Children and Exercise
Exercise Science 597K project
Designed by: Adam LaBonte
Last updated: April 30, 1997
Topics:
Since the 70's the average weight for a child has been on the increase while the amount of time exercising
or participating in physical activity has been on the decline. This is due, in a large part, to children now
watching more television then they have in the past, this is from more homes owning video games and an
increase in violence in everyday life so that the streets and the playgrounds are no longer safe for them
than it has do with the quality of television programming. Parents also play a role in this decline of physical
activity since they usually have the child sit in front of the television so that they won't have to be bothered
entertaining their kids or having to bring them somewhere that is safe to play. The United States will
soon see the problems this causes if this trend continues since it can lead to increased health problems (such
as cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, hypertension, and heart attacks) that will lead to lost work
days that will cause companies to lose money (from lost work days to decreased productivity to increases in
medical costs to having to hire temps to replace the lost productivity that leads to increased costs for the
consumers). It is never to late to get your child to go out and play outdoors and hopefully save them
costly and deadly medical problems later on in life.
Today many children and adults do not get enough exercise and they will probably suffer from one form
of disease or another. To break this vicious cycle you should encourage your child to participate in as
much physical activity as possible to possibly avoid detrimental effects later in life. One of the most
controversial issues surrounding children and exercise today is if it is safe for children to lift weights. From
all the research I can find I have not seen anyone scientifically prove that if a child lifts very light weights
under close adult supervision that it will cause any physical harm to the child later in life. The only arguments
people use is those of superstition and old wives tales but they have no scientific proof to back up any of these
claims. So the more physically active your child is early on in life the more likely they will continue exercising
for the rest of their adult lives.
Send comments to alabonte@student.umass.edu 
