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Just a Little Exercise
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| Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | | CWK Producer |
“It starts with a little bit. You gotta pare it down and make it achievable. Start with small successes and let them build on each other.”
– Beth Passehl, Health Expert
Third grade was a turning point for Katie.
“When I was in third grade, I was kinda overweight,” she remembers. “People kinda used to make fun of me and I didn’t like the way I looked.”
Then, Katie discovered a passion for basketball and something amazing happened.
“I lost a lot of weight!” she beams.
Basketball got Katie moving. And, experts say, just a few minutes a day is enough to make a difference.
“It starts with a little bit. It starts with three to five, to six to eight minutes a day,” says Beth Passehl, director of Fit Kids, a health program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Experts say even a little bit of exercise jumpstarts the metabolism into burning fat. For children who aren’t active at all, experts say start small.
“It’s overwhelming to think about such a big change,” says Passehl. “You gotta pare it down and make it achievable and start with small successes and let them build on each other.”
Passehl says eventually four minutes becomes 10, then 20 and even more. But is exercise more important than diet?
“It’s probably both,” Passehl answers. “If you had to start with one, I always want to start with physical activity.”
For Katie, now 14, basketball was a start. Today’s she’s active in lots of other sports and she’s improved her diet. The change has made her feel and look a whole lot better.
“I’d go back to my old neighborhood and people would be like, ‘Wow, is that Katie?’ And I’d be like yeah!” she says. “It was really flattering. It made me really happy!”
What We Need To Know
Current exercise research shows some unhealthy data:
- More than 60 percent of American adults are not regularly active.
- Twenty-five percent of adults are not active at all.
- Only 19 percent of high school students are active for 20 minutes or more per day.
- Men are more active than women.
- Physical activity declines with age.
- Ethnic minorities are less active.
The Surgeon General's report on physical activity endorses a moderate amount of daily physical activity, such as:
- Brisk walking for 30 minutes
- Mowing the lawn for 30 minutes
- Raking leaves for 30 minutes
- Running for 15 minutes
- Playing volleyball for 45 minutes
Not only does exercise help keep bodies healthy, it can help keep minds healthy. Experts at KidsHealth –part of The Nemours Foundation's Center for Children's Health Media--have developed the following list of exercise benefits:
- Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy – Your heart is the strongest muscle in your body. But it's always looking to become stronger! Lifting weights won’t do it; the heart relies on you to do aerobic exercise. Experts recommend aerobic exercise two to three times a week, for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Some excellent aerobic activities are swimming, basketball, hockey, jogging (or walking quickly), rollerblading, soccer, cross-country skiing, biking and rowing. Even dancing, skipping, jumping rope and playing hopscotch are aerobic activities!
- Exercise Makes Muscles – Exercise makes your muscles stronger and sometimes larger. As your muscles get stronger, you can do more active things for longer periods of time. Strong muscles also help protect you from injury when you’re active, because they give support to your joints. Building muscle is easy to do. For arm strength, try push-ups, pull-ups, tug-of-war or twirling a baton. For strong leg muscles, try running, blading, skating or bike riding. And for strong stomach muscles, try sit-ups, bike riding, or even hula-hooping.
- Exercise Makes You Flexible – Can you touch your toes? Most kids are pretty flexible, which means that they can bend and stretch their bodies without too much trouble. But as people get older they tend to get less flexible. That's why it's important to continue to stretch and exercise throughout your life, so you can stay flexible. And when you're flexible, you can be active without worrying about getting sprains and strained muscles. Tumbling and gymnastics are great for flexibility. So are yoga and dancing, especially ballet. Karate, tae kwon do and other martial arts are great for flexibility, too.
- Exercise Keeps You at a Healthy Weight – Every time you eat food, your body uses some of the nutrients in the food as fuel. That’s what gives you energy. You need energy for all the things your body does -- brushing your teeth, riding a bike, even breathing. So it's important for kids to get all the calories they need from the foods they eat. But if the body isn't able to use all the calories, it stores them as fat. And that's why exercise helps keep a child at a healthy weight for his/her height – exercise burns extra calories. When you exercise, your body uses that extra fuel to keep you going strong.
- Exercise Makes You Feel Good – If you've had a tough day at school, a fight with your friend or you just feel blue, exercising can help you feel better. Because when you exercise, your body releases endorphins -- chemicals that create a happy feeling in your brain. And, when you breathe deeply during exercise, your brain appreciates the extra oxygen. Plus, ever notice that it’s hard to think about what was bothering you when you're active and running around? Exercise can make you feel better about yourself, too. When you are strong and capable of doing things, you can feel proud – whether you scored the winning goal or carried in all your Mom’s groceries!
According to The American Heart Association (AHA), healthy physical activity is defined as regular participation in activities that increase your heart rate above its resting level. However, physical activity doesn’t have to be strenuous to be beneficial. An active child plays sports, participates in PE class, does household chores, spends time outdoors and regularly travels by foot or bicycle. The AHA offers the following guidelines:
- Encourage your kids to regularly walk, bike, play outside and interact with other children.
- Allow no more than two hours per day for sedentary activities – TV, computers, video games.
- Promote weekly participation in age-appropriate sports or sandlot games.
- Ensure your child participates in a daily school PE class that includes at least 20 minutes of coordinated large-muscle exercise.
- Make sure your child has access to school/community facilities that enable safe participation in physical activities.
- Provide opportunities for physical activities that are fun, increase confidence and involve friends.
- Organize regular family outings that involve walking, cycling, swimming or other recreational activities.
- Be a positive role model for a physically active lifestyle.
Resources
- American Heart Association
- KidsHealth
- National Association for Sport and Physical Education
