The following originally appeared yesterday in The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer as part of the papers’ series on Fat. It appears today with helpful links to provide you with more information.
Move more and eat better in 2011 using these seven simple strategies:
Note to parents of kids in organized sports and to those of you with kids in middle and high school: Your kids may not be as active as you think.
A study from San Diego State University has found that kids who play softball, baseball or soccer still don’t get their daily recommended allotment of exercise. The government says kids should get at least an hour of good, hard exercise a day; kids in these sports only get about 45 minutes, on average. Of the softball players studied only 2 percent — mostly pitchers and catchers (the only players involved in every play), I’m guessing — got in their 60 minutes.
More reasons to stay active from the world of science.
Pump up … your brain. One of my favorite types of studies is the one that shows a link between an active lifestyle and an active brain. The latest comes from the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of British Columbia, where a follow-up of women 65-75 who participated in a once-a-week strength-training program showed the cognitive improvements registered during the program continued a year later. Specifically, the cognitive benefits in question are the kinds necessary for independent living. Also, the group wound up seeking health care services less often and fell less than the control group.
Another reason to exercise: You’ll keep from catching cold.
You’ve likely heard that from your friendly, local robo-athlete, the guy or gal who works out with machine-like efficiency pert near every day. Well, he/she now has a study out of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State’s North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis — quick breath so we can finish this sentence — to back him/her up.
You’ve seen people jogging on the greenway or plodding away on the treadmill, oblivious to all but the ear buds pumping a driving beat into their ears. And, according to science, pumping an extra boost of juice into their workout. The American Council on Exercise recently reviewed seven studies conducted since 1999 that all agreed that listening to music has a positive impact on your workout. (There’s a caveat, but first the facts.)