Just a Little Exercise

Third grade was a turning point
for Katie.

“When I was in third grade, I was kinda overweight,” she
remembers. “People kinda used to make fun of me and
I didn’t like the way I looked.”

Then, Katie discovered a passion for basketball and something
amazing happened.

“I lost a lot of weight!” she beams.

Basketball got Katie moving. And according to new research,
exercise is key.

Researchers at the University of California – San Diego
studied 850 adolescents. Those who exercised vigorously an
average of just four to 12 minutes a day were less likely
to be overweight. Just four minutes a day made a difference!

“It starts with a little bit. It starts with three
to five, to six to eight minutes a day,” says Beth
Passehl, director of Fit Kids, a health program
at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Experts say even a little bit of exercise jumpstarts the
metabolism into burning fat. For children who aren’t
active at all, experts say start small.

“It’s overwhelming to think about such a big
change,” says Passehl. “You gotta pare it down
and make it achievable and start with small successes and
let them build on each other.”

Passehl says eventually four minutes becomes 10, then 20
and even more. But is exercise more important than diet?

“It’s probably both,” Passehl answers. “If
you had to start with one, I always want to start with physical
activity.”

For Katie, now 14, basketball was a start. Today’s
she’s active in lots of other sports and she’s
improved her diet. The change has made her feel and look a
whole lot better.

“I’d go back to my old neighborhood and people
would be like, ‘Wow, is that Katie?’ And I’d
be like yeah!” she says. “It was really flattering.
It made me really happy!”

By Larry Eldridge, Jr.
CWK Network, Inc.

Current exercise research shows some unhealthy data:

• More than 60 percent of American adults are not regularly
  active.
• Twenty-five percent of adults are not active at all.
• Only 19 percent of high school students are active for
  20 minutes or more per day.
• Men are more active than women.
• Physical activity declines with age.
• Ethnic minorities are less active.

The Surgeon General’s report on physical activity endorses
a moderate amount of daily physical activity, such as:

• Brisk walking for 30 minutes
• Mowing the lawn for 30 minutes
• Raking leaves for 30 minutes
• Running for 15 minutes
• Playing volleyball for 45 minutes

By Larry Eldridge, Jr.
CWK Network, Inc.

Not only does exercise help keep bodies healthy,
it can help keep minds healthy. Experts at KidsHealth – part
of The Nemours Foundation’s Center for Children’s Health
Media — have developed the following list
of exercise benefits:

• Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy – Your
  heart is the strongest muscle in your body. But it’s always
  looking to become stronger! Lifting weights won’t
  do it; the heart relies on you to do aerobic exercise.
  Experts recommend aerobic exercise two to three times a
  week, for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Some excellent aerobic
  activities are swimming, basketball, hockey, jogging (or
  walking quickly), rollerblading, soccer, cross-country
  skiing, biking and rowing. Even dancing, skipping, jumping
  rope and playing hopscotch are aerobic activities!
• Exercise Makes Muscles – Exercise makes
  your muscles stronger and sometimes larger. As your muscles
  get stronger, you can do more active things for longer
  periods of time. Strong muscles also help protect you from
  injury when you’re active, because they give support
  to your joints. Building muscle is easy to do. For arm
  strength, try push-ups, pull-ups, tug-of-war or twirling
  a baton. For strong leg muscles, try running, blading,
  skating or bike riding. And for strong stomach muscles,
  try sit-ups, bike riding, or even hula-hooping.
• Exercise Makes You Flexible – Can you touch
  your toes? Most kids are pretty flexible, which means that
  they can bend and stretch their bodies without too much
  trouble. But as people get older they tend to get less
  flexible. That’s why it’s important to continue to stretch
  and exercise throughout your life, so you can stay flexible.
  And when you’re flexible, you can be active without worrying
  about getting sprains and strained muscles. Tumbling and
  gymnastics are great for flexibility. So are yoga and dancing,
  especially ballet. Karate, tae kwon do and other martial
  arts are great for flexibility, too.
• Exercise Keeps You at a Healthy Weight – Every
  time you eat food, your body uses some of the nutrients
  in the food as fuel. That’s what gives you energy.
  You need energy for all the things your body does — brushing
  your teeth, riding a bike, even breathing. So it’s important
  for kids to get all the calories they need from the foods
  they eat. But if the body isn’t able to useall the
  calories, it stores them as fat. And that’s why exercise
  helps keep a child at a healthy weight for his/her height – exercise
  burns extra calories. When you exercise, your body uses
  that extra fuel to keep you going strong.
• Exercise Makes You Feel Good – If you’ve
  had a tough day at school, a fight with your friend or
  you just feel blue, exercising can help you feel better.
  Because when you exercise, your body releases endorphins
  — chemicals that create a happy feeling in your brain.
  And, when you breathe deeply during exercise, your brain
  appreciates the extra oxygen. Plus, ever notice that it’s
  hard to think about what was bothering you when you’re
  active and running around? Exercise can make you feel better
  about yourself, too. When you are strong and capable of
  doing things, you can feel proud – whether you scored
  the winning goal or carried in all your Mom’s groceries!

KidsHealth

National Association for Sport and Physical Education
American Heart Association