Get Your Child Exercising!
By Donna Stark
As parents, we want our children to do well in life, so we do the best that we can to prepare them for a happy, healthy, and successful future. We teach them to be self-confident, we take them to all of their well-child visits, we help them with homework, and we give them plenty of responsibility in the home. We try to provide the best possible foundation for them, so when the time comes to jump into adulthood, our children are jumping with some pretty solid footing. Unfortunately, many children these days are having some difficulty making that jump. Why? Well, they're simply out of breath, or they're physically not strong enough, or that jump interrupts their gaming or Netflix time.
Why Exercise?
If you are emphasizing everything but exercise in your children's lives, you may be doing a great disservice to them. Exercise is a great way to promote healthy development and behaviors that can last for years. In fact, children who exercise regularly are more likely to carry those healthy habits over into adulthood than those who don't. Need some more convincing? Here are some key benefits your child will receive that can come from regular exercise.
- Weight - When combined with a nutritious diet your child is more likely to achieve and maintain a healthy weight
- Body control - Enhances your child's balance, flexibility, range of motion, coordination, and strength
- Fine motor skills - Improves your child's fine motor skills
- Posture - Improves posture, which can reduce back and neck pain, headaches, and muscle tension
- Brainpower - Improves academic achievement by encouraging the brain to work at maximum capacity
- Confidence - Increases strength and athletic ability, which can influence your child's confidence
- Stress - Relieves stress and anxiety in a productive manner
- Sleep - Encourages quality sleep, which can make a big difference in your child's days
- Heart health - Reduces the risk of high cholesterol and high blood pressure, two dangerous factors of heart disease as your child gets older
Those are some pretty compelling reasons to get your child (and yourself) off the couch.
Start Today
The benefits that come from staying physically active when young can easily be carried over into adulthood if those healthy habits are maintained. So start teaching your children the value of exercise today! Get them off the couch, pull them away from the video games, and encourage them to move! Let your children choose the activities that appeal to them the most so they will be more likely to stick with them. You can also influence their lifestyle when you lead by example, so put your own sneakers on and grab your family for a fun day of fitness. Families that work out together, stay together! And there is nothing more fun than a sweat session with the ones you love most!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Citrus Heights, Calif.
