DEAR MAYO CLINIC: When my daughter was younger, she spent hours enjoying exterior and operating round. That occurs so much much less now that she is a teen. I’m nervous that she just isn’t getting sufficient train. How a lot does she want every week, and do you’ve got tips to encourage her to get transferring?

ANSWER: As our youngsters develop, many dad and mom discover it a problem to get their teenagers transferring. Their lives are busy, and what leisure time they’ve usually is spent in entrance of a display screen.

But similar to adults, teenagers profit in some ways from common train. It builds endurance, bone and muscle power, and cardio health. Exercise helps keep a wholesome weight and enhance sleep. These components are important as teenagers develop and develop throughout their youth.

Exercise helps teenagers’ psychological well being, as properly. It releases stress-busting endorphins and lowers the physique’s manufacturing of stress hormones. It improves considering and reminiscence abilities, which assist in college and social conditions. Exercise additionally reduces the danger of despair, and helps teenagers really feel extra energetic and have a optimistic outlook on life.

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One of the biggest benefits of regular exercise for teenagers is that it establishes a wholesome behavior that units the inspiration for a lifetime of health. Research reveals that lively youngsters and teenagers turn into wholesome and lively adults.

My sufferers motivated me to turn into extra lively. I used to be not a bodily lively teenager or grownup. Watching my inactive sufferers battle as they aged satisfied me that I wanted to do higher. While I nonetheless do not love train, I now run frequently. And I really feel significantly better. It would have been a lot simpler, although, if I had began 30 years in the past.

So how much exercise does your teen daughter want? The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that youngsters and teenagers 6 and older get no less than an hour a day of train 5 to 6 days per week.

If your daughter participates in a sport, she might be getting sufficient train every day. But if it’s the offseason or she does not normally take part in sports activities, you might want to assist her discover some train or exercise to do every week.

As a part of the hour per day of train, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends that youngsters and teenagers incorporate all these actions no less than three days per week:

  • Aerobic train.
    This contains workouts like operating, biking, swimming, dancing, aerobics class, utilizing an elliptical coach and strolling.
  • Muscle-strengthening.
    Examples embody lifting weights; utilizing resistance bands; climbing stairs; dancing; biking; and doing pushups, squats and sit-ups.
  • Bone-strengthening.
    This may embody leaping rope and operating, in addition to sports activities that contain leaping or fast modifications in path.

Motivating teenagers could be a problem, however it’s doable. Here are some tips in case your teen seems to be excited by sitting extra and exercising much less:

  • Model wholesome train behaviors.
    You are an essential function mannequin to your daughter. She is extra more likely to be bodily lively for those who make it a household precedence. Talk about how nice you are feeling after train, plan lively holidays, schedule night walks as a household, or go to the health club or work out collectively at residence.
  • Find the enjoyable.
    Exercise does not should be boring. Work collectively to seek out workouts that your daughter finds enjoyable and attention-grabbing. Try a brand new sport. Play music and have a dance social gathering within the kitchen. Explore a nature path or bike to an area park. Try a brand new train video on-line. Focusing on enjoyable will make train one thing she seems ahead to as a substitute of dreads.
  • Incorporate motion into each day routines.
    Don’t overlook that each bit counts. Encourage your daughter to take a walk with pals throughout lunch, use the steps as a substitute of the elevator or park the automobile in the back of the lot. These are methods which you can mannequin wholesome habits, as properly.
  • Make it social.
    Exercising with others retains folks motivated and impressed, and teenagers are not any exception. Encourage her to affix a staff with pals or schedule a daily pickup basketball recreation with the neighbors.
  • Cheer them on.
    Notice and praise your daughter when she workouts. Everyone likes to listen to they’re doing job, even teenagers who roll their eyes. Applaud her for her efforts and remind her that sluggish and regular progress is an efficient technique to maintain wholesome habits.
  • Tie train to different pursuits.
    Not each teen needs to affix a sports activities staff, however motion could be included into different actions. If your daughter enjoys pictures, discover mountaineering trails or parks for alternatives. Teens who like to learn could also be excited by biking to a number of bookstores, or animal-loving teenagers may volunteer as a canine walker at an area humane affiliation.

Remember to test along with your daughter’s major care supplier about any considerations you’ve got earlier than she begins a brand new train program, particularly if she has a power well being situation, like epilepsy, diabetes or bronchial asthma. — Dr. Kimberly Beecher, Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System

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