As a father of a preteen girl, I can see changes taking place seemingly in the blink of an eye. One of the more dramatic has been the adolescent growth spurt. However, it is not enough to merely observe this transformation. It is vitally important to offer necessary guidance on activity that will literally benefit the rest of their lives RAPID GROWTH The growth spurt for girls typically starts at the age of 10 or 11 and peaks at 12 or 13. They usually stop growing by 15 or 16. During this period of rapid growth, girls (as well as boys) tend to significantly lose flexibility when their muscles,...

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM? Three out of four people experience back pain at least once in their lives, and chances are they’ll have one serious episode every 15 years. What’s more, these figures are on the rise due to longer hours sitting at a desk and an increasingly overweight population. Back pain is usually the result of muscle sprain or strain caused by improper lifting or sudden twisting. The pain can go away in time with rest. Yet, rest alone can lead to weak and tight muscles and allow the underlying conditions to remain or worsen, making it a matter of time before recurrence. WHAT...

For too many people, there comes an age when they just accept their physical condition as the hand they are dealt in life. Their dreams or hopes for a more vibrant physical self fall by the wayside, as they learn to settle. They settle for fewer options for activity and less energy for whatever they choose to do as well as come to accept all manner of ailments. People allow ageism to permeate their own thoughts and influence their better judgment. The way this happens is usually a matter of both internal and external fears being voiced. “Do you expect to do that at your age” or “how...

Team sports are a great way for kids to get their daily activity requirement, but competitive sports aren’t for every child. Here are some ways to encourage “non-athletes” to get active. Kids can be embarrassed to participate in sports because they have the notion that they’re not good enough. If this is the problem, find time to practice together. This can help build confidence and prepare them for the next step — small group play with their peers. Some kids simply don’t like competing in sports. That’s fine since there are many other ways to be active. Examples include leisure...

“Fail to plan and you can plan to fail.” Think of your plan as a road map and your goal as your destination. Without a plan and a specific goal, you are left without focus and can easily get lost or side-tracked. This happens all the time to people who, without much thought, join a gym or start running. They end up just doing whatever — no activity plan and no nutritional plan. Soon, they wonder why they are not making progress. Having a plan lets you take specific action each day. There is no wondering or guessing — you just do it. A proper plan can provide the necessary...

Modern guidelines state that normal weight adults need at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on four or more days of the week. Adults focused on weight loss need 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise four or more days per week. The same 60 minute requirement applies to all children, regardless of their weight. However, in all cases, the required activity time can be divided into two or three parts in different times of the day. Commonly referred to as the Consensus Public Health Recommendation, these guidelines are supported by the U.S. Surgeon General, USDA, Dept. of Health and...

As an adult, you are probably well aware why you need to be active. However, you may not know to what extent obesity and sedentary living is affecting our youth. More than 60% of children do not exercise on a regular basis. A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study from 2006 found that daily physical education classes are offered in just 3.8% of elementary schools, 7.9% of middle schools, and 2.1% of high schools. It is little wonder that the CDC also finds at least 15% of American children and teens are now overweight — more than triple the number in 1970. These numbers have very serious...

In 2006, a worldwide survey conducted by UK based Tesco Ltd. asked 3,500 children aged 7-16 their opinions on playing sports. When finding out what motivates kids to play sports, perhaps not surprisingly, most children play first and foremost to have fun. Sociability was high on the list, setting “Make friends” as the #3 motivator.Keeping fit was the second most important factor in playing sports, but some cultural differences showed through. 83% of young Chinese do sports to stay healthy compared with just 43% in the US. Stress management turned out to be a significant motivator...

Slimming down is only one of the benefits overweight kids can gain from exercise. According to a recent study in the Journal of Obesity, an exercise program can help reduce potentially harmful snoring in children. Researchers put a group of 100 overweight children on a 13-week daily exercise program. At the end of the study, they found that the number of kids who frequently snored was reduced by roughly half. Knowing that an unhealthy weight can develop sleep problems ranging from simple snoring to sleep apnea and chronic insomnia, one take-away from this study that we can use with household members...

Assuming you are not simply sleep-deprived, the cause of your mid-afternoon slump is most likely eating too much saturated fat and/or too many carbohydrates. A meal that is high in carbohydrates, particularly processed carbohydrates (e.g. soda, sweets, pasta, white bread) quickly breaks down into glucose, causing your blood sugar to spike and give you a burst of energy. However, because your brain cannot handle so much sugar at once, it sends a signal to your pancreas to quickly release insulin. This rapidly drops your blood sugar below the levels your brain needs to function effectively, resulting...

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, 72% of American’s calories are from sources that never existed in hunter-gatherer diets including refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, white flour, high fructose corn syrup, and shortening. Processed foods may be a basic reason why 1/3 of all cancer related deaths are nutrition related. In 2000, Americans consumed on average 152 pounds of sugar or about 400 calories from sugar each day. That’s not too surprising when you consider a drink such as a 20 oz. Tropicana Twister contains 350 calories from sugar. The typical American diet...

New muscle gained from a proper activity and nutrition plan can actually add body weight. So the bathroom scale does not necessarily make for a good measure of weight loss success. Monitoring your body composition is a better gauge, but it can get complicated. Using a measuring tape is a nice and simple tool for charting progress. However, for some people, the numbers can be more discouraging than motivating. So getting creative with your measurement methods can help you stick to your plan. A spool of ribbon can make for no-stress measurements at home. Take the spool and use it to measure the...

According to the 2006 Tesco Global Sport Report, swimming is the favorite sport in the world for children. Despite the global popularity of soccer, as far as kids’ participation in sports go, the “beautiful game” was surprisingly beaten out for the top position. Children almost unanimously voted swimming as their #1. It came out on top in every country aside for India, where cricket won. Top Kids’ Sports 1. Swimming 2. Soccer 3. Cycling 4. Basketball 5. Track & Field

In 2006, a worldwide survey conducted by UK based Tesco Ltd. asked 3,500 children aged 7-16 their opinions on playing sports. When the children of 10 nations were asked, “Which is the healthiest country?”, they often viewed their own to be the best. Of the seven choices, Australia was a big favorite — maybe from images of surfer filled beaches. The US, now known most everywhere for its fast food culture and high incidence of obesity, surprisingly scored much higher on the list than Japan which has some of the lowest obesity levels in the developed world.