If you’re fat, you may be able to blame it on your PE teacher – so long as you didn’t like them.
Those scarred by the traumatic lessons with ‘horrible’ teachers at school can be put off exercise for life, researchers have found.
The study, looking into the long-lasting effects of choosing to forget kit in order to avoid the lessons, is one of the first of its kind.
But scientists said the opposite is also true. Those who liked their teacher continue to play sports and stay active throughout their life.
Those scarred by the traumatic lessons with ‘horrible’ teachers at school can be put off exercise for life, researchers have found
Middlesex University researchers said bad experiences of PE can set individuals off on completely different pathways in life.
They suggested it can lead to ‘corporeal dissociation’ – physical detachment that can result in adult inactivity decades later.
Such experiences can lead to particular life choices such as opting for sedentary jobs and hobbies, lead author Dr Anne Elliott said.
How was the study carried out?
The findings, which formed part of Dr Elliott’s thesis, were concluded from a survey of 800 participants between 45 and 65 for the new report.
Volunteers were quizzed about their home life, school experiences, hobbies and friendships during their adolescence.
The study also included interviews with 10 personal trainers and their observations with active and inactive clients.
Dr Elliott, a lecturer in sport science, said: ‘I became interested in this issue when anecdotally several personal trainers told me how so many of their middle-aged clients were finding it such a struggle to increase their physical activity.
‘It emerged that they all had very negative memories of school PE – often they could remember one particular event.’
She added that these clients had not done any physical activity for decades and were only choosing to so now because they were slightly overweight.
What else did they find?
Individuals not only recalled unpleasant experiences of PE classes, but also poor relations with teachers and classmates.
They remembered teachers who were only interested in very accomplished pupils and also having to suffer insults from their more sporty peers.
Participants also recounted extremes strategies to get them out of PE classes such as continually forgetting their kit and even skipping school.
But the team of researchers said more experiments are needed in coming years to prove the link they have uncovered.
The dangers of physical inactivity
Dr Elliott added: ‘Physical exercise is good for physical and mental health.
‘It will also protect against chronic and fatal disease which place huge burdens on health systems around the world.
‘Therefore it is essential that we find solutions to the world’s sedentary problem.’
Physical inactivity, which costs the NHS £1.2 billion each year, has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality.
A report issued by the British Heart Foundation earlier this year showed that nearly a third of the UK are deemed physically inactive. Figures suggest 80 per cent of Americans don’t need the official standards for exercise.
The problem, which triggers obesity, leaves adults at huge risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and various forms of cancer.