Originally published January 6 2006
Middle school children can be motivated to exercise by making it fun, study says
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Katie Haverly co-authored a study of middle school students that found fitness and fun could motivate children to exercise more effectively than the rewards associated with weight loss.
Children and young teens may be more likely to exercise if they're motivated by fun and fitness rather than weight concerns, a new study suggests.
In a study of 200 students (average age, 12-1/2 years) at one Pennsylvania middle school, researchers found that "personal fulfillment" was the only motivation to be active.
That meant that kids tended to exercise for the sake of their health and athletic skills, and to simply feel good -- and not in order to shed pounds or to emulate their friends or parents.
One might expect that young adolescent girls, in particular, would be more motivated by weight loss, noted Haverly, who was with the State University of New York at Albany at the time of the study.
Even though overweight children put more value on weight loss than their thinner peers did, personal fulfillment was still a more important motivation to be active, according to findings published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Given the increasingly sedentary lifestyles U.S. children are leading, experts believe it's important to find new ways of motivating kids to get off the couch and away from the computer.
If kids are indeed motivated by health, skill-building and fun, then physical education in schools may be able to play a key role, according to Haverly.
Not all kids have the athleticism or interest needed for organized sports, she pointed out, so it's important for them to have the chance to exercise in a non-competitive, health-focused way.
In addition, she noted, exposing kids to a range of activities in gym classes can help them find the ones that they enjoy and might stick with.
Haverly said she believes school administrators and government, through funding, should make physical education a greater priority.
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