New studies show that combating childhood obesity is literally child’s play.
Image by Gustty
Researchers, from the University of Exeter’s School of Sport and Health Sciences , have published a study in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity that suggests for the first time that children’s active play time could be just as beneficial as regimented scheduled exercise sessions for combating child obesity.
The implications are are encouraging as children are more likely to engage in short bursts of activity (or “play”) than in regimented exercise. Childhood obesity is a huge problem in the U.S. where some reports indicate that over 30% of children are overweight. So this new study is good news.
Lead researcher Michelle Stone, a PhD student at the University of Exeter, said:
“Our study suggests that physical activity is associated with health, irrespective of whether it is accumulated in short bursts or long bouts. Previous research has shown that children are more naturally inclined to engage in short bursts of running, jumping and playing with a ball, and do not tend to sustain bouts of exercise lasting five or more minutes. This is especially true for activities that are more vigorous in nature.”
“If future research backs up our findings, we would do better to encourage young children to do what they do naturally, rather than trying to enforce long exercise sessions on them. This could be a useful way of improving enjoyment and sustainability of healthy physical activity levels in childhood. Since the frequency of activity bouts accumulated per day was more strongly associated with waist circumference and microvascular health than the intensity or the duration of activity bouts, simply encouraging children to break up sedentary time with bursts of activity may be a good starting point.”
We are big believers in letting our children have “rewards” between bursts of doing their homework/schoolwork, mainly because it keeps them motivated to accomplish more. This new study backs up that children should be allowed to experience the excitement of life (to run, jump and have adventures) and not be cooped up in a class room for hours on end.
We were born to explore, discover and be excited by life.
Maggie & Danny
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About Danny Sheehan
Danny lives in Hong Kong but is originally from Australia. He is Married to Maggie and together they have two children with whom they enjoy sharing and enjoying an exciting life with daily. Danny's passions are freedom, adventure and discovery, mainly in nature and science but also spiritually. He is a great believer in living in the NOW.
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May 18, 2009 at 10:05 am
That is very true! The problem is that some children don't want to go out… they rather watch TV or play Xbox… at least my older one. It is sooo hard to kick him out to do something… Opposite to the 3 year old that loves to run, even after pre-school is full of energy to go to the park.
Margot