So we find from a study published in 2005 that kids are
not getting enough exercise (duh) but that the solution might
be easier than we've all been trying to make it.
It seems as if our Mom's have been correct all along. I remember many
times being told "just go out and play" by my Mom, probably
after we whined how there was nothing to do indoors or there was
nothing on the 3 channels of TV we were treated to back in the
day.
Of course, Mom's wisdom is always intuitive and anecdotal, not acceptable
in scientific circles until it's proven by some study or another, but one has to
wonder why it took so long for science to confirm Mom's wisdom.
And too, the climate nowadays is we've built up such a fear in parents that if they
send their kids out to play and something happens to them while they're more than 50 meters from their parents, that Big Brother will take their kids from them and label them unfit parents. Therefore, kids are virtual prisoners of their own homes.
They times they are a changin'. Just not always for the better.
Also, check out the website The Early Show , The Wide World of Youth Sports, From Little League to Travel Teams
From the Author of Little League, Big Dreams. http://earlyshow.blogspot.com/2006_07_16_earlyshow_archive.html
published by Charlie Euchner, of New Haven, Connecticut. Mr.Euchner, is author of "Little League, Big Dreams" an intimate view of the hype and hustle of the Little League World Series.
This a highly recommended reading for any youth baseball coach. Enjoy.
Charles Slavik, NSCA-CPT,*D
President, Eagle Baseball Club, LLC
Kane County, Illinois Finest Baseball & Softball Training
Phone: (813) 335-8678
EMail: theslav1959@yahoo.com
<"( );::::::;~ ~;::::::;( )">
>
> THURSDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Kids have
> energy to burn, and
> experts currently recommend that children get an
> hour per day of
> exercise to help ward off heart trouble as adults.
>
> But a new study suggests more activity may be
> needed.
>
> "Current guidelines for physical activity in
> children may underestimate
> the necessary level for maintaining good health,"
> said lead researcher
> Lars Bo Andersen, from the Norwegian School of
> Sports Science, Oslo. "We
> would suggest 90 minutes per day to prevent
> clustering of heart disease
> risk factors," he said.
>
> His team's findings are published in the July 22
> issue of The Lancet.
>
> In their study, Andersen's team selected over 1,700
> children, aged 9 or
> 15 years, from schools in Denmark, Estonia, and
> Portugal. In addition to
> measuring each child's amount of daily activity, the
> researchers also
> measured risk factors for cardiovascular disease,
> such as blood
> pressure, weight, waist circumference, insulin
> resistance (a precursor
> for diabetes), and blood cholesterol.
>
> While previous studies into childhood activity
> simply asked kids how
> much exercise they got per day, Andersen's team
> equipped children with
> accelerometers -- devices that measure everyday
> activities such as
> moderate-intensity play and walking to school.
>
> Most of the activities picked up by the
> accelerometer involve everyday
> activities and not high-intensity sports, Andersen
> noted. "If you think
> about the changes in physical activity that have
> happened over the years
> [and] which may have contributed substantially to
> the obesity epidemic,
> it is very likely that the decrease in activity is
> in mainly free
> activities," he said.
>
> After four days of monitoring, Andersen's group
> found that the combined
> risk factor score for cardiovascular disease
> decreased as physical
> activity increased. The lowest risk factor scores
> were found in the
> 9-year-olds who did 116 minutes of moderate to
> vigorous intensity
> activity and the 15-year-olds who did about 88
> minutes daily.
>
> The researchers also found a dose-response
> relationship between health
> and physical activity, meaning that ordinary play
> activities do seem to
> be important for kids' health, Andersen said.
>
> He noted that a "clustering of heart disease risk
> factors occurs even in
> healthy children, and the risk is more than three
> times higher among
> sedentary children compared to the physically
> active. We should do more
> to create a society where physical activity is a
> natural part of
> everyday living, and we should find effective
> strategies to increase the
> physical activity level among children."
>
> Simple changes in children's routine and environment
> can help, Andersen
> said.
>
> "We need to make it possible to live an active
> lifestyle, which means
> that children should play outside, they should walk
> or cycle to school,
> they should train their motor skills in school PE
> lessons," Andersen
> said. "Few parents or politicians have been aware of
> the health
> consequences of low habitual physical activity,
> because our children are
> not ill -- yet."
>
> One expert agreed that physical activity for
> children needs to be
> reinforced at school and throughout daily life.
>
> "The message here is clear: Move your body or lose
> your health," said
> Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public
> health and director
> of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University
> School of Medicine
> in New Haven, Conn.
>
> Unfortunately, levels of physical activity continue
> to decline in
> industrialized countries where technology does more
> and more of what
> muscles used to do at both work and play, Katz said.
> "The trend is
> especially noteworthy for children, as competing
> demands squeeze both
> physical activity and recess out of the typical
> school day, and
> [TV/computer] screen time replaces playground or
> backyard time," he
> said.
>
> The case for ensuring that kids remain active is
> compelling, Katz said.
>
> "For example, when schools don't have time for a
> dedicated hour of
> physical education, bouts of brief activity could be
> provided in the
> classroom during each session of the day. We have
> developed just such a
> program at my lab, under the name 'ABC (activity
> bursts in the
> classroom) for Fitness,' and are currently
> evaluating its benefits," he
> noted.
