Sunshine: it kills vampires and it works on kid-zombies too, says Government Healthy Schools coordinator Marie Beach.

Kid-Zombies are those glassy-eyed, slack jawed, sometimes hearing impaired individuals created the moment the video games are plugged in, or televisions are turned on.

Because kids today are less active than they were 30 years ago, health professionals are seeing increasing levels of stress, obesity and attention problems in younger and younger children.

Ms Beach is Bermuda's own kid-zombie fighter to the rescue. Her weapons of choice are healthy foods and fresh air.

"I am actually a speech language pathologist by training," said Ms Beach. "But I have also been a certified personal trainer for years. So the job as Healthy Schools coordinator was a crazy sort of good fit."

Ms Beach is responsible for promoting health in Bermuda schools. She arranges everything from school water testing and pest control to playground equipment safety checks.

She said Healthy Schools is more of a network than a department. It liaises with different Government ministries and departments, and also outside agencies such as TB Cancer & Health, The Bermuda Diabetes Association, and the National Drug Commission, among others.

However, much of Ms Beach's real work revolves around tackling issues of nutrition and obesity in schools. Government recently put into place an official nutrition policy for local schools: "All food consumed on the school premises will contribute to the health and wellbeing of the students."

"Overweight and obesity is really what we are focusing on," she said. "However, we are trying to take a more general focus, because even children who aren't overweight can have some health issues as well."

Using the cooperation of physical education teachers and principals, Ms Beach and her 'network' launched a pilot Wellness Club programme in six schools in November. Several other schools volunteered to be part of the programme.

"For whatever reasons, kids are getting a lot less exercise now," said Ms Beach. "I think part of it is health and safety issues that some parents have because they are not there to supervise their children after school. The parents tell their children to stay in the house until they get there. I understand that. Also, children are watching more television and playing more computer games so there is less activity."

When Ms Beach talks about physical activity, she doesn't mean taking the kids to a gym or putting them in a structured sports regime, she means basic, old fashioned play.

"We are saying active, regular playing should be sufficient," said Ms Beach. "Of course, making sure that what they eat is healthy is also important."

The Wellness Club programme aims to increase children's nutritional understanding and engage children in more frequent physical activity, among other things.

"Already, just from going to the assemblies I can see a difference," she said. "Now, when we go through the food pyramid the children can say which foods are healthy and unhealthy.

We don't talk about junk food, we say healthy and unhealthy. We also never use the words "obese" or "overweight" with them."

The Wellness Club comes with a special handbook designed by Ms Beach. It is quite thick; sometimes teachers pale when they see it for the first time, but Ms Beach said they don't have to use everything in there.

"There is a general information section and a nutrition section," she said. "I even did lesson plans for teachers that reflect their requirements in the educational school system.

"There is a section on charting, because we are looking at behavioural change. We are looking at where the students are today, and hopefully over time we will see improvements. We look at their current behaviours. Also, there is a self esteem and rewards section in the handbook."

One of the rewards of the Healthy Schools job is getting to know the students themselves.

"The schools invite me to many of their activities," she said. "Many schools are now having school-wide walks. They may do that once a term. Sometimes it is just for the heck of it and other times it is as a major fundraiser planned by the PTA or the school administration.

"I visit schools very frequently, especially this year with the pilot programme for the wellness club. I have been to some schools eight times already since we started. That is government and private schools."

Schools are trying different things to incorporate more activity into the school day. For example, one school might give their students a fitness break in the middle of assembly, allowing them to stand and stretch or maybe do a few jumping jacks. Another school has started a no-television club where participants agree to not watch television four days out of the week.

Ms Beach also talks to parents about improving the health and well being of their children.

"I talk to the parents about how to engage our children more in physical activity," she said. "It would be great if parents could partner with their children. Go for a walk on the beach or go to a part of the Island that you haven't explored together. A lot of times in school the curriculum focuses on foreign countries. The schools do teach Bermuda history and civics, but children often have not experienced what Bermuda is all about. Helping children to relate what they learn in school to life is part of life-long learning. I don't believe in teaching in a vacuum, life is one big integration of what we know."

She emphasises team work with parents. She doesn't want to dictate to them what their children eat and do.

"Whatever parents do, it needs to be consistent," she said. "Children need the consistency in order to learn. Stopping and starting healthy eating or exercise isn't going to be that effective."

When Ms Beach visits schools she chats with the students and casually asks them a number of questions like, 'did you eat breakfast this morning?'

"Some schools say they have no child come to school without breakfast while other schools say they do have some children," she said. "It is the first question I ask the children when I do presentations. In some schools, 100 percent of hands go up to say they ate breakfast this morning. In worst case scenarios, half of the hands go up."

She said it is also important that children get enough sleep at night, and she has seen children falling asleep in morning assembly.

The Healthy Schools network is trying to collect objective data by assessing Primary Five and Primary Six students at regular intervals on things like nutrition, self-esteem and physical activity.

"We really want to look at emotional development, because we are concerned not just about children's external health, but also their psychological development," Ms Beach said. "The way they feel about themselves is important, because that will impact on how successful they are in establishing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle into their adulthood."