Exercise is important year around for children and their parents. Families can have lots of fun going for a walk together whether they must bundle up or bring extra water due to the heat. Exercise is good for a variety of conditions and knowing what practices are best to follow will make exercise more beneficial.

Personal Story

“Go outside and play!” If I had a dollar for every time my parents told me that, I’d be in good financial shape! I’d be in even better financial condition if I got a dollar every time that I told my kids the same thing! Science has confirmed that moving our bodies can result in better health.

Exercise for Health

Exercise may be an essential part of treatment for depression, diabetes, hypertension, low bone density, and obesity.

• Depression- Increased self-confidence and self-esteem, along with degreased anxiety and depression are the result of increased exercise.
• Diabetes- The diabetes prevention program includes a healthy diet, 7% weight loss for those who are overweight, and 150 minutes of physical activity every week.
• Hypertension- Increases in obesity may be the cause of increase in high blood pressure in some children. Exercise can reduce blood pressure in children. Lifestyle change, which includes exercise and diet change, is considered “the first step” in primary hypertension reduction plans.
• Low bone density- Weight bearing exercise, including running and jumping, during childhood is essential to increase bone mineral density.
• Obesity- Walking and biking are good forms of exercise for those who are overweight. Diet change and exercise both enhance weight loss. Exercising 30 -60 minutes 3-7 days a week seems to be successful in reducing body fat on a child.

Recommendations for Children

If the child is in good health as verified by their health care provider, starting a plan for exercise of different types is a good first step.

1. Encourage children to be physically active for 60-90 minutes daily.

2. Both organized and free play are equally beneficial if you follow the next suggestion.

3. Exercise minutes can accumulate throughout the day and still be beneficial if each session is at least ten minutes long.

4. Build exercise time gradually, starting with 10 minutes of exercise every day and increasing it by 10% every week until the goal time is reached.

5. Families can exercise together and benefit from the quality time they enjoy as well as the exercise itself. Good family lifestyle choices are walking, biking, and hiking.

6. Strength training for children is different than it is for teens or adults. For young children, 3 to 5-years-olds, strength training might be doing cobra pushups. For 6 to 9-year-olds, it’s resistance bands or tubes, hand weights, or light medicine balls.

For the child who is interested in sports, athletic performance can be improved with incorporating imagery and biofeedback into pre-sport routines.

• Mental practice improves skill acquisition.
• Pre-competition Imagery Rehearsal is when the student rehearses a sport-specific skill in one’s mind to improve performance.
• Biofeedback is a technique used to reduce psychological stress and help runners relax.

Integrative medicine practices, such as acupuncture and massage are good practices to employ to possibly prevent and treat injury.

• Massage is the usual form of complementary medicine used by adolescents to prevent and treat muscle soreness.
• Acupuncture is also used to improve blood flow, lessen muscle tension, and regulate the nervous system.

Children and young athletes benefit from exercise.

Action

Please decide to plan how your children can get the daily physical activity time they need for good health. Let’s get moving!

Resources:

Integrative Pediatrics, by Timothy P. Culbert and Karen Olness

https://www.verywellfamily.com/strength-training-for-kids-1256990

May God bless your healthful endeavors!

Joni

P.S. What physical activities do you do with your children?