As the saying goes- “a healthy mind resides in a healthy body.” That’s why we all want it, but not everybody is ready to put that effort when it comes to working on it. While it is understood that after attaining a certain age, it becomes quite a biting a bullet kind of task for people to turn over a new leaf, today, kids are also on the same line. Especially after the pandemic hit, kids parted ways with outdoor activities, as a consequence of which, the number of diseases is rising like a rocket.
Being fit and active is oft-times associated with either gyming or painstaking activities. But much contrastingly, imparting healthy and good habits from an early age works the best for kids. Give this article a read to know about the benefits of exercise for kids.
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Which Exercises Works Best For Kids?
Before we proceed on to talk about the benefits of exercise for kids, let’s talk about a few exercises that are best for kids.
Apart from running and jumping, certain exercises can assist in building a strong core in kids. Also, when combined with yoga, the benefits of exercise for kids do not remain constrained to physical health. It opens up the horizons of mental benefits as well as makes a kid calmer, decisive and diligent.
- Cycling: Cycling isn’t just something that lifts up the mood of any kid, but it also brings down the risk of several cardiovascular diseases, boosts muscle health, and is the best countermeasure for obesity.
- Skipping: One among the most-suggested cardio exercises, skipping elevates strength, agility, and stamina and boosts lung health at the same time. It’s a simple exercise for kids that will not just make them go grinning but also help them deal with fatigue.
- Stretching: This is more of a warm-up exercise. Stretching can be done prior to as well as after exercising to get the utmost benefits. It also refines the body’s flexibility, posture, and bone density.
- Swimming: Swimming is not just a skill. It’s also an exercise that can fight against excess body weight and builds bone and muscle health altogether with endurance power. It makes kids more active grown-ups and keeps them away from the hefts of cardiovascular diseases.
- Squats: You can teach your kid this exercise with the help of a small stool. Standing on your legs apart, one needs to keep their chest outwards and then try to sit on the stool and quickly get up, keeping your posture intact. It fosters muscle strength and body balance. To begin with, kids can repeat this exercise 10 times in 2 sets initially, which can be increased gradually.
Benefits Of Exercise For Kids
There are a plethora of benefits of exercise for kids if it becomes a pattern of life. Yes, you read that right. In order to be fit as a flea, exercising is required day in and day out. These benefits can be divided into 3 categories:
- Physical
- Mental and,
- Social
Physical Health Benefits Of Exercise For Kids
- Improves Blood Circulation
Regular exercise improves blood circulation in an individual’s body. This, in turn, elevates the oxygen level in the body. Thus, builds the body’s power to function more robustly. This will also make the kids more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
- Keeps Cardiovascular Diseases At Bay
This is one of the major benefits of exercise for kids or even adults. Since exercise tweaks the blood circulation, it subsides the prospects of cardiovascular diseases and fluctuating blood pressure. Exercise helps in controlling cholesterol levels as well, which is today one among the top-most causes of ballooning the number of diseases.
- Strengthens Muscle & Bone Power
These days most kids suffer from the problem of being short heighted and/ or having improper body weight. Improper diet and nutrient deficiencies altogether are to blame for this. Exercising can revamp the generation of muscle mass to a greater extent. Swimming and cycling are the best picks for kids, which not only build stronger muscles but also tail off the extent of deterioration of muscle mass altogether with bone density.
Mental Health Benefits Of Exercise For Kids
- Curtails Stress Levels
In today’s lifestyle, stress isn’t something that has only encaptured the adults. In fact, a plethora of surveys and research studies have found that kids up to the age of 15 are found to be more stressed as far as age is the measuring factor. Now the question is, how does exercise boost the mood and reduce stress levels? Well, exercising within a disciplined routine fosters the release of certain chemicals, namely endorphins, norepinephrine, etc., which strengthens the functioning of the nervous system. Thus, being consistent in exercising helps combat the severeness of depression and anxiety.
- Enhances Cognitive Skills
As we discussed in the above point, exercising multiplies the levels of certain chemicals, which enhance the nervous system’s functionality, thus fostering the ability to think more profoundly and concretely. This also has a significantly positive impact on the decision-making ability of the kids.
- Helps Combat Insomnia
Gone are the days when kids used to sleep as soon as they lay down on their bed. Where the advanced gadgets have a major hand behind this, poor lifestyle is also a contributor to the same. This directly affects the brain’s cognitive functioning, which in turn leads to adverse effects on memorizing power and aptness to learn and concentrate. Insomnia can lead to severe mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
Making exercise a daily ritual can help counter the adverse effects of insomnia. It not only ensures better sleep but also escalates the level of creativity and productivity in the kid.
Social Health Benefits Of Exercise for Kids
- Stimulates Better Understanding
Regular exercise has quite miraculous effects on a kid’s behaviour. Since it stimulates cognitive health, it makes kids more calm and able to grasp the situation with more clarity. These qualities consequently result in making the diligent choice in several matters.
- Levels Up Self-Confidence
Believing in oneself is the key requirement for taking the initiative when presented with opportunities. Kids generally shy away from communicating and expressing themselves. Exercising makes them more relaxed and makes them look at things more diligently. Also, proper physical built-up is appreciated in society which further piles up the kid’s confidence level.
- Raises A Better Performer
Last but not the least, all the above-stated benefits of exercise for kids, irrespective of which category they fall into, collectively make a kid a better performer overall. This is so because whichever field a kid is going to specialize in requires him/her to be fit and healthy inside-out, whether we talk of memory power, physical strength, or anything else.
Imparting good and healthy habits from an early age is the optimum choice for kids so as to develop a quality lifestyle as they grow. Parents should actively get engaged with kids so that they enthusiastically cut down on their time around gadgets and get involved in physical activities more.
