, law enforcement and other first response capacities, Thomas is keenly aware that physical readiness is first and foremost a moral responsibility. With nations like North Korea and numerous other potential enemies training hard to defeat us on the battlefield, physical readiness is also a national security imperative. Behind the illusion that we are a strong and prepared nation hides the troubling reality that we are allowing ourselves to grow ever more inert, malformed and clumsy. We have been caught unprepared before, and President Kennedy warned us again in the early 1960s. We owe our youth the very best physical readiness training. The IHPRA salutes those who aim in that direction.
Our national obesity epidemic is
constantly in the news.
The cost to our economy is estimated to be around $93 billion.
Obesity reported to Cost U.S. $93B a Year
National
Medical Spending Attributable
To Overweight And Obesity:
How Much, And Who’s Paying?
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As our civilian sector grows ever more malformed, inert and clumsy, military physical readiness training leaders are challenged to pick up the slack. The Navy still transforms unfit civilians into battle-ready sailors, but problems like obesity are creating considerable headwind.
A History of the U.S. Navy Physical Readiness Program From 1976-1999 (pdf)