Honolulu Chiropractor

Striving to keep up with an active five-year-old can feel tiring from time to time. If you have an active child of this age, or if you’ve ever been around one for any length of time, you may have found yourself wishing that the kid would just “veg out” for a little while. However, recent research is validating the long-term health benefits of this whirlwind of activity. In fact, according to a new University of Iowa study, rather than attempting to slow these little ones down, five-year-olds ought be aided in being as active as possible. Why? “Because it pays off as they grow older,” said Kathleen Janz, lead author of the study and professor of health and sport studies in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Even if kids don’t stay as active later in childhood, being active at age five assists them in avoiding excess fat as they age. “We call this effect ‘banking’ because the kids benefit later on, similar to having a savings account at a bank. The protective effect is independent of what happens in between,” Janz went on to say.

The UI team tested the body fat and activity level of 333 kids at ages five, eight and eleven using a special scanner that accurately measures bone, fat and muscle tissue, and an accelerometer that measures movement every minute. The kids wore accelerometers to record their activity level for up to five days, providing much more solid data than relying on kids or parents to track minutes of exercise.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, indicates that kids who are active at age five end up with less fat at age eight and eleven, even when controlling for their accumulated level of activity.  The average five-year-old in the study got thirty minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day. For every ten minutes on top of that, kids had one-third of a pound less fat tissue at ages eight and eleven.

Although further research is required to learn what happens to the active kids’ bodies that keeps them in better shape down the road, Janz said that it may be possible that the active 5-year-olds didn’t develop as many fat cells, improved their insulin response, or that something happened metabolically that provided some protection even as they became less active.

Weight moderation, however, isn’t the only benefit of early exercise. As a chiropractor I have observed over the years that active kids have far less ordinary childhood health issues, like catching colds and the flu. chiropractic treatment is, of course, extraordinarily beneficial in helping kids to stay healthier. But, in addition, the stimulation to the brain that happens during activities, especially those that require “cross pattern” motor movements of the larger muscles, i.e., right hand/left leg and left hand/right leg, such as crawling, running, climbing, and skipping, also boosts the autoimmune system and keeps kids healthier.

A large number children these days are overweight and unhealthy. Though part of the problem is an inappropriate diet, lack of exercise is also a major contributing factor. If you have a five-year-old who chooses to watch television or play video games rather than to participate in more active play, help your child to get up and get moving into healthier activities. Moderate to vigorous activity will not only benefit your child now, but will assist in building a healthier future. You can bank on it!

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