Shape Your Future encourages Oklahoma students to get active.
OKLAHOMA CITY - (April 26, 2023) - Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), encourages Oklahoma students to join thousands of kids across America in safely biking or rolling to school during the 11th annual Bike and Roll to School Day on May 3.
“Bike and Roll to School Day is a fun and easy way for kids and families to get in their 60 minutes of daily physical activity together, with friends or with the community,” said Julie Bisbee, executive director of TSET. “Biking to school is a great way for kids to stay active and promote healthy habits. It highlights for elected officials the need for policies and projects promoting safe walking and bicycling, such as sidewalks, bicycle lanes, crosswalks and walking trails.”
Oklahomans can celebrate healthy living while connecting with the community by inviting friends and neighbors to join them biking to school. To stay safe, participants should bike as a group or with a friend. Parents can help little bikers plan a safe route and stick to it, and remind them to always wear a bicycle helmet, cross streets safely and never talk to strangers.
Finding easy ways to incorporate regular physical activity into daily life is crucial for a healthier and happier future. Just under half of Oklahoma children get the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity five days or more a week, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Not being active puts children at risk for long-term health issues. Regular physical activity not only reduces childhood obesity, but also improves concentration and memory, strengthens the immune system, improves sleep and reduces stress.
To learn more about National Bike and Roll to School Day, visit walkbiketoschool.org, where you’ll find ideas and best practices from the National Center for Safe Routes to School. For more kid-friendly physical activity tips and ideas on living healthy for all Oklahomans, visit ShapeYourFutureOK.com.
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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 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 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. To learn more, go to Oklahoma.gov/TSET.