Physical Activity: Recommended duration, benefits, and fun ideas for kids and teens to stay active!

What are some common sedentary activities that children engage in today?

Children's Current Activities:

• Children traditionally spent time playing games and enjoying themselves.
• Nowadays, they spend more time watching TV, and playing video games and mobile games.
• Learning apps are also being used for academic purposes.

Importance of Physical Activity:

• Physical activity is crucial for children and adolescents.
• It promotes bone health, muscle growth and development, and improves motor and cognitive development.

Recommended Duration:

• The World Health Organization recommends at least 60 minutes (1 hour) of physical activity per day for children and adolescents.
• Both moderate and vigorous intensity activities benefit physical and mental health.

What are some benefits of regular physical activity for children?

Benefits of Physical Activity:

• Improves physical fitness (cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness) and bone health.
• Enhances cardiometabolic health (blood pressure, glucose levels, etc.) and helps maintain a healthy body weight.
• Boosts cognitive outcomes (academic performance).
• Improves mental health and reduces depression.

Ways to Be Physically Active:

• Any bodily movement requiring energy expenditure, such as:
  1. Brisk walking, swimming, running, or cycling.
  2. Climbing, jumping, tumbling, gymnastics, jumping races, animal races, and playing hopscotch.
  3. Any form of dance.
  4. Using stairs instead of elevators/lifts.

What are some activities that children should avoid to reduce sedentary behavior?

Activities to Avoid:

• Being a couch potato: watching TV.
• Playing sitting games like mobile or video games.
• Playing a lot of board games.
• Using passive transport like cars and scooters for short distances.

Encouragement for Physical Activity:

• Encourage children and adolescents to start with small amounts of physical activity.
• Gradually increase the frequency, intensity, and duration over time.

Source:- 

1.https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity 

2.https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/336656/9789240015128-eng.pdf?sequence=1