The health benefits of exercise are known to be many, with a constantly growing number of scientific studies speaking to the rewards of maintaining an active lifestyle. Regular exercise and staving off a sedentary lifestyle have long been known to be able to significantly reduce the risk of major illnesses such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes and some forms of cancer, as well as extending life expectancy.
But despite most people having a general idea that exercise is beneficial to health, there is still a worrying trend of a drop in the amount of regular exercise achieved among the average person. This is due in part to the advent of workplace and consumer technology- the central role it now plays in our lives resulting in less physically-demanding work and entertainment; sitting in front of a computer screen or television has replaced practicing a sport or simply taking a stroll outside in many households and with machines now taking the brunt of physical labour within the workforce, more and more people are finding themselves desk-bound at their jobs.
For the younger generations who have grown up with this technology, particular care must be taken to ensure that they do not fall into a sedentary lifestyle. Limiting the time spent watching television, playing video games or browsing the internet and ensuring a certain amount of exercise every day would allow for a far more healthy lifestyle and physical condition.
The America-based non-profit organization The Kaiser Family Foundation carried out a study which suggested that on average children aged from eight to eighteen years tend to watch around four and a half hours of television each day- and this doesn’t take into account the hours spent on other forms of digital media (which is becoming increasingly central to many children’s lives). The amount of screentime encroaching on physical activity has only been increasing with time and, tellingly, this correlates with a rise in childhood obesity.
Another aspect of this worrying trend is the disparity between the amount of exercise achieved daily by boys and girls; researchers from University College London found that while only 51% of the children they monitored achieved the recommended hours of physical activity daily, for girls alone the percentage was just 38%; one obvious cause for this low percentage is the lack of appeal many girls might see in sports-based exercising. Promoting more sports to girls and diminishing its perception as a boys activity could go a long way in mending this problem.
In order to fight these growing trends, doctors and researchers advise that it is imperative to allow children the opportunity to enjoy daily exercise and outdoor activities ranging from ‘light’ to ‘energetic’ activities. Light activity can be as simple as walking from one place to another and is important in keeping up a momentum of physicality to stave off the pitfalls of a sedentary lifestyle. ‘Energetic activities’- which includes sports and hobbies such as dancing, gymnastics, riding bicycles, etc- also form a key component in a healthy lifestyle and the more strenuous the exercise, the more pronounced the benefits are likely to be.
Even when a child is too young to be truly physically active, a promotion of exercise can still be encouraged. Babies can be kept active throughout the day even before they learn to crawl by encouraging them to move their heads, bodies and limbs until their capacity for activity increases.
This increase in exercise will provide not only a stronger immune system, stronger muscles, and a healthier physical condition in general but will also help children develop their self-esteem and confidence, leaving them better prepared to enjoy their youngest years and allowing them to grow into healthy, physically active adults.