Jump Rope For Heart
Overview of the program
...at least 23% of all heart disease could be prevented through healthy lifestyles.
In Trinidad and Tobago one in every three adults has high blood pressure, one in five has diabetes and 75 per cent of adults will have heart disease. Half of the population over 40 is usually overweight. (Frankson 2002)
The American Heart Association estimates that at least 23% of all heart disease could be prevented through healthy lifestyles. Good nutrition, physical activity, staying tobacco free, and maintaining a healthy blood pressure and weight are all part of a healthy lifestyle. Rope skipping has been identified as the ideal fitness activity to fight obesity, heart disease, type II diabetes and osteoporosis.
Lower Morvant students
TTASPE's jump rope for heart project is a national childhood obesity prevention initiative designed to encourage children, specifically primary school aged children, to engage in healthy lifestyle activities as well as to make nutritious meal choices. It combines the simple low-cost, indoor-outdoor physical activity of jumping rope, with an integrated curriculum approach that has the potential to include health education into all the other subject areas.