Combining family time and physical activity
Physical activity: most of us have the ability to do it, it’s accessible and rewarding, yet inactivity is one of the biggest health problems in the world today.
We all know physical activity is good for us, but as identified by a recent SPARC survey, 51 per cent of us don’t reach the national guidelines for physical activity levels. Even scarier, in Youth 2007 only 11% of the 9107 secondary school students surveyed met the current recommendations of 60 minutes of physical activity daily. The most common reason cited was an ostensible “lack of time”.
Here’s a thought though: SPARC physical activity guidelines recommend 2 that these “active minutes” do not need to be completed all at once – they can be interspersed throughout the day. Activity accumulated throughout the day has been found to be just as effective as one continuous bout of exercise3,4. This includes things like walking or biking to work/school and taking the stairs instead of the lift – micro exercise bursts throughout the day.
Something is always better than nothing. Any activity to break sedentary behaviour will improve your health.
So why is physical activity so good for us and our children?
• Lowers blood pressure
• Strengthens your heart and blood vessels
• Improves your blood cholesterol
• Improves glucose regulation
• Burns energy and fat, and speeds up your metabolic rate
Physical activity is important for our children for the benefits above as well as;
• Brain, bone and muscle development
• Coordination and confidence
• Immune defence
Ultimately it helps combat chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, among others.
This list is not complete: the benefits of regular physical activity are wide-ranging, from physiological and anatomical to psychological and social.
But between balancing work, home and family commitments, there is often minimal time left for personal exercise.
The best way to counteract the “time barrier” is to be active with your family.
Exercising with your family has many wide-ranging benefits including:
• Improving you and your child’s health
• Great family bonding and interaction
• Setting up future good habits
• Improving you and your child’s well being
As a parent, you are a role model. You may not always feel like it, but your children idolise you – what you do, they do. Parents’ activity levels are one of the strongest predictors of their child’s activity. A study in the 90’s revealed children were two times and 5.8 times more active when their mothers or both parents, respectively, were active compared to non-active parents7.
Enjoying physical activity with your children sets them up for life, providing them with essential life skills for a future of good health and social interaction.
Fun ways to combine family and exercise time
• In the backyard: (small sided games- soccer, cricket; shoot hoops, catch, spotlight, trampoline etc)
• Out and about (swimming pool, park, dog walking, skateboard park, bike ride, tramping, beach, skiing, kayaking, fun runs-push pram/bike beside)
• Inside (set up a circuit including music, hide’n’seek, Wii game console, Zumba/aerobics videos, dancing)
Physical activity is fun; invite other families for a weekend cricket or soccer game, a day tramp or even a weekly tennis or golf tournament. Given the benefits, you can’t afford not to exercise!
By Monique Francois
References
1. ACSM. (2010). Exercise and Type 2 Diabetes: American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association: Joint Position Statement. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 42(12), 2282-2303 2210.1249/MSS.2280b2013e3181eeb2261c.
2. http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/activity-guidelines
3. Woolf-May, K., Kearney, E. M., Owen, A., Jones, D. W., Davison, R. C. R., & Bird, S. R. (1999). The efficacy of accumulated short bouts versus single daily bouts of brisk walking in improving aerobic fitness and blood lipid profiles. Health education research, 14(6), 803.
4. Andersen, L. B., Schnohr, P., Schroll, M., & Hein, H. O. (2000). All-cause mortality associated with physical activity during leisure time, work, sports, and cycling to work. Archives of internal medicine, 160(11), 1621-1629.
5. The benefits of physical activity. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/health/index.html. Accessed July 5, 2011
6. Must, A., & Parisi, S. M. (2009). Sedentary behaviour and sleep: paradoxical effects in association with childhood obesity. International Journal of Obesity, 33, S82-S86.
7. Moore, L. L., Lombardi, D. A., White, M. J., Campbell, J. L., Oliveria, S. A., & Ellison, R. C. (1991). Influence of parents’ physical activity levels on activity levels of young children+. The Journal of paediatrics, 118(2), 215-219.
