This is Take A Child Outside Week, a week that, for reasons that escape me, we must force ourselves to force our kids outside. Not to sound like an old crank, though I will, back in the day our parents used to boot us outdoor first thing in the morning every day. Then, come sunset, they’d open that door and start yelling for us to come in. That was a daily occurrence. Today, again, we set aside one week to remind ourselves to take the kids outside.
On this spring weekend, take a serene paddle or work up a sweat at a festival.
Coast
Warmer weather means more paddling opportunities. Saturday’s three-hour guided kayak trip down the Lumber River, for instance. Bring sunscreen, drinking water, a snack “and any other necessary items,” says trip organizer Eric Siratt, a ranger with Lumber River State Park. It’s free, but space is limited for this trip that shoves off from the Chalk Banks Access Area at 10:30 a.m.; call 910.628.4564 to register.
This weekend highlights some of the best North Carolina has to offer in the outdoors.
Coast
Not long ago, a biathlon/duathlon typically meant running and swimming. More and more, it can mean pretty much anything. Such as running and paddleboarding.
That’s the case at Saturday’s Wrightsville Beach Biathlon, where participants will depart from the dock harbor side at the Blockade Runner, paddle four miles through Banks Channel, hop off the board and run four miles ending on the ocean front at the Blockade Runner. The race kicks off at 9 a.m., proceeds benefit StandUp for a Clean Ocean
Senior citizens in the Triad have helped in a key discovery about how they and their peers can retain their mobility: walk and lose weight.
A five-year study of 288 seniors (ages 60-79) in Davidson, Forsyth and Guilford counties found that those who walked regularly and lose weight improved their mobility by as much as 20 percent. The Wake Forest University study divided the seniors into three groups: a control group that was lectured about healthy living but not directed to do so proactively, a group whose physical activity levels were upped and a group that walked and was put on a weight-loss program. The walkers/dieters should significant improvement in their mobility, increasing from 5 percent to 20 percent based on how long it took them to walk 400 meters. (The 400-meter walk is considered a gold standard in senior mobility: Those who can’t walk that far are significantly more likely to lose their independence.)
Today, a look at a trio of studies on kids’ health, presented in three acts.
Act I: Leave it to poor cholesterol
The scene: Lunchtime at Grant Avenue Grammar School as Larry and Gilbert sit down to eat. Let’s listen.
Gilbert: Lunchables?
Larry: Yeah, why?
Gilbert: Ya knucklehead! Don’t you realize that the lifestyle choices you make today can have a profound effect on your cholesterol levels as an adult? Hey, there’s Judy! Load up a spitwad in your straw, would ya?