Getting our Children to Exercise
Children have been greatly impacted by 2020 with one of the biggest problems being their sedentary lifestyle. In a world where they already were sitting more, 2020 put almost a complete stop to movement for our children. The Journal of Nutrition and Physical Activity mentions that only 4.8 of children (5-11) and 0.6 of youth (12-17) were meeting the daily guidelines for daily activity. How can we get our children to exercise.
They found that the children who were able to get their daily activity in were the ones with parents encouraging them to get outside and play. They were getting out and moving with them, or they had a dog to take out for walks.
Getting out and encouraging your children to move more is one of the greatest things we can do to help raise children that will be healthy and happy. Don’t worry about them exercising, just have them get outside and play. The more you can get your children moving, the more it will help to improve blood flow to the organs, especially the brain. More blood flow allows our bodies to make its own internal medicine (called Nitric Oxide) which will help to decrease inflammation. The faster your blood flows through the vessels the more it stimulates them to produce nitric oxide which are the nutrients for the organs.
How to get our children to exercise:
- Allow your house to have more movement spaces for them. Hang a pull up bar in a doorway so that everyone can practice hanging on it when they walk through the door.
- Get outside yourself, so your kids will follow suit. Play for a bit with them and then allow them to continue to play on their own.
- If they are interested in using weights, feel free to let them use them for fun. Be cautious about having them lift heavier weights prior to Puberty as they need to have proper testosterone levels to help with proper recovery.
- Make sure they are moving through different modalities to keep from having overuse injuries occur especially for those that play sports. It’s great that they are playing sports but have them practice other sports for fun so that they are moving their bodies in different ways as well.
Ideas for Movement in your Home:
- Go for family walks or bike rides
- Create obstacle courses in our outside the house
- Floor is lava or dance parties
- Hide and Seek
- Water balloon tag
Other blog posts you may enjoy:
Fun family games to keep you Active
Healthy Eating Tips for Families
