Fun Ways to a Healthier and More Active Family

Embrace the ultimate exercise machines -- your kids!

More on:

• Lose the Weight
• Family Life
• Healthy Habits
• Exercise

An Alarming Problem

The message of this article is twofold: First, that you have a wonderful opportunity to get some very fun, high-quality exercise by playing with kids; second, that you have a responsibility to teach the kids in your life about the joys and importance of exercise.

You know why you need to be active. You may not know to what extent obesity and sedentary living is crippling our youth. More than 60 percent of children do not exercise on a regular basis. Overall, the Centers for Disease Control finds that just 8 percent of elementary schools, 6 percent of middle schools, and 5 percent of high schools offer daily physical education classes. Small wonder, then, that the CDC also finds that at least 15 percent of U.S. children and teens are now overweight, more than triple the number in 1970. These fast-rising numbers have serious implications:

• Children are now subject to an epidemic of type 2 diabetes, a disease that once occurred exclusively at or beyond middle age in adults.



• The obesity epidemic holds more harm for today's children than exposure to tobacco, drugs, and alcohol combined.



• Today's kids have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, the first time this has ever occurred in this country.

So engaging your kids in a health-promoting lifestyle should be a priority for every loving parent. But if you want trim and healthy kids, you have to get trim and healthy yourself. Studies show that family environment is one of the strongest predictors of childhood obesity. In one study, children of sedentary parents (a.k.a. couch potatoes) were more likely to gain weight and become overweight than children of active parents.

Some of the movement suggestions in this article may seem too easy to be considered exercise. But remember: You and your child burn more calories standing than sitting, walking than standing. The more you move, the more you burn. It doesn't matter how wacky your antics, if you are moving and having fun, you're burning calories and getting in shape. It's that simple.

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