More children and adolescents are overweight or obese than ever before. It is important for your child to be active. This is a lesson you should teach your child at a young age. Remember that you are a role model for your children and they will follow your example.
Physical activity helps prevent or minimize health problems. It also helps control your child’s weight. Here are other benefits of keeping your child active.
- It burns calories instead of storing them as body fat.
- It maintains blood sugar levels. This is important for children who have or are at risk for diabetes.
- It lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
- It helps to make bones and muscles strong.
- It builds strength and stamina.
- It relieves stress and helps with concentration.
- It improves sleep and mental health.
- It enhances self-esteem by helping children feel confident about their body and appearance.
The ways to improve health
Children 6 years and older should be active for at least 60 minutes a day. This does not have to be done all at once. They can be active several times a day. Just like adults, children need 3 forms of movement. They should do a combination of aerobics, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening. Some activities are considered more than one type of exercise.
Aerobic (“cardio”) exercise increases your heart rate and strengthens your heart and lungs. The types of aerobic activity are:
- Slide
- Skating
- Running
- Long walk
- Dance
- Ride bicycle
- Swimming
- Basketball
Muscle strengthening builds and maintains muscle. It also improves balance. Examples include:
- Climb.
- Exercise.
- Push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups
Bone strengthening helps your bones grow and stay strong. Examples include:
- Running
- Skip
- Dance
- Skipping
- basketball, football, tennis or volleyball
When it comes to activities, there’s something for everyone. Try different activities to see what your child enjoys. Find fun things to do together.
Encourage your child to try physical or group activities. It could be football, tee, gymnastics or dance. Joining a group helps your child develop social skills. Remember that some kids like sports, while others don’t like competition. Instead, they may prefer group games, such as chase or hide-and-seek. Find out what best suits your child’s personality. Sometimes it’s okay for your child to play alone. This helps them develop independence.
Be a healthy role model for your child. Plan an active family outing. Let them see you enjoy exercising. When your kids are young, you can push them into the stroller while you run. Another way you can incorporate exercise into your family’s lifestyle is to celebrate with action. Instead of enjoying food for your child, let them choose an activity.
Things to consider
Each day, children aged 8 to 18 should limit screen time outside of school to about 1 or 2 hours watching TV and movies, playing on the computer, or playing video games.
2 out of 3 children have a TV in their bedroom. They watched about an hour and a half more TV than kids without a TV in their bedroom. Medical experts recommend that children should not watch TV in the bedroom.
You usually sit while using the screen. Set a good example by limiting your own screen time.
There are ways to make screen time more active. Have your child jump the bridge in the ad. Or they can stand up or jog in place while playing video games. Some video games even include low levels of physical activity. They can imitate the movements of dancing, bowling, tennis and other sports. While playing these games is better than sitting, they still count as device time. Instead, let your child do the movements in real life. Have a dance party, go bowling or play tennis.