Family Health & Fitness

Articles

Jun 1

Family Health & Fitness Day is June 11th this year. Are you ready to get fit and have a ton of fun with your family? Then you are in the right place!

Have fun together while getting fit!

Family time can sometimes fall into only quality time with activities like reading, watching movies, snuggling, or playing games, but it is important to also incorporate physical activities into your normal family time and routine. You can combine family time with exercise and create great routines for everyone by deciding to join in on some fun challenges.

The Benefits of Staying Fit

(at Any Age)

Maintaining your physical health has many positive implications beyond feeling physically better. Staying fit can help your mental health, your sleeping schedule, your mood, and so much more. Taking time to work out in some form is beneficial to so many different areas of your life.

Mental Health

Regular exercise is proven to help with the clarity of your mind in many ways. Not only does it improve your memory retention, but it also helps individuals who suffer from anxiety, depression, ADHD, and other mental health conditions. There are many studies that indicate cardio activities like walking for an hour or running for half an hour are can affect depression symptoms and their relapses in positive ways. Exercising is good for the mind because it reduces inflammation, helps the neural pathways, and new growth which helps the mind to feel calmer after working out. The endorphin boost also helps with anxiety, stress, and ADHD because it allows the mind to focus while relieving tension all over the body that often occurs in conjunction with these mental health conditions. Physical exercise even helps us to be able to release the trauma that sits in our bodies. It helps focus the mind on engaging in a specific activity. Exercises that use multiple parts of your body at once like swimming, weight training, hiking, sailing, biking, etc. are just a few examples of ways the mind requires focus for an activity.

Disease Prevention

According to the CDC, adults should engage in at least 150 minutes of exercise each week. This exercise is defined as moderate-intensity workouts and muscle strengthening for at least two of those days. For younger age groups, ages six to 17, they suggest at least an hour of physical training each day. For younger children, they suggest many active moments to play and be outside throughout each day. Having regular movement reduces the likelihood of chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and mental health issues as well. Some other tips the CDC shares for staying healthy are:

Substitute walking for driving when you can
Walk and bike around your neighborhood
Ask friends and family to get active with you
Start slowly and add intensity and frequency as the weeks go on
Schedule times for exercise within your week

Cognitive Health

Exercise improves brain function as we mentioned earlier, by helping keep the neural pathways active and creating new, healthier cycles. Physical activity can actually enlarge the size of the hippocampus which increases the brain's ability to remember, learn and emote. This is especially true for the growing minds of young adults. Doing some form of physical activity including walking, biking and even household work like gardening or cleaning can do the trick.

The Importance of Stretching

The one physical fitness element that benefits absolutely everyone is stretching. Increasing mobility through joints, bones, and muscles is beneficial at any age. Stretching can provide agility in the joints and muscles which helps prevent injury or reduce longer recovery times. For young ones who are developing and growing, stretching is very important and should be a part of their everyday routine. Some ways to get kids to engage in stretching are through different activities like setting out yoga mats, taking kids to adventure parks with obstacle courses, watching stretch videos online, picture books, and more to help them get excited.

Easy Ways to Incorporate Family Exercise

Since there are so many benefits to exercising, it is helpful for every age group, and important that families learn how to incorporate family exercise time to keep everyone healthy as they age.

Here are a few examples of ways to bond through exercise with your family:

Biking to the park
Hiking
Walking on nature trails
Play outdoor games
Go to the pool
Other water activities like kayaking, tubing, canoeing
Go bowling on rainy days
Have a dance party
Jump rope
Play hopscotch
Play tag
Do yoga indoors or outdoors
Play sports with other neighborhood families
Make your own games
Do a new exercise each week together
Fitness classes
Run a 5k

Why You Should Use a Habit Tracker

Using a habit tracker helps you to see the specific progress within each activity you want to keep track of. It will give you the feedback you need to change direction or stay the course for your workouts. You can keep track of your exercise habits through journals, charts, graphs, or whatever visual reminder you need that will help you monitor your progress and motivate you to keep going. To make a habit tracker, it’s suggested you start with lists of things that are only a few minutes long so they are easier to finish and check off each day. As you get more consistent with your habits you can shift to longer or more difficult habits you hope to achieve.

Screen Time vs. Active Time

It’s important to teach children how to be healthy and active instead of being in front of screens for extended periods of time. Monitoring how many hours they spend in front of screens and helping them gravitate toward being outdoors and being active kids will help set healthy boundaries with screen time. Health experts recommend no more than two hours in front of a computer, phone, or TV screen per day aside from using technology for school or work. Kids can even be active while they are watching TV so they understand the importance of movement in each day.

There are some easy ways to get started at home with your family. Choose one of the challenges or ideas listed below, or get inspired to create your own for your family!

Dance Contest

One of the most fun ways to get moving is through dance! A family dance contest could happen in the evening on a weeknight, or on a Sunday afternoon at home. You can prepare ahead of time by each choosing a song, or you could improvise your routines. Let kids make up dances to songs they love or turn on a kids radio to find some great options. You can learn the dances they make up together and each add your own flair! This is an easy and very fun way to be active and get your cardio workout.

Timed Challenges

See how long you can do something - like a plank pose or a handstand! The options for this challenge are endless. Your family might like to set up an obstacle course and time each other completing it, or just do something as simple as how fast you can run a certain distance. Some other options are how many pushups you can do in 30 seconds and continue with other ideas like holding a chair sit position against the wall.

Commercial Break Challenge

If watching TV together in the evening is part of your routine, you might consider implementing the commercial break challenge to get some extra fun and movement in your evenings. Each time a commercial break starts, the challenge is to keep moving and don’t be still until the show resumes. There are usually plenty of commercial breaks during normal television, so this could be a fun way to get excited and create a challenge you all do together.

5 Minute Movement

One easy way to get everyone in the family moving while maintaining focus and attention is to segment your workout into a quick five-minute routine. Set your timer for 45 seconds and choose your favorite workout moves (five total). Some families might like jumping jacks, pushups, squats, burpees, or even jump rope. Take 45 seconds to see how many jumping jacks you can do, then rest for 15 seconds. Continue through the other workout moves to hit your five-minute mark and then you can all give out high-fives!

Step Challenge

Pedometers are a popular way for people to track their movement, and the whole family can get involved! Start keeping track of how many steps you each take in a day and then develop a challenge to see who can clock the most steps in a day. This encourages your family to do things like taking walks together or it could encourage kids to get involved in walking the dog or being mindful of their movement.

Family Fitness Calendar

Mixing things up might be best for your family, and a family fitness calendar can help you stay on track while keeping things interesting for your workouts. Talk with everyone in the house to find out what everyone enjoys doing, like taking walks, going to the park, or riding bikes. Designate one day for each activity until you have filled out the calendar for the month ahead. If you aren’t sure where to start, you can find lots of examples of other family fitness calendars to get some inspiration for yours!

These are just a few ideas to help you get your family moving and be mindful of fitness each day. The options are endless! Talk with your family to learn about what kinds of things appeal to them and what they are comfortable with committing to as a part of your family fitness challenge.

How Does Fitness Fit Your Family?

Think about whether you have any goals in mind for the physical activities you do. These goals might be improving at a sport or increasing stamina personally, or maybe for another member of your family, they want to learn something or explore a skill. Learning how to ride a bike can be a great activity to do as a family while getting a great workout in the process.

One of the most important parts of creating these fitness goals is sticking to them! It can be easy to fall into old patterns or routines, so it is great to make sure your kids are encouraged to keep the family accountable for the challenges you commit to doing. It is also a great feeling for kids to follow through on something challenging in a positive way, with the support of their families around them.