Jul 24, 2018
BBC – Staff Writer
Data for 2016/17 shows one in 25 10 to 11 year olds were severely obese. That’s more than 22,000 children, and the highest level since records began. Levels of childhood obesity have remained fairly stable in recent years, but the new analysis shows that severe obesity has been on an upward trend over the last decade. The data from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) for children for the year 2016/17 has detailed the trends in severe obesity for the first time. (more)
Jul 23, 2018
WPRI – Staff Writer
Outdoor play is very important for a child’s development and should be encouraged for all children. It can be tough sometimes to not just send your kids outside when you are trying to get a million things done inside the house, with no direction for what they should do outside. (more)
Jul 23, 2018
The New York Times – Perri Klass, M.D.
You probably remember the before and after of learning to ride a bicycle — and perhaps the joy of helping your children learn how. Riding together is a wonderful family activity — good exercise, outdoor time, and it even gets you places. But safety is a vital part of what parents should be teaching. A recent study looked at bicycle-related injuries in children treated in emergency departments in the United States over a 10-year period from the beginning of 2006 through the end of 2017. Over that time, there were more than two million such injuries in children from 5 to 17, which the researchers calculated meant more than 600 a day, or 25 an hour. (more)
Jul 22, 2018
The Economic Times – Staff Writer
Cheer up video game lovers! According to a new research, video games can help improve the health in obese children. The new study from LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center showed for the first time that video games, in combination with fitness coaching and a step tracker, helped overweight children lose weight, lower their blood pressure and cholesterol and increase their physical activity. (more)
Jul 22, 2018
The Winchester Sun – Craig Caudill
For those that have been following my column since it started only a few short weeks ago, you may remember that I mentioned some startling statistics about children and the outdoors. One disheartening one is that publicly educated children on average spend less time outside daily than the average prison inmate. There is a video that is widely circulated that details the statistics as well as interviews with inmates. The interviewer tells the inmates about the this and you can see how sad it makes the inmates. Even they know how important and desirable it is to go outside. So why do we not purpose ourselves to spend more time outside with our kids? Obviously, there are a host of reasons and they vary from family to family. (more)
