26 Ways to Keep Your Kids Active This Fall – IRONMAN

As the new school year begins, it’s important to help your kids balance homework demands with staying physically active. Read on for UnitedHealthcare’s tips for fitness-friendly families.

As a parent, it’s easy to encourage our children to lead a healthy lifestyle, but it’s much harder to show them what we mean. Obviously, healthy kids have a better chance of being healthy adults, but risk factors for chronic illnesses like heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis can all take root in the adolescent years. Keeping your child physically active is key because kids who get regular physical activity have better cardiovascular fitness, stronger bones and muscles, lower body fat, and even fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

At every age the frequency, intensity, length, and mix of activities are important. Weight-bearing exercises like running and jumping help to build healthy bones which is especially crucial in the teen years when the greatest gains in bone mass occur.

Around 9-years-old, children start to develop the coordination needed to participate in organized sports. Make sure the focus is on fun like at a UnitedHealthcare IRONKIDS Fun Run. These races are designed for kids of all ages and help promote a positive and healthy lifestyle. Plus, every participant receives a finisher’s medal.

Below are some tips on keeping your IRONKID healthy at every age and ability level.

Be a role model

Parents are the best role models—by leading an active life through IRONMAN, you inspire your children to do the same. Praise, rewards, and encouragement will help kids stay active. 

Encourage your kids to enjoy these activities with the family or on their own:  

→ Walking, running
→ Playing chase
→ Dancing

Make time for activities:

→ Find at least three 30-minute slots for physical activity each week.
→ Pick two of those slots as family activity times.

Put your kids on a two-hour daily limit on: 

→ Watching TV
→ Playing video games
→ Playing on the computer 

Create opportunities for your kids to be active with other kids: 

→ This can help them build friendships that include active play or sports.
→ Informal play promotes aerobic fitness, creativity, as well as muscle and bone strength.

Introduce your kids to a variety of activities:

→ Find recreational, team and individual sports they enjoy.
→ Help them try things that don’t require fine-tuned athletic skills. Look for activities they can enjoy for life such as jogging, bicycling, hiking, or swimming. 

Keep a family activity log on the refrigerator: 

→ This can encourage everyone to take part and keep up the good work. 

Weather-proof activities:

→ Stationary cycling
→ Indoor swimming
→ Ice or roller skating
→ Indoor rock climbing
→ Aerobic dance
→ Movements to stretch and strengthen
→ Stair climbing
→ Jump roping

Increase family fitness

Sharing your interest in physical activity with friends and family is a great place to start. Ask them to support your efforts, and consider inviting them to exercise with your family. Pencil in activities in your family’s social calendar. You can even celebrate birthdays, holidays or family gatherings with physical activities such as hiking, volleyball, bicycling, skiing, or swimming. 

Family-friendly activities:

→ Taking family walks
→ Finding easy, low-cost recreation programs and sports leagues
→ Choosing fitness gifts like a jump rope, mini-trampoline, tennis racket, baseball bat or gym membership
→ Biking, rather than driving, to libraries and stores
→ Supporting physical education and recess at school

Before starting regular physical activity, talk with your doctor about the right levels for your family, especially if you have a child with medical issues. 

This is the fifth year UnitedHealthcare is supporting IRONKIDS as part of the company’s commitment to help stem the rising tide of childhood obesity through healthy lifestyles. UnitedHealthcare is sponsoring seven one-mile fun runs in 2016. Obesity among children and adolescents has almost tripled since 1980, with nearly one in every three children being overweight or obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
 
UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter. Parents, families, friends and participants are encouraged to use the hashtag #UHCIRONKIDS on social media to share their photos of how they’re living a healthy lifestyle.

from myhealtyze http://www.myhealtyze.tk/26-ways-to-keep-your-kids-active-this-fall-ironman/