Australia was one of the global leaders for participating in organised sports. In fact, between 64% and 85% of Australians aged 5-17 years took part in organised sports, a rate higher than any other form of physical activity.
Even so, 80% of Australian children and teenagers are not sufficiently physically active to achieve the daily recommendation. Clearly, participation in sport alone was not enough to ensure that children can reap the health benefits.
Additionally, the restrictions for sport, recreation, and fitness organisations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have taken the situation further down south. Evidence suggests social restrictions increased sedentary time and behaviour, disrupted sleep patterns and decreased opportunities for children and adolescents to engage in physical activity. These behaviours could have devastating effects on the long-term cardiometabolic and psychological health outcomes in the general population.
It’s time to bring out the big guns, or should we say old guns. Often, the best solutions are the simplest. The classics have earned their title for a reason. Sometimes all it takes is to grease up your bike chain and pump up its tires, buy kids roller skates or simply, get a new ball.
What are the Physical Activity Guidelines for Children & Young People in Australia?
It’s recommended that children and young people do moderate to vigorous physical activity at least 60 minutes or more each day i.e. activities that make the heart beat faster. These include basketball, football, roller skating, bike riding, volleyball, swimming, dancing etc.
At least 3 days per week, children and young people should incorporate vigorous and muscle-strengthening activities in the 60 minutes such as running, climbing, swinging on monkey bars, push-ups, sit-ups, lifting weights or yoga.
Several hours of light physical activity should be included each day such as walking to school or walking the dog, going to the park with friends or helping around the house.
In addition to the health benefits, physical activity can reduce antisocial behaviour, build stronger cooperation, teamwork skills, self-esteem and confidence and improve concentration. Moreover, it’s a chance to have fun with friends and family while lowering everyone's anxiety and stress levels.
How Can I Get my Child to Be More Active?
Teach Your Kids How to Roller Skate
Roller skating can be done anywhere. From the park to your own neighbourhood, you’ll introduce your child to both health and fun if you buy kids roller skates.
A study from the University of Massachusetts showed that skating causes less than 50 per cent of the impact shock to joints compared to running. On the other hand, it's equal to jogging in terms of health benefits and caloric consumption, reduction of body fat and leg strength development. Being appropriate for both young and old, roller skating is without a doubt a physical activity that you can do together with your kids.
Indeed, you can burn between 300 and 600 calories if you skate for a full hour. If your child is overweight, kids roller skates can be the solution you were looking for.
By simultaneously working your arms and legs, both you and your kid can build stronger muscles and better coordination. This will help your child to strengthen its locomotory system while preventing injuries and keeping you active and limber as you age. Moreover, roller-skating helps improve balance and posture by strengthening the abdominal and lower-back muscles.
Additionally, roller skating has been recognised as an effective aerobic exercise that helps strengthen the heart and improve endurance. Moderate roller skating increases a skater’s heart rate to levels ranging from 140 to 160 beats per minute. Skating at top speeds can increase heart rate up to around 180 beats per minute while adding a few uphill climbs will train your and your child’s muscles, along with your cardiovascular system.
Last but not least, the sunlight, music, lights and the social aspect of roller skating make it one of the most fun workouts. Ignite that spark in your child, get rolling and catch up on the good vibes.
A Family That Bikes Together, Stays Together
Cycling is a form of physical activity that offers a spectre of intensities and health benefits as it stimulates the cardiorespiratory and metabolic functions of the whole body.
Cycling has been particularly studied and proven beneficial. There is a clear, positive relationship between cycling and cardiorespiratory fitness in the youth. Furthermore, there’s a strong inverse relationship between commuter cycling and all-cause mortality, cancer mortality, and cancer morbidity among middle-aged to elderly individuals.
In children and adolescents, there is strong evidence for improved cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular fitness, bone health, cardiovascular and metabolic health biomarkers.
In adults, in addition to the abovementioned benefits, there is also a lower rate of early death, heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, adverse blood lipid profiles, metabolic syndrome, colon and breast cancers, prevention of weight gain or weight loss when combined with a healthy diet, reduced depression and better cognitive function.
If you want to keep up or reach milestones together with your kid, start pedalling.
Make a Backyard Jungle Gym
Jungle gyms are versatile, ranging from simple to premium, with many added accessories like swings or trampolines. Their parts are made out of plastic, metal or wood. Material, features, and brand all play a major role in how much does a jungle gym cost. It can range anything from 100$ to 5000$ or more.
Nonetheless, with all this time spent at home, learning how to assemble a jungle gym by yourself can be just the project you were looking for. Not only will you save money but also you’ll inspire your kid to explore its playful, bold and adventurous side while reaping many health benefits.
Outdoor play is essential for the development of motor skills and helping children to learn how to fall. Trauma is the most common reason for kids visiting the Emergency Department. Training children to learn how to position their hands (in front of their face instead of sticking them forward) in the case of a fall. This might reduce the number of injuries in children.
Exercising on monkey bars requires a lot of power meaning that calories are burned and muscles are strengthened. Subsequently, your kids' posture could improve.
The focus required to work on a monkey bar dissipates stress and anxiety. Children who learn to carry out difficult tasks are confident because they develop problem-solving skills. A winner mindset is set at an early age, leading to a happier and more satisfied adult later on.
Install a Basketball Hoop
The main reason for playing basketball, cited by 74% of children and adolescents in one study, is to have fun. Basketball is the most popular team sport for those aged 12–17 years.
Importantly, basketball is a sport that can be modified. In fact, the same survey showed that for half of the included children and adolescents one of the reasons they started to play was because it can be played with any number of people. Clearly, this is one of the reasons that this game is also appreciated in adulthood.
By installing a basketball hoop in your backyard you can give every family member (and your friends too) the chance for a vigorous but fun physical activity.
Make an Indoor Climbing Wall
In rock climbing, your performance depends on your ability to complete a specific route in the shortest time or to reach the farthest point that represents a certain level of difficulty. The nature of this activity requires good physical abilities like strength, agility, balance as well as mental control.
Anxiety and movement behaviour are related to rock climbing. Anxiety control allows improvement in rock climbing and vice versa. One study showed that state anxiety significantly decreased over single training sessions of rock climbing. Moreover, the rock-climbers also significantly improved their abdominal strength and balance.
To get started, you need to know what are indoor climbing walls made of. Mostly, the construction is wooden, meaning that you would install plywood on a supporting structure i.e. a wall. Besides plywood, you would need limbing holds, lag screws, a circular, table saw or a jigsaw, drill, nut drivers, level, tape measure, pencil or pen and floor mats.
You’re probably worried and wondering is rock climbing safe for kids. That’s were the floor mats come in. In addition to placing them on the floor, you can rig them up and lock over the wall as a safety measure for when you’re not around.
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