Kids and exercise

The subject of children's health is such a huge area to cover, so I thought I'd focus the content of each blog on one particular area at a time. Today, we are going to look at the influence exercise has on reducing stress levels in children.

When children become stressed, they may not know how to 'blow off steam', or release their emotions. It is quite normal for them to hold them in, and then erupt, perhaps not always at the best time. Instead of having them release everything in one go, they could use a few different techniques, to control the stress, rather than bottling it up. One of these techniques is exercise.

The form of exercise would only require that the child's heart rate rises, and that it should be fun! Other than this, the skies the limit on what form the exercise should take. It all depends on what your child loves! Try to choose something they love, so they don't look at it as just something else they have to fit into their day, or something they are doing to relieve stress! Swimming, team sports, running, aerobics, tennis, skateboarding, surfing, skiing. There are hundreds of possibilities. I personally think the person/team that invented the Wii are geniuses! For all those kids that love to be a couch potato or the 'game boy' generation, this is an incredibly valuable tool for getting off their butt and getting active, whilst still having fun, learning something, getting fit and getting rid of any pent up frustration!

The very first benefit exercise gives, other than obvious fitness and weight control, is it is a great release for stress. It is like a meditation, where the focus is taken from what the child was worrying about, to the immediate present, where all their concentration is on what they are doing. Their focus is taken from what is going on inside their head, to what is going on in their body as they move around. With the increase in heart rate, comes the increase in breathing, so more of the 'good stuff' (oxygen) is taken in, and more of the rubbish (carbon dioxide) is expelled.

Children, as with all people, have an amazing ability to store their emotional baggage within their body. If this is not released, it can build up, and cause problems as they get older. Stored emotional baggage in the body can lead to diminished areas of energy in those areas, which leads to physical weakness, which can eventually lead to injury in the weakened areas. A prime example is that of fear. In Chinese medicine, the area, or organ associated with the storage of repressed fear, is the kidneys. The kidneys are positioned in the lower back region, and if they are weak from stress of fear....... whatever type of fear it is doesn't matter...... then lower back injury is common!

A child's energy moves a lot faster than an adult, so it will take less time for a child than an adult to release the necessary energy to lower their stress levels. 20 minutes of heart pumping exercise is enough to move things around for a child and bring them to a calmer head space.

Any thoughts on this are always welcome, so feel free to comment, and leave what has worked for you, or not in the past.

Thanks again for listening/reading. KK