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Hidden Benefits of Being Active
More Reasons to Keep Your Tweens and Teens Active
By Gina Roberts-Grey
The alarming rate that childhood obesity is growing has parents and health experts urging children to stay physically active. Taking family walks, enrolling children in various summer activities and purchasing new bicycle or roller blade equipment are just a few of the measures that parents are deploying in the fight against children leading a sedentary lifestyle.
From the reduced risks of many adult diseases and the chance to be part of a team or group, most encourage their children to exercise in order to lose or maintain weight and get in better shape. An increasing amount of evidence suggests there are considerably more benefits to physical activity than weight control or flexibility for tweens and teens.
The recently released results of a long-term survey found that tweens and teenagers who make a habit out of exercise and physical activity are more likely to adapt positive habits such as wearing a seat belt while driving or riding in an automobile, while avoiding negative behaviors such as eating excessive amounts of junk food or using illegal substances.
In the survey that spanned nearly a decade and concluded in 2005, Melissa C. Nelson, Ph.D., register dietician, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., and Penny Gordon-Larsen, Ph.D., Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., asked nearly 12,000 middle and high school students to report how often they had participated in various activities in the previous week, including playing sports, using local recreation centers, skating or skateboarding, bicycling, watching television and playing video games. The students also provided information about their grades, self-esteem, sleep patterns and other behaviors.
"Participation in a range of physical-activity-related behaviors, particularly those characterized by high parental sports and/or exercise involvement, was associated with favorable adolescent risk profiles," concludes Nelson in the study. Conversely, adolescents who spent a significant amount of time watching television or playing with video games were less likely to have positive risk behavior outcomes. "Enhancing opportunities for physical activity and sports may have a beneficial effect on leading adolescent risk behaviors," the researchers note.
