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, tendons and ligaments tighten as bones become longer.

Without stretching, adolescent girls will continue to lose flexibility and become much more prone to injuries such as muscle strains or tendinitis. It is essential that adolescents, particularly athletes, stretch at least three times a week to make up for the loss of flexibility. This includes quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, chest, and shoulders.

THE ROLE OF ACTIVITY

It is known that young girls tend to become less active during adolescence. Yet activity is vital to our daughters’ long-term health. In fact, the amount of exercise a girl gets in adolescence is a critical factor in preventing hip fractures and osteoporosis later in life. Studies have shown that most of a female’s bone mass is built between the ages of 13 and 15 and is then slowly lost in the last four decades of her life.

Furthermore, according to a study by the Penn State College of Medicine published in the Journal of Pediatrics, exercise is more influential than calcium intake in determining bone strength in young women and seems to offer the best possible protection later in life.

PROPER BALANCE

As is the case with many things, there is a proper balance between not enough or too much activity – or more precisely, too much intense activity. During growth spurts, skeletal growth plates are susceptible to injury from overuse as well as accidents. Examples include a competitive athlete who practices hours each day or a child that takes a serious fall while biking or skiing.

Proper conditioning is an effective way to prevent growth plate injury. Strong and flexible muscles can protect and support growing bones. Additionally, stress put on bones during moderate-intensity weight bearing activities can increase bone density and bone strength in girls as well as help maintain it through adulthood.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Fortunately, 95% of back pain doesn’t require surgery. It is often a condition you yourself can help reduce or prevent through an active rather than passive approach. To do this, you need to develop a strong, flexible and stable back that’s in balance with your hip and abdominal muscles ─ muscle groups collectively referred to as the “core”.

Without muscle balance, one group can cause problems as they dominate weaker ones, upsetting normal functions of the spine or other joints. Also an issue, inflexible muscles can pull others. A common example is tight hamstrings not allowing proper bending at the waist, creating stress and subsequently pain in the lower back.

Our bodies naturally move in multiple directions, flexing forward, extending back, and rotating around. Accordingly, we need to physically condition ourselves in each direction. That’s why only doing sit-ups simply isn’t enough. And as a rule of thumb, when you exercise for strength in a direction of movement, you need to create stability and flexibility in that same direction.

WHAT TO CONSIDER

This information isn’t intended for people suffering more serious conditions including herniated discs or spinal osteoarthritis. Seek medical attention if your back pain is severe, worsens or persists.

Exercises should be performed in a controlled manner. Hold stretches for 20-30 seconds, do 3-6 repetitions, and breathe normally. These exercises can be done at home, work or on the road. They help improve circulation throughout your core, bringing new energy to your body. When combined with walking 3 times per week, this 3-step plan is a good starting point. After making progress, a comprehensive fitness plan including mixed activity and proper nutrition is highly recommended.

THE 3-STEP PLAN

Step 1: Flexing and Extending

• Position 1: While seated, raise your arms together above your head, hands together; reach up and slightly back; hold the stretch
• Position 2: Slowly flex (bend) at the waist; try to touch your toes then extend hands forward; hold the stretch; return slowly to the start and repeat
• Progression: Perform while standing

Step 2: Rotation

• Position 1: Sit upright with legs crossed, hand gently pushing down your knee
• Position 2: Twist slowly to one side, holding the stretch using your arm for support; twist slowly to the opposite side; return to the start and repeat
• Progression: Perform without hand support

Step 3: Stability

• Position 1: Sitting upright, pull in your stomach, raise one bent leg 6 inches off the floor; hold until fatigued
• Position 2: Raise the other bent leg; hold; repeat
• Progression: Raise bent legs together using arms for support

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 can you manage that with kids?”

Sure, decades of physical inactivity can not be instantly undone by a positive attitude. Yet, gradually reclaiming the activities and opportunities you told yourself were no longer possible can progressively bring back good health and greater vitality. A proactive passion for good health, or for that matter, your household’s good health, means you do not have to settle for I’m too old, too fat, or too tired. People of all backgrounds break through these self-imposed limits every day.

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 swimming, cycling, dancing, skateboarding, yoga, and hiking. Explore areas of possible interest for your child by learning what goes on at the local YMCA, community sports fairs or park district programs.
• Never make exercise a punishment. Forcing your child to go out and play may create resistance. Try using physical activity to ease into something viewed as being even less desirable. For instance, make it a routine to allow for 30 minutes of biking before starting homework. Don’t be surprised if your child ends up begging for 10 more minutes outside!

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 structure that not only keeps you moving forward, it also helps develop good habits for activity and nutrition that will benefit you long after you have reached your goal.

“Believe you can or believe you can’t. Choose one and you’ll be exactly right.”

Once you have started on your plan, you need to believe wholeheartedly in what you are doing. It is important to stay focused and avoid overly-critical people. If you have to, don’t discuss your plan with people who say things like “you can’t do that” or “you’re wasting time and money”. Basically, do not let anyone negatively influence your success. When you have reached your goals, those same people will likely be asking for your advice.

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 Human Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, and American College of Sports Medicine.

Having said that, do not be discouraged by the amount of activity required. You can work up to the 30 or 60 minutes if you have been sedentary, pregnant, ill, injured or are significantly overweight. Furthermore, being active is not an all-or-nothing proposition. We need to simply accept the occasional lapse and just get back on track.

• Children are being diagnosed at an alarming rate with Type 2 Diabetes — a disease previously associated exclusively with middle aged or senior adults.
• Obesity, now classified as an epidemic disease, holds more harm for today’s children than exposure to tobacco, drugs, and alcohol combined.
• Today’s kids have a shorter life expectancy than their parents — the first time ever in U.S. history.

Involving your kids in a health-promoting lifestyle should be a high priority for every caring parent. However if you want fit and healthy kids, you should at least be on the path to getting fit and healthy yourself. Many studies have shown that family environment is one of the strongest predictors of childhood obesity.

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 in playing sports, especially for teenagers. With increasingly difficult school work, social challenges, and the general pressure of the teen years, sports can be viewed by many to be the answer to stress. The figures went up dramatically for 15-16 year olds in most countries. Interestingly, considering current global obesity issues, losing weight was the motivation voted for least.

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 of all ages is that regular physical activity can help make bedtime significantly more restful.

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 in sluggishness.

The solution is to modify what you eat. You should first eliminate all saturated fats and processed carbohydrates. Also, never eat carbohydrates without including protein. As a rule, your lunch should include:

• a fist-sized portion of lean protein (e.g. chicken, turkey or salmon)
• a thumb sized serving of healthy fats/oils (e.g. extra virgin olive oil, avocado or raw nuts or seeds)
• no more than 1 serving of unprocessed carbohydrates (2 cups non-starchy vegetables, 1 cup fruit or 1 cup whole grains)