Physical activity: why it is important?
Let’s ask TAO! He is Mr. Know-it-all!
According to both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the last American Physical Activity Guidelines,
kids under 6 years old should be engaged in at least 3 hours per day of body motion and active play, while children and adolescents from 6 to 18 years old should be engaged in 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activities per day.
Interestingly, they encourage less than one hour per day of screen time for kids under 6 years old, and no more than two hours per day of screen time for children and adolescents.
Although these recommendations must be considered as public health objectives, it must be understood that any increase, even modest, in the time spent by children and adolescents engaging in physical activities will have positive effects on their overall health. Briefly, regular physical activity (altogether with reduced sedentary time), will improve metabolic health, immunity, overall fitness and daily autonomy, health-related quality of life, cognitive functioning, academic achievement or social integration among others.
Even though it’s never too late to start physical activity and benefits from its positive health impacts, it is important to keep in mind that being active from the youngest age will have beneficial effects on our future life. Indeed, it is now well known that the level of physical activity of children is positively associated with their overall health but also with their physical activity level and health during adolescence and adulthood. Here again, it is important to note that being physically active rests on the use of active transportation, outdoor games, collective games, leisure tile activities, and is not only based on structured exercise and sport sessions.