sleep and exercise for healthy kids

[treehuggertodd]

There was an article in the news today about the importance of both sleep and exercise to the ability of children to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight and I really appreciated the fact that it pointed out the importance of sleep. No matter what your age, sleep is just as important to weight loss as exercise and dieting. We shouldn't forget that!

The article is here: Let Your Child Sleep And Play Their Way To A Healthy Weight

[tracy1976]

This is definitely food for thought (so to speak). You always hear about how you should eat right, drink water, exercise, etc, but you never really hear that you should sleep. Sleep is important to make sure your body works at its best - so I guess that will mean that it will give you the best weight loss, too

[antoniojones1968]

The other message from that article shouldn't be lost either. It's important for kids to get the sleep they need. They have busy schedules too, these days, but it's important for them to get their rest and to learn the value of sleep from an early age. What they learn as kids will transfer to their adulthood.

[char]

When you read on in this article, it also points out that not only is sleep important to losing weight, but watching television contributes to weight gain! so if your mother was like mine when you were growing up and said "shut off that tv and get outside and play or you'll get fat" then you'll know that you're kicking yourself now for not listening!

[Lydiapurple]

I know I am noticing that kids today are either one of two things: crazy busy, are in school and then have a million after school activities, OR they are totally lazy and all they do is watch TV when they get home from school. I don't know why parents aren't finding more of a balance for their kids. They are either totally over achieving parents that insist their kid is on the honour role, yearbook committee, volleyball team, basketball team, drama club, piano lessons, singing and girl guides. Or they don't give a darn and their kid doesn't even do their homework when they get home. When I have kids, school work will for sure come first, then they can pick one or two after school activities (hopefully one of them will be active) and then that's it. Kids need down time too or they will burn out/get sick. And how are they supposed to get really good at anything if they have no energy left to put in? Or if they never do anything how does that promote confidence and success? Sorry a bit of a rant...

[treehuggertodd]

I know I am noticing that kids today are either one of two things: crazy busy, are in school and then have a million after school activities, OR they are totally lazy and all they do is watch TV when they get home from school. I don't know why parents aren't finding more of a balance for their kids. They are either totally over achieving parents that insist their kid is on the honour role, yearbook committee, volleyball team, basketball team, drama club, piano lessons, singing and girl guides. Or they don't give a darn and their kid doesn't even do their homework when they get home. When I have kids, school work will for sure come first, then they can pick one or two after school activities (hopefully one of them will be active) and then that's it. Kids need down time too or they will burn out/get sick. And how are they supposed to get really good at anything if they have no energy left to put in? Or if they never do anything how does that promote confidence and success? Sorry a bit of a rant...

Good rant! You should start a blog and copy/paste this into it. The more people here this, the better off we'll all be in the end.

[tankini]

Calling all parents: Kick your lazy-ass kid off the sofa/computer/video game/iphone or whatever-gadget-they-are-so-freaking-addicted-to and get them outside, enroll them in a sport or two and then they will get good fresh air and be tired and willing to go to bed at a decent hr on their own.
Wow now that's a concept.

p.s. love the rant lydia.

[suzeluze]

Great article. It's true that we need to let kids be kids

[ChristySmiles]

Calling all parents: Kick your lazy-ass kid off the sofa/computer/video game/iphone or whatever-gadget-they-are-so-freaking-addicted-to and get them outside, enroll them in a sport or two and then they will get good fresh air and be tired and willing to go to bed at a decent hr on their own.
Wow now that's a concept.

Love it! They should hand this out to all parents at the start and end of every school year as a reminder to parents that it's up to them to make sure that the health of their kids is not neglected.

Kids won't learn this stuff unless parents and other caregivers hammer it into them from a young age and keep it up. Maybe parents, not just dieters, should be joining this forum

[firebob]

yeah, im too agree that sleeping is

important of both sleep and exercise to the ability of children to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight

if i had bad dream, i eat two times bigger than if i sleep normal!!!

[tracy1976]

yeah, im too agree that sleeping is
if i had bad dream, i eat two times bigger than if i sleep normal!!!

That's actually a really good point because a lot of people eat as a result of their emotions. So if you're getting a lousy sleep and are irritable because of it, or if you're upset from a bad dream, it means that you're going to eat a lot more to make up for it (unless you have amazing willpower).