Originally published June 19 2005
Panel recommends children get at least 60 minutes of exercise a day
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
An American panel of health experts has recommended school-age children participate in at least 60 minutes of vigorous play every day to maintain their physical health and well-being, says irishhealth.com.
School age children should be participating in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, a panel of American experts has recommended.
The 13-member panel was asked to review literature on this subject and find evidence of the impact of physical activity on the health and wellbeing of children.
They reviewed more than 850 articles and 1,200 abstracts.
The experts found that in order to achieve health benefits in relation to ordinary daily activities, children should be taking part in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least one hour per day.
Such activities include brisk walking, playing soccer and skipping.
According to Dr Robert M. Malina, an expert in growth and development and co-chair of the expert panel, children today are simply not burning up calories the way they used to because physical activity has 'decreased dramatically' in the last 10 to 20 years.
He pointed out that as technology has improved, more sedentary options have become available to children, yet their caloric intake has remained essentially the same.
"All of us need to help children increase the amount of time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity.
This means that parents, teachers and others who influence youngsters need to become active role models and get children involved with regular participation in physical activity", Dr Malina said.
The experts advised that sedentary children should increase their physical activity gradually.
They also highlighted the fact that children can get bored easily and therefore need variety in the choice of activities available to them.
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