The bad news is that childhood obesity rates have been on the rise and a large number of kids today are going to end up with heart disease and type two diabetes before they graduate high school. The good news is that the LA Times is reporting that
childhood-obesity rates are actually leveling off, aka not increasing — the first time in nearly 10 years.
I wanted to share because it seems that all of our efforts to curb childhood obesity are paying off.
We all know that exercise helps protect grown women against breast cancer, but according to CNN, new
research has found that exercise during the teen years – starting as young as age 12 – can help protect girls from breast cancer when they are grown.
The best results, they say, are when the girl does regular exercise from ages 12 to 22 because it lowers her estrogen levels overall. What's more. Exercising early can also help reduce a girl's risk of obesity and increase her self esteem.
Today I came across this fun site
Kidnetic.com that's geared towards fighting childhood obesity by getting kids up and moving. Being the competitive (and sometimes childish) gal that I am, I immediately played all the games and was drawn to the
fitness challenge.
The fitness challenge is 10 challenges/exercises that you (or your kids) complete while being timed (things like run to the bathroom and back, hop on one leg, etc.).
As health clubs across the nation are looking to expand their client base, you may be seeing something new at your gym: kids.
Yes that's right, while there are specially designed
kid gyms, other gyms have started to open their doors to tots. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that more and more
gyms nationwide are offering services to kids as well as adults.
In an effort to help end childhood obesity many physical education classes are changing their focus in schools nationwide as more
gym teachers strive to teach individual activities that students can incorporate into their lives outside of gym class. Sure dodge ball and red rover are fun, but they're not practical ways for kids to keep moving beyond PE. I think this emphasis on general health (and nutrition in some cases) could really help kids implement skills into their future health goals.
