TASHA LANCASTER: According to the American Heart Association, childhood obesity has more than tripled over the past 30 years.
Obese youth are more likely to have cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
So what is one thing we can do to fight this epidemic? Exercise with our children! Making exercise fun and finding something you can enjoy as a family will help your children become more active and healthy at the same time!
Parents can encourage their kids to stay active, and it's easier to do than you think.
Adults often think of "exercise" as occurring at the gym on a treadmill or lifting weights. However, for kids, exercise is simply playing at recess, riding bikes, playing tag or attending soccer practice.
Many children exercise all the time without even thinking about it. By simply being active, such as running around on the playground or playing baseball or kickball with friends, a child is exercising.
Many experts agree that children and adolescents 18 years old and younger should strive to achieve 60 minutes of exercise daily.
Fortunately, when the activity is fun, 60 minutes should be easy to achieve! Here are a few ideas that incorporate the three elements of fitness: endurance, strength and flexibility.
1. Endurance: Playing tag or playing a game of soccer.
2. Strength: Swinging across the monkey bars or climbing the fire pole at the playground.
3. Flexibility: Bending down to tie your shoes or stretching before and after you exercise.
The three elements of fitness address different areas of our child's body that can be improved.
Aerobic activity is a great way to develop endurance. During aerobic exercise, the heart and lungs work together. When aerobic exercise is done regularly and for continuous periods of time, this will help strengthen the heart and improve the body's ability to deliver oxygen.
Strength training will help tone and strengthen muscles. Most kids do not need a formal weight-training program to be strong. Climbing a tree, doing crunches, sit-ups and pushups are ways a child can develop strength.
Stretching exercises help improve flexibility. Flexibility can be achieved by moving muscles and joints through their full range of motion. Some examples are reaching for an object, doing the splits or doing a cartwheel.
There are many other ways to have fun and exercise with your children at home; just be creative!
Memorial Medical Center itself offers our Kids Heart Advantage program to area schools to teach children about the importance of maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Tasha Lancaster, MS, is an exercise physiologist in Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation with Memorial Heart and Vascular Services at Memorial Medical Center.
MORE INFORMATION
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: Activities for kids
