Stay In Shape: Kids' Bodies Feed Their Minds, featuring Ming Sun, CHES - Shrinking It Down

Stay In Shape: Kids’ Bodies Feed Their Minds, featuring Ming Sun, CHES – Shrinking It Down

Silhouetted elementary school kids running in a field

By Ming Sun, MCHES and Steven Schlozman, MD

How can we guide children to stay in shape, healthfully navigate food, fitness, sleep, and more (especially when Takis® taste so much better than eggs for breakfast)? These aren’t just important for physical health but mental health, as well. The MGH Stay In Shape Program for elementary and middle school students, going on 20 years strong, is one solution that’s benefited several communities in Massachusetts. In today’s episode, special guest Ming Sun, MCHES, of MGH Community Health Associates, joins host Steve Schlozman, MD to share more about Stay In Shape – including strategies to help kids set goals around activities that will benefit both their bodies and minds.

Thank you for joining in this conversation. Do you have a program like this in your community? We’d love to hear about it. Write to us!

Media List

Nutrition and Mental Health: It’s More Complicated Than You Think (MGH Clay Center)
MGH Community Health Associates
MGH Center for Community Health Improvement (CCHI)
STAY IN SHAPE Program Curriculum (MGH Community Health Associates)
Rise of the Takis (Houston Press)
Study: College Students Can Improve Depression Symptoms By Eating Healthy (WBZ / CBS Boston News)
Being Young, Active, and Physically Fit May Be Very Good for Your Brain (New York Times)
The Benson–Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine
Self-Care in Middle School (Video – MGH Clay Center)
The Importance of Sleep for Kids’ Emotional Well-Being (MGH Clay Center)

Episode research by Matt Carron

Episode produced by Sara Rattigan

Music By Gene Beresin

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Ming Sun, MCHES

Ming Sun, MCHES is a health educator and program manager at the Mass General Community Health Associates (CHA). For more than 30 years, Mass General CHA has supported the work of MGH HealthCare Centers serving Charlestown, Chelsea, Everett, Revere an...

To read full bio click here.

Steven Schlozman, MD

Steven Schlozman, MD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS), course director of the psychopathology class for the MIT-HMS Program in Health, Sciences and Technology, and former co-director of the Clay Center for Youn...

To read full bio click here.