Fun Ways To Keep Your Family Fit

Saturday, March 1, 2014

(NAPSA)—Today, childhood obesity tops the charts as one of the primary health concerns for parents. In fact, onein five American kids and teens is overweight or obese and, as a result, are at risk for serious health issues such as high blood pressure, asthma, type2 diabetes, and sleep and hormonal disorders that would typically appearin adulthood. Dr. Shelley Armstrong, faculty memberin the School of Health Sciences at Walden University and a certified health and physical educator, says, “Obesity is a very serious health and well-being issue and wecan eliminate many of our kids’ physical, social, emotional and even academic challenges by keeping our kids fit. When parents put a value on health and physical activity, kids are morelikely to emulate that.” Know Your Numbers It’s important to become knowledgeable about the baseline numbers for each of your family members, such as body weight, body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Ask your doctor to write these numbers down. Knowing these numberswill help you set goals for your family and work toward them. How To Get Started Fortunately, there are many ways parents can build fun physical activity into their family’s routines, says Dr. Armstrong. Here are sometips: * Schedule family walks or bike ridesseveraltimes a week. * Create family-friendly fitness Parents encourage healthylifestyle behaviors by making physical activity an enjoyable part of familylife. competitions like family boot camps, exercise scavenger hunts, pickup basketball in the driveway, ortouch football. *Be young again. Get your young children outside for a game oftagorto climbtreesto get their heart rates moving. *Go for a run. Runningis one of the most convenient and inexpensive options for exercise and also one of the best forms for weight loss. Dr. Armstrong also recommendssetting exercise goals that follow the SMART method: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-oriented. For example, set a goal that by the end of three months your family will work up to walking briskly for a half hour after dinner three nights a week. For moreideas on how to build fun physical activities into your family’s routines, visit www. WaldenU.edwgethealthy.

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