3 Incredible Reasons Why Kids and Teens Need To Exercise

Term 4 sees the return of our kids and teens exercise programmes. Exercise, fitness, having fun are crucial building blocks in the development of children and young adults. Read more to see how our kids and teens programmes can help your child or young adult.

Happiness

I know the positive effects exercise has on my happiness levels. When I’m sedentary, whether through laziness or stress, I feel much more emotionally and mentally vulnerable and I’m a middle-aged adult who’s supposedly got his act together.

Now, imagine the same sort of effects on the 15-year-old me. I struggled as a young adult in many departments, including confidence and self-image. Finding an outlet through physical exercise helped me to offset some of the stress I felt from these life pressures. Losing a little puppy fat, getting a sweat on really helped me navigate some fairly stressful times in my younger days.

Now, this isn’t just anecdotal evidence. Science can back me up here.

As kids and teens exercise, they release endorphins, the body’s natural “happy chemicals.” Exercise also lowers cortisol levels, one of the causes of stress in the body. These two reactions have a marked effect on mood, beneficial for all ages, but especially for kids and teens.

The importance of this can’t be understated and helping children and younger adults to establish a positive relationship with exercise is paramount, especially as the Ministry of Health states Only 10% of secondary school students met the current recommendations of 60 minutes of physical activity daily.

Sleep

Sleep is one of the most beneficial things we can all do to aid our all-round health and wellness. The more we obtain regular, high-quality sleep, with consistent sleep and waking times, the more we benefit from it. children and young adults are no different.

Researchers at Penn State found “Adolescence is a critical period to obtain adequate sleep, as sleep can affect cognitive and classroom performance, stress, and eating behaviours. “Our research suggests that encouraging adolescents to spend more time exercising during the day may help their sleep health later that night.” Lindsay Master, a data scientist at Penn State.

The Ministry of Health agrees and sets out a clear plan for the benefits sleep offers to children and young adults. Click here for some great tips on helping your child sleep better

Exercise is a fundamental building block for children’s all-round development. Click here to see what the Ministry of Health suggests young people should do to stay healthy.

Social

In an ever-increasing digital world, social skills suffer. Fielding a call on your cell phone is now a novelty rather than the norm. Text/Messenger/SnapChat are all far more common methods of communication than voice, or even person to person. Whilst there are advantages to digital communications, the downside is that the skills developed through interpersonal communication can be lost. With this can come increased anxiety when in face to face situations.

Thankfully, all is not lost. Researchers at the University of Michigan found physical activity can help adolescent children and young adults in developing crucial traits such as leadership and empathy. In turn, these skills can influence healthy behaviors.

“We looked at reports of activity and participation in team sports, where leadership and empathy skills are frequently developed, to see if we could find differences in reported health behavior,” said Elizabeth Jackson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, division of cardiovascular medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI and a co-investigator on the study.

“It seems that physical activity through team sports and exercise classes may have benefits beyond physical fitness. These findings suggest that children who develop leadership and empathy toward others are more likely to care about their own health, perhaps adopting life-long healthy behaviors that can prevent heart disease.”

Our kids and teens programmes begin Monday 14th October.

Teens

Monday + Wednesdays at 16:15-17:15

Kids

Wednesday at 15:30 – 16:15

To find out more, email admin@crossfithuttvalley.com or drop in to see us.

Cheers

Coaches Josh and Paul