Wellness focus – Are your children getting enough exercise?

According to the Active Healthy Kids Canada 2012 Report Card, lack of physical activity and too much inactivity have many negative effects; while lack of exercise tops the list of the biggest concerns about kids’ health, according to a new survey of American adults. Are Filipino parents mistaken by introducing their children to screen games and fast foods?

Children are more at risk of suffering health consequences of a lifestyle with a lack of physical activity that prevents optimal physical development. The WHO says that this generation of teenagers are at the highest risk of becoming Diabetic (Type 2) than any previous generation and much earlier in life; and it’s mainly due to the decrease in physical activity with today’s children, followed by the poor diets of today’s fast food frenzy; both promote early onset obesity and the resulting Diabetes.

Postural deficiencies also promote weak bodies that then experience more spine and nerve related problems; something chiropractors see frequently when there is no traumatic event that can be identified as the cause of neck and back pains.

So, get your kids involved in some regular physical activities. Help them find their fun interests that include regular physical outputs; these could be the swimming team, group sports, dance, track and field. Get parents in the neighborhood to organize safe outdoor fun with the kids on the block.

The teenage years are VERY IMPORTANT TO LIFETIME PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT. In some other words: “The body that you build in your teens is the body that carries you into the rest of your life.” So if you were an athlete, stayed physically active you entered adulthood with a body that has deep reserves of strength, bone density, stronger immunity, etc. Girls who fit into this category still have good bone density long after they become menopausal in the mid-life.

The opposite is mostly true for people who failed to grow strong bodies during their teens. They avoided sports or most any physical activities; they played a lot of video games, watch a lot of TV and did not watch their weight. They enter adulthood with a body absent deep reserves of strength; a body susceptible to illness due to a poorer immune system; a body with less bone density. In fact boys in this group become osteoporotic as early as their 40’s; kind of refutes the argument that osteoporosis is caused by menopause since boys don’t have all that estrogen.

Yours in real life,
docMIKE