Get Moving With Thibodaux Regional Health System | Exercise is Key!

It can be difficult to find the motivation to exercise daily as an adult, and encourage our children to be a part of that routine as well. In these new times of quarantine, we can all relate. However, moving our bodies is a basic part of caring for ourselves and teaching our children the staples of lifelong healthiness.  We feel more energetic, rid our minds of stress, and rest better at night when we move and stretch. Did you know that exercise raises endorphin levels changing the chemistry of our bodies? This increases an individual’s happiness, decreases stress, and improves the long-term health of our bodies.  We not only look better, we feel better. Exercise also offers us the ability to be better, more tolerant parents.

The secret is setting aside the time to exercise. Just ten minutes a day outside together is a great start during the week. On the weekend, you can plan an outing. Before you know it, you will have worked up to 20 minutes daily, with an hour on weekend days. Sure, you will skip some days. But if that’s more exercise than you are getting now, you are on the right track!

• Let each person in the family take turns being the leader while the rest of the family follows, doing jumping jacks, sun salutations, sit-ups, or invented moves.
• When you are confined to the house, play “Take off each other’s’ socks,” wrestling, or chase games. (Games that gets your family laughing! That is a huge bonus, because you are helping them evaporate any anxieties they are carrying around.)
• Let your exercise time double as social time by walking with a friend and child virtually using zoom, FaceTime, or Google Duo!
• Are you chasing your toddler all over the playground? Turn it into a positive by getting a pedometer, and work up to 10,000 steps a day.
• Load the kids and their bikes or scooters into the car and drive to a walking track or the track at your local high school in the evening or on the weekend when there aren’t many people around. Let the kids ride their trikes or bikes around the track, while you walk or jog.
  
• Take family pride in how far you can park from your destination and walk. (“Is this a two block day? Let’s go for it!”)

Simply start by putting “exercise” as an event on your daily or weekly calendar, and aim for 30 minutes 3-5 times weekly. Next, choose a fun family activity that requires physical exertion. When you find something you love doing, do more of it. Soon you will have a whole repertoire of family physical activities that makes everyone in your family happy.

You won’t believe how starting with 30 minutes of exercise will lift your mood. When we feel good, it has an almost magical effect on our children. We have a lighter touch, and a sense of humor that makes our kids happier and more cooperative. By encouraging your children to join in, they receive those same health benefits!

Trying to find a counter balance to quarantine and increased screen time? Getting your child hooked on an active lifestyle is the perfect way to exercise their minds and bodies. Kids who are physically active into the preteen and teen years are 75% less likely to be overweight when they are grown.

Making exercise part of your daily routine will become a habit. Do this every single day and you will all start looking forward to it. Exercise is a great way to nurture yourself and your child at the same time! •