Why Your Child Should Get Active this Spring

Spring is ideal for getting the little ones active, but how much exercise is enough? Read on to learn the science of why it’s so important to get the little one’s moving this spring.

Spring is the perfect time to get outside, stretch your legs and smell the flowers with the family. While it’s a great opportunity to reconnect with nature, it’s also a wonderful way to get your little ones moving so they can lead an active and healthy lifestyle.

Remember, your child doesn’t have to play organised sports or gymnastics to get active. Rather, the key is to get them moving more and sitting down less to experience all the physical, psychological and developmental benefits of an active life.

1. How Much Exercise is Enough?

Firstly, you may be asking yourself, how much exercise do children really need? According to Better Health Victoria, the amount of recommended exercise for children varies by age group:

• Babies (birth to 1 year) – no set time required; however, it’s encouraged to get babies active with supervised floor-based play in safe environments.
• Toddlers (1-3 years) and pre-schoolers (3-5 years) – at least three hours spread throughout the day.
• Children (5-12 years) and teenagers (13-17 years) – at least one hour of moderate to vigorous activity throughout the day. For additional health benefits, up to three hours.

But what exactly is exercise? Well, leading experts define exercise as ‘any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure.’ In other words, anything that quickens your breath and spikes your heart rate is exercise – so don’t stress if your child isn’t bucketing with sweat.

2. Types of Active Play

There are countless types of active play, so don’t feel limited! Playground play, dancing, climbing, crawling, backyard cricket, tiggy, bike riding, skateboarding and swimming are just a few examples.

• Babies (birth to 1 year) – no set time required; however, it’s encouraged to get babies active with supervised floor-based play in safe environments.
• Toddlers (1-3 years) and pre-schoolers (3-5 years) – at least three hours spread throughout the day.
• Children (5-12 years) and teenagers (13-17 years) – at least one hour of moderate to vigorous activity throughout the day. For additional health benefits, up to three hours.

But what exactly is exercise? Well, researchers at Public Health Reports define exercise as ‘any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure.’ In other words, anything that gets your child moving is exercise – so don’t stress if your child isn’t bucketing with sweat.

The trick is to discover and nurture the activity your child enjoys. You might’ve loved basketball growing up, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your child will too. They might love gardening or skipping rope or running around in circles pretending they’re a dinosaur. Encourage their chosen activity and reward them by doing it together!

Here are just some of the many benefits of active play:

3. Better Sleep Quality

Steady exercise has been regularly linked with improved length, and more importantly, quality of sleep. The more energy they burn throughout the day, the quicker they’ll doze off when it’s time for bed.

Sleep is a vital part of children’s physical and neurological development. Toddlers are recommended to get anywhere between 12 to 13 hours of sleep per day, so making sure they’re getting quality sleep is crucial.

Children’s Health Queensland suggest that children who don’t get enough sleep ‘may be easily distracted, irritable, disruptive or generally hyperactive and restless,’ and argue that a ‘lack of healthy sleep has been linked to mental health problems, poor growth, excessive weight gain, and reduced school performance.’

4. Improved Intelligence

A new study recently suggested that regular aerobic and resistance training may actually boost intelligence in children. Researchers at the University of Granada gathered a group of 109 children aged 8-11 and placed them into two groups:

• Control group: usual routine over a 20-week period.
• Exercise group: participated in a 20-week cardiovascular and resistance training program consisting of three supervised 90-minute sessions per week.

The results were remarkable, as the exercise group showed significantly improved:

• Crystalised intelligence (stored knowledge)
• Fluid intelligence (problem solving)
• Cognitive flexibility (ability to switch thought processes to adapt to different situations)

Overall, the study found that general intelligence was considerably boosted by exercise sessions just three times per week. Programs such as Auskick, local sporting clubs, scouts and many others are a great way to achieve this, as well as building teamwork and collaboration skills. However, playing at home also works (just make sure it’s consistent)

5. Muscle and Bone Strength

While any exercise is great for strengthening bones and muscles in children, it’s best to engage in weight-bearing activities. Although your two-year-old won’t be spotting you at the bench press, they can run, hike, dance or play team sports.

Bone and muscle strength are essential to children’s growth and physical development. In fact, the bones in children actively absorb nutrients and minerals to develop bone density – a process that doesn’t stop until their late 20s!

6. Reduced Health Risks

Being active at an early age gives your child the best possible chance at leading a long and healthy life. Regular exercise in childhood and adolescence has regularly been linked to reduced risk of:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancer
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Osteoporosis
• Obesity

Moreover, regular exercise and a balanced diet have been proven to reduce the likelihood of children developing anxiety and depressive disorders later in life. If you’d like to read up on some techniques to begin a healthy dialogue with your child about mental health, be sure to check out our R U OK? Day blog post!

In conclusion, there’s countless benefits to getting your child active this spring and beyond. Regular exercise makes them fitter, smarter and gives them the tools to succeed. The secret is to find a way to make them actually want to exercise, so it doesn’t feel like a chore!

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