Tuesday 30 April 2013

Exercise for Children

I do not active in sports, rarely do any exercise in a year~ …Haa…so it seems hard for a mum like me to teach kids sports and exercise, not talent in this field. After making some “research” online, I had make a short summary as below as a “reminder” for myself to get “more active”in exercise… I do hope this help.. ~

To keep healthy, everyone should do more exercise, especially children. According to the professionals, toddlers need at least one hour of exercise everyday. Kids have lots of energy and they are doing exercise all the time by themselves without thinking of it… running around the living room, kicking ball, walking up and down the staircase, cycling, etc. However, as parent we should not just encouraging the children to do more exercise, but also have to involve with them, provide and assist them in more energetic physical activities. 

Let us see what are the benefits for children to do exercise:
  • Exercise make our Heart Happy
Our heart is muscle and when we are doing exercise in a regular basis, it will help this muscle to get stronger and perform better in pumping blood and deliver oxygen to all parts of our body.
  • Exercise Strengthen our Muscle
It will help our muscles to grow stronger and bigger too
  • Exercise Make us Flexible
Most children able to move their body in flexible, bending and stretching their body without any trouble or feeling any tightness or pain. Will you able to bend your body and touch your nose with your knee? I remember I can do it years ago and was really fun after stretched my back… well, yeah… admitted… it was many years ago, when I was still a kid and it will be suffering to ask me to do it again now.. I should have do more exercise ~_~
  • Exercise Keeps the Balance
Do exercise to keep our body fit and keep balance for our calories level. Eating too much (more calories than our body needed) without enough exercise, may have the calories stored as excess fat in our body, which means --- FAT.
  • Exercise Make us Feel Good
Exercise will help us in building a strong and flexible body which will enable us to carry out all sort of activities and enjoying our daily life. Furthermore, by doing exercise our brain will release a chemical which called endorphins that will make us feel good and happy
We will have a better sleep if we are physically fit and by then will be able to handle physical and emotional challenges. Since everything going well, we will then be able to enjoy our daily life in a healthy and relaxing mood, so great, isn’t it?

So, how much exercise do a child need for a day?
Children under five that able to walk without assistance
at least 180 minutes (three hours) per day, composing light activity and more energetic physical activity.
Children and young people aged 5 and 18
at least 60 minutes (one hour) per day, composing activities of Moderate Intensity Aerobic Activity and Vigorous Intensive Aerobic Activity. On three days a week, should involve activities of Muscle Strengthening, and Bone Strengthening

What’s mean for these activities?
Light Activity
Such as standing up, moving around, rolling and walking at slow pace

Energetic Physical Activity
Walk in fast pace, riding bike, swimming, dancing, climbing, skipping rope, gymnastics, and active play like hide and seek.

Moderate Intensity Aerobic Activity
These activities are able to raise our heart rate and break a sweat, examples are playing in the playground, skateboarding, rollerblading, riding a bike on level ground or ground with few hills. How we know we are doing at moderate intensity? If you still able to talk but can’t sing words of a song then means you are doing it.

Vigorous Intensive Aerobic Activity
If we are doing at this level, we won’t be able to talk more than a few words without pausing for a breath as we need to breath hard and fast with heart rate going up a bit. Examples of these activities are chasing around, energetic dancing, aerobics, running, gymnastics, playing football, martial arts, riding bike at fast pace or on hilly ground.

Muscle-Strengthening Activity
Activities that will lift our body weight or to work against a resistance. Example activities that suit for a child are swinging on playground equipment bars, gymnastics, climbing tree or rope, sit-ups, sports games like basketball and tennis. For young people, they may involve in other activities such as push-ups, sit-ups, rock climbing, sport games, and resistance exercises like exercise bands, weight machines, or hand-held weights.

Bone-Strengthening Activity
These activities will produce an impact or tension force on the bones that promotes bone growth and strength. Example of activities that suit a child are walking, running, skipping rope, martial arts, jumping, climbing, sport and games like hop scotch. For young people, they can involve in activities such as dance, aerobics, weight training, water based activities and sport games that put force on bones.

We as parent should responsible in building up more structure and balance activities for our children, encourage them to do exercise as habits since they are young… So, I’ll try to put more efforts in doing sports games and exercises with Baby Debo, although it may be challenging….. to me.. hah..

Resources :
NHS Choice, UK’s largest health website
Babble
Kids Health – Kids and exercise
Kids Health – Why exercise is cool

2 comments:

  1. You are right about the importance of exercise among kids. Exercise is the only easier and priceless way of maintaining a good physic and proper nutrition.

    Preschool Exercise Program Importance

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes and we will need to start the good habit since our kids are young...

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