Everybody knows!!
When it comes to health benefits of sport, everybody knows that physical activity benefits body and mind and, just as published in he WHO (World Health Organization) web page, physical activity:
- contributes to preventing and managing diseases such as cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes;
- reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety (you can take a look to the post “Sport makes you happy“);
- enhances thinking, learning and judgement skills;
- ensures healthy growth and development in young people;
- improves overall well-being;
- is one of the best hobbies you can have;
However, even with all these known facts, many persons do not reach the daily recommended levels of activity including even children and young people!!!!
So.... what are we missing?
Can it be that we are forgetting the most important point of sport? We can have fun with sport!!!
I imagine that for grownups the problem may be the lack of time or organization and for children and teenagers the lack of fun or the idea that “going to sport” is a tedious activity and “playing” video-games or watching Tik-Tok are the natural source of entertainment.
But, regardless of the age, sport can be fun, open doors to meet people and make friends and perhaps be the ingredient to be happier!
Do I need a sport or a hobby?
These two words sport and hobby do not need to exclude each other. It is exactly the other way around, they both should be fulfilled with the activity you choose. I would like to cite what the WHO says about physical activity:
Physical activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that require energy expenditure and can refer mainly to movement which can be made when walking, cycling, working and even playing (i.e. games which require movement like ‘catch-game’)
You may recall an old discussion about what sport really is and whether Golf was really a sport and …. Well, Golf fulfills the definition given before and, as many other “hobbies”, Golf is a physical activity engaged in for pleasure. And the best part of it is that golfers really enjoy playing regardless of their skills and handycap!!! The fact is that may need to walk at least 2.2 miles (~ 3.5 km) when you play 9 holes or around the double when you play 18. So, it is indeed a phisical activity.
What about children and teenagers?
Even when we cannot define a “magic recipe” which can work for all children and teens in all seasons and regions of the world, we can promote physical activity in many different ways, but again, keep in mind what we have been discussing since the beginning: It must be FUN!!!!!!
Before we go into details, i would like to mention some facts about “having fun”:
- Laughter. Laughter reduces the level of stress, increases the number of antibody- producing cells which lead to a stronger immune system. It is contagious and may trigger a chain-effect on others!!!!! Of course, all these points are positive.
- When having fun, the body produces hormones which reduce pain, discomfort and stress and releases many good chemicals like cortisol and Noradrenalin which help improve memory, alertness and the feel of joy.
- Improved learning. It is a known fact that learning through certain games improves the performance of students. When having fun at learning, the brain is set into a state of awareness and readiness for emotion, challenge, surprise and enthusiasm. What else do you need to learn?
Ideas to ...
All children are different and unique and teenagers may be looking to find ways to “learn their own way” and become stronger and better than their parents. This uniqueness makes a little difficult to give a general advice. However, when it comes to “having fun” we all, regardless of our age, share the same idea: the more, the better!
So, what about this:
- Outdoor activities: from picnics to hiking or from biking to swimming.
- Team activities: any team sport can do, like basketball, football, dancing, baseball, etc.
- Indoor activities: fast soccer, badminton, squash, bouldering, parcour, ninja challenge, etc.
- Games: hide and seek, catch-me, rope jumping, twister, balance game, musical chairs, balloon-stomp, etc.
- Video-games: BUT, only those which require phisical activity like Nintendo Switch Sports or similar.
Just have fun!!!!
I know that motivation is needed to start but, having fun should not only be the result, but also a big part of the motivation. You can take a look at the post “do you need motivation?” to gather some ideas or, use the very same activities you read before as ideas to have children be more active. It is just a matter of have fun and improve your health!!!