Despite the passage of legislation and active campaigns against bullying have been popular in recent years, statistics show that bullying is still rampant everywhere- in schools, workplaces and even society in general – and one child is taking her own steps to counter bullying.
Meet Milla Bizzotto, a nine-year old third grader from Miami, Florida who just finished a grueling 24-hour obstacle race designed by Navy SEALS to test physical and mental strength and endurance, often participated by many serious competitors, triathletes and fitness experts.
Milla joined the Battlefrog Xtreme last March 4 to 5, where she completed hundred of physically demanding obstacles and a 36-mile run – all the time having fun while doing it.
Milla’s father Christian, said that although he has received mixed reactions about letting his young daughter participate in the race, as well as having regular workout sessions in their family-owned gym, he said that he does not want to deprive his daughter with what she loves doing.
Millan incredibly fit for a girl her age, adores doing regular workouts and added that she’s rather spend time working out rather than play computer games or watch TV for hours.
When asked about her reasons why she wanted to pursue physical fitness activities, she said that one of those would be to prevent getting bullied at school.
In fact, some of her classmates have already started joining her doing exercise activities at gym after school.
Milla said that this is one of the best ways that she believes can take her mind off from getting bullied, especially if potential bullies are aware that she is physically fit to handle any situation.
Latest studies reveal that one out of every four students are still getting bullied in school and that 64% of those who were bullied did not report it.
In the United States, more than half of the situations where bullying occurred stopped when intervention by peer or a person in authority took place.
Awareness campaigns initiated in schools against bullying in recent years have reduced incidents by as much as 25% and most common reasons for these incidents were because of children’s looks (55%), body shape (37%) and ethnic background (16%).
The Center for Disease Control recently released study findings that students who were victimized by bullying were facing greater risks of developing anxiety disorders, depression, insomnia and poor adjustment in school, while those who engage in bullying face increased risk for substance abuse, academic and social problems, and worse, violent behavior later during adolescence and adulthood
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Image Credit: Girl, 9, completes 24-hour Navy SEAL race to combat bullying – NBC News
The post Physical Fitness Can Be A Deterrent To Bullying appeared first on NUTRITION CLUB CANADA.
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