Even Babies Need Exercise
By John Casey-WebMD
Feature
Energetic and rambunctious, 18-month-old Aiden pushes
his toy stroller around a playground in New York City.
"I
really try to encourage him to move around as much as possible," says Aiden's mother, Nancy Chin, 32. "Before we
started coming to the playground everyday, he would be whiney and clinging after breakfast. But now, even just 10 or 15 minutes
of him walking around makes him calmer and more likely to take a nap. We try to get that much twich a day, at least."
That's exactly what the authors of Active Start, the first set of of exercise guidelines
for babies, which were put out by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), want to hear more parents
saying.
According to these pediatric experts, parents who
use strollers, playpens, car and infant seats for hours at a time, may be delaying their child's physical and mental development.
"The need for even the very young to be physically active is something parents
don't understand," says Jane clark, PhD, professor and chair of the department kinesiology at the University of Maryland.
Clark chaored the NASPE committee that wrote the guidelines.
"The
earlier infants, toddlers and preschool children get exposure to dily movemnt and exercise, the better likelihood of healthy
devlopment in later life," Clark says.
Developing
Bodies and Brains
Regular execise causes the kind of development that may be critical
fo rhealth in later life. Infancy and the toddler years are the time the brain is developing pathways and connections to te
muscles.
Children who do not get enough exercise may miss
out on the chance to make strong kinds of brain-muscle connectopns that make physical activity easier
and more enjoyable. As a child grows and matures, it is that physical competence that makes exercise more likely to become
a life-long habit.
And that's important for all kids, not
just those who will become gifted athletes.
"For babies,
exercise is protection against obesity not just now, but as they grow up," says Lori Rosello, MD, a pediatrician in private
practice in New York. "If kids enjoy exercise as babies, they will be more active as adults. That's not just because
it's a learned behavior, though it can be, but also because their brains have incorporated the physical skills that make exercise
more enjoyable."
As children grow, she says, those who
exercise and continue to do so into adulthood are much less likely to become obese.
"Of course, you can't ignore the genetics and environmental influences that every kid has, but early exercise
offers a sort of protection against obesity in later life, and that's important to your child's health," says Rosello.
In a two-year study of obese 8-to-12 year olds from 90 families, increased activity
and reduced television viewing resulted in significant weight loss. the study, published in the August 1999 issue of Archieves
of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, showed that childrenwho are more physically active are less likely to become obese.
What the Guidelines Recommend
The
NASPE's Active Start guidelines are divided into teo groups of activity levels-one for infants and one for toddlers.
Here are some of the suggestions for infants:
Infants should be placed in settings that encourage physical activity and do not resrtict
movement for prolonged periods of time.
Parents and caretakers should
be aware of the importance of physical activity and encourage the child's movement skills.
For toddlers, the NASPE says, basic movement skills such as running, jumping, throwing and kicking are clearly influencedby
the environment they grow up in. For instance, they say, a child who does not have access to stairs may be delayed in stair
climbing and a child who is discouraged from bouncing and chasing balls may have lag in hand-eye coordination.