>
> It seems ever more difficult for adults and children
> alike to maintain
> healthful levels of physical activity, Katz said.
> "We must find ways to
> put motion into our daily routine, and especially
> that of our children.
> Nothing less than their health, quality of life, and
> perhaps even life
> expectancy is at stake," he said.
>
> More information
>
> For more on exercise in childhood at the American
> Heart Association
>
> .
>
>
>
> News articles are available at
> http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/ for 1
> year. Get the latest health news or easily search
> thousands of articles
> in English or Spanish.
>
> News articles are produced by HealthDayNews and are
> copyright (c) 2005
> ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. Articles are
> derived from various
> sources and do not reflect federal policy.
> healthfinder® does not
> endorse opinions, products, or services that may
> appear in news stories.
> For more information on health topics in the news,
> visit the
> healthfinder® health library
>
>
http://earlyshow.blogspot.com/2006_07_16_earlyshow_archive.html
>
> Saturday, July 22, 2006
Just Play
The best thing parents can do for their kids, a new
international study says, is to show them the door.
As in: Scoot. G'wan. Play ball. Play tag or kick the
can. Anything, It doesn't matter what. Just get out of
the house and do something physical.
The study followed 1,732 9- and 15-year-olds from
Denmark, Estonia, and Portugal. Rather than relying on
the reporting of those kids and their families -- the
stadard survey technique, but very flawed since people
often overestate their good habits and understate
their bad ones -- the researchers strapped devices to
the kids' hips to monitor their activities.
"Just making sure children play outside will double
the amount of physical activity they get," says Lars
Bo Andersen, one of the authors of the study recently
published in Lancet.
Double. What social program has that kind of success?
t's as simple as that. You don't need expensive camps
and leagues. You don't need to groom your kid to be a
big leaguer. You don't need legions of coaches and
parents to instruct kids what to do. You need to get
the kids out of the house and away from the Four
Appliances of the Apocalypse -- the TV, computer,
stereo, and refrigerator.
As I investigated Little League and other youth sports
programs for my new book Little League, Big Dreams, I
found myself troubled by the supercharged environment
of kidball.
Kids start specializing in sports before they become
teenagers. Their families spend thousands of dollars
on private coaches, memberships in athletic clubs,
travel teams, even psychological counseling. Many of
the kids get very good at their sport of choice --
much better than their parents and grandparents. But
they lose out on the well-rounded experiences of
exploring different activities.
And as the uberkinder athletes get propelled forward
in big-time tournaments, the lesser athletes tend to
drop out. Experts estimate that as many as two-thirds
of all kids in organized sports leagues stop playing
in their early teen years.
The usual response to social problems in America is to
start programs. No matter what the issue -- literacy,
obesity, violence, you name it -- the impulse of
repormers is to start a program or get more funding
for government programs.
But programs don't always work -- or they work in ways
that can worsen the problem.
That's the beauty of this study. It sends the clear
message that kids just need to get out of the house,
playing ball in the street or park, swimming in the
pool or lake, running around in fields and woods.
Don't supervise the kids. Don;t organize them. Don't
tell them the rules of the games. Just get the out of
the house to play.
Sometimes physical fitness is less about training than
knocking around.
"We don't need to be getting kids running in the gym
on treadmills," Nick Cavill, a reseacher at Oxford
University, told the Associated Press. "We need to
encourage kids to play."
Even short bursts of activity can have beneficial
effects -- both physically and psychologically. Play
should be playful, not grinding work to get better at
competition. If play is fun -- if it's really play --
kids will grow up loving physical activity. And
they'll be open to trying new things.
"There's a value to five and ten-minute bouts of
activity, where kids will run for a little while and
then stop," Cavill told AP.
That's the point that almost always gets lost in youth
sports today. The adults can be so domineering -- in
positive ways as well as negative -- that kids don't
have much say over what they do and when. I happen to
think coaches have lots to teach kids, and that
organized leagues and other programs can give the kids
all kinds of new ways to enjoy sports.
But kids don't get enough opportunity to say no mas in
organized leagues and tournaments. Coaches set rules
for all aspects of their lives -- not only how hard to
practice for games, but also whether they can play
other sports, take vacations with families, mess
around in the pool.
Many coaches in the Little League World Series last
year acknowledged pressuring their kids to play beyond
their physical capacity because they were so intent on
winning. Even when the kids and their parents pleaded
for a break, the coaches pushed them. many went home
with fractures in their shoulders and elbows from
overuse. One parent told me he was taking his son out
of the local competition -- the boy is now playing
ball in a nearby town -- to get away from the
pressures of friends and neighbors.
Most people realize that Little League tournaments --
not to mention travel teams -- can push kids too hard.
The flip side is true, too. Some parents are too lax
and allow their kids to slink around the house
watching TV and plinking away at the computer.
In both cases the answer is simple: Just send the kids
outside -- and tell them not to come back until
lunchtime.
posted by Charlie Euchner at 8:07 PM 1 comments
