With a lot of lip service to worries about obesity and health from politicians, I still read and hear stories from teachers about playground time and recess being cut from schools.

I couldn’t imagine being young and full of energy and never have a chance during the day to run it off. This can’t help kids stay in shape either, let alone run off steam.

In private school we kept recess until senior year of high school, I played basketball every day at lunch. It was great.

And here’s another reason they should keep recess:

Teenagers who stay active, participating in anything from football to skateboarding, are less likely than their sedentary peers to smoke, drink or take other health risks, new research shows.