Physicians have known for decades that regular physical activity is one of the key methods of diabetes prevention, as it prevents obesity—one of the key risk factors in developing Type 2 diabetes. A new program is attempting to bring that message to children by encouraging children to dance away their risk of diabetes.

The “Dance for Health” program is put on by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing along with Sayre High School of Philadelphia and the Bernett Johnson Sayre Health Center. The program aims to help assess physical activity levels among school-age children and encourage them to engage in more physical activity, with the ultimate goal of reducing obesity. The program is headed by Dr. Terri Lipman, Ph.D., CRNP, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing; Dr. Lipman first established the partnership between the School of Nursing and Sayre High School in 2005.

The program sees the dance team of Sayre High School leading children in an hour of dancing, once a week for a month. Researchers associated with the program use pedometers to evaluate the physical activity levels of the children, finding that they took about twice as many steps on the days that they participated in the Dance for Health program.

The children did, however, display elevated resting heart rates, even after they stopped exercise—a sign of a lack of physical fitness. Dr. Lipman hopes that the program will teach the children to engage in more frequent physical activity and improve their overall health.

“Dancing is not only free, culturally relevant, and fun, it is also an easily accessible way for children to lead a more active lifestyle,” said Dr. Lipman. “Through this program, we aim to promote to schools and health care providers the benefits of incorporating dance into children’s lives to improve their overall health.”

According to Dr. Lipman, the program’s helpful benefits have extended beyond just the children attending the dance sessions. The partnership between the School of Nursing and Sayre High School has allowed nurse practitioner students the opportunity to educate nearby communities—which are at a high risk of diabetes—on the importance of eating right, exercising frequently, and identifying warning signs in the prevention of diabetes. The partnership allows nurse practitioners to conduct basic tests such as weight, height, and waist circumference, in addition to checking for acanthosis nigricans—a condition associated with diabetes in which areas of the skin become darkened.

“Our partnership with Sayre has opened the door to a strong relationship with residents of the community around Penn,” said Dr. Lipman. “It has allowed us to work with individuals, schools, and community groups to fight diabetes together.”

The School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania is known as a leading research institution in the field of nursing; areas of specialty include oncology, pediatrics, geriatrics, and quality-of-life choices. The National Institutes of Health regularly grant extensive funding to the School of Nursing and many of the Master’s programs in the School of Nursing are ranked first in the U.S.

The diabetes epidemic is growing in the U.S., and shows no sign of stopping: according to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 25.8 million Americans have the disease, with over 18 million diagnosed cases. An astonishing 79 million people have prediabetes, a risk factor in developing Type 2 diabetes—the most common form of the disease.