In the United States, childhood obesity is a severe problem, and it is putting a lot of children and adolescents at risk of poor health. It is a common health issue caused by genetics or as simple as a sedentary or unhealthy lifestyle.
There are a lot of physical and health problems that may occur with an unhealthy lifestyle, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, asthma, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, joint pains, low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Also, some social and mental problems are caused by childhood obesity.
That’s why it is essential to recognize the risk factors of childhood obesity, which also increases the chance of being obese as they become adults. These children will soon face a greater risk for more serious physical health problems.
And as a parent, you have the responsibility to encourage and help your child improve their health and well-being. We tend to overlook the importance of exercising and a healthy lifestyle. In this article, we are going to show you’re the advantages of exercising as a family.
The Advantages of Exercising as a Family
1. Build a stronger bond with your family.
Most families spend their bonding time with sedentary activities such as watching movies while eating junk foods, which is not healthy. A healthier and more beneficial bonding as a family is exercising. Children will also improve their communication skills and even practice teamwork. These skills are highly important for their development.
Teamwork is a great way to teach your kids to work together towards a common goal. Being together helps to boost their confidence by participating. Family exercise is also a perfect time to know your child more. Wherein you learn their strengths and weaknesses. Family exercise also helps you to understand what motivates your children and encourages good behavior.
Exercising as bonding with your family creates trust and builds a strong relationship.
2. Establish lifelong and healthy habits.
Letting your children grow up in engaging physical activities and a healthy lifestyle is a great way to help them establish healthy lifestyles and habits for a long time. Research studies have shown that lifestyle practices of parents have a significant impact on the lifelong health of their children.
By practicing healthy habits, you can influence your children to do the same. Your children will try to follow your habits as well and become healthy too. Children who exercise will also become healthy as they become adults. And there is a greater chance that they will incorporate everything they learn as a child up until they grow up.
It is crucial to create a routine while they are young and do it with them to establish a healthy lifestyle and habits that they will carry into their adulthood.
3. Lead them by being a great model.
As a child, we tend to follow what our parents are doing. Kids are easily influenced by our actions and what they see that we are doing. They are more likely to have an interest in what you are doing too.
And this is the same case in health and fitness. Exercising while letting your children watch first is the best way to encourage them to exercise and create healthy habits.
Exercising as a family can also change your children’s perception of exercising and other physical activities. Remember that children’s view of things is easily affected by what they hear and see.
In line with this, encourage your kids to join by making the activity fun for them. For instance, let them wear sports clothes and shoes. Little girls will have more fun if they are wearing matching bow headbands with their moms.
4. Improves mental and emotional health.
Exercising will also boost your children’s level of confidence and self-esteem. Incorporating physical activities into your child’s routine can positively impact their mental and emotional well-being.
Exercising can also lower the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression because it raises serotonin levels. In short, exercising makes you happier. Exercising together practices teamwork. Which also increases your child’s emotional maturity, as well as their problem-solving skills.
Exercising also helps improve your child’s brain. Which helps create a better academic performance. Studies have shown that children engaging in physical activities have a greater volume of gray matter in several cortical and subcortical regions of the brain.
5. Improves physical health.
One of the top reasons why exercising is essential is it promotes physical health. It is better to teach your children the benefits of exercising and physical activities. Teach your children weight management. Even a 30-minute exercise a day can enhance your family’s fitness. Even boost their immune system, and sleep too.
Go and encourage your whole family to exercise together. You don’t need to go to the gym and lift weights together. There are significant physical activities such as jogging, walking, swimming, yoga. These activities are easy to do, engaging, and fun too.
