National Walk to School Day is October 6

Getting in those steps can help students perform better in the classroom

OKLAHOMA CITY – Shape Your Future, a program of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), is encouraging students, families, communities and schools across Oklahoma to participate in Walk to School Day on October 6.

Getting enough physical activity can help prevent 1 in 10 premature deaths. Children need 60 minutes of physical activity every day and adults need 30 for optimal health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Walking to school is an easy way for students to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives, helping them develop healthy habits for a lifetime. Benefits of walking include improving heart health, reducing stress, regulating weight, increasing brain power and improving sleep quality – all of which can help children live well and perform better in school.

If you think your child is ready to walk to school, here are some great tips to help keep them safe:

Plan out a safe route, and stick to it. Have kids buddy up with a friend.

When biking, always wear a bicycle helmet, no matter how short or long the ride.

Respect traffic lights, stop signs and other rules of the road.

Wear bright-colored clothing to increase visibility.

Cross streets safely.

In neighborhoods with higher levels of traffic, consider starting a “walking school bus,” where an adult accompanies a group of neighborhood children on their route.

Teach your child to never stop and talk to strangers.

Designate safe places to go in case your child needs help.

Joining your child in the walk to school, or any other time, can help reinforce the importance of physical activity and make it a fun, family affair. Visit ShapeYourFutureOK.com for great ideas to make walking fun, including a creative walking scavenger hunt.

To register a Walk to School Day event, visit walkbiketoschool.org. Registering a Walk to School Day event provides organizers access to free, downloadable materials, including stickers, certificates and customizable fliers. Plus, registered events will be displayed on an interactive U.S. map on the website, where neighboring communities, media and other organizations can identify who is holding an event in their area.

Find additional ways to move more and be healthier at ShapeYourFutureOK.com. You can also connect with Shape Your Future on social media by liking Shape Your Future on Facebook and following @ShapeFutureOK on Twitter.

Shape Your Future is a community health education intervention that encourages Oklahomans to eat better, move more and be tobacco free. SYF strives to educate parents, teachers, caregivers and all Oklahomans on how to make the healthy choice the easy choice. Find us online at ShapeYourFutureOK.com.

The TSET Healthy Living Program is a group of community-based grants designed to prevent and reduce leading causes of death in Oklahoma by reducing tobacco use and obesity on a local level. The goal of the program is to work within the areas of state where the poorest health outcomes exist in order to improve access to healthy foods, increase opportunities for physical activity and support tobacco free lifestyles. The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) serves as a partner and bridge builder for organizations shaping a healthier future for all Oklahomans. TSET provides leadership at the intersections of health by working with local coalitions and initiatives across the state, cultivating innovative and life-changing research, and working across public and private sectors to develop, support, implement and evaluate creative strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve the public's health. TSET – Better Lives Through Better Health. To learn more, go to: TSET.OK.GOV.