Experts agree that heart
disease is a hereditary condition, but that the factors and conditions that
increase risk of heart disease begin in childhood.
Here are
some ways to help children get fit and stay that way:
•
First, provide a good example yourself.
Children who have active parents are more likely to be active than
children who do not.
Plan family activities, or even after-dinner walks,
several times a week. Make these activities fun for all involved.
•
Make sure children are active at home.
Keep sports equipment on hand and encourage lifelong activities like
tennis, biking, or running. Children
who enjoy these activities may well continue them.
•
Unplug the TV, especially after school.
There’s a correlation between TV watching and low fitness rates, eating
more junk food, obesity, and high cholesterol.
Watching TV and playing computer games are passive
activities usually involving no movement at all. We’ve all seen young people
mesmerized by what is on the screen, often unaware that they are sitting still
for so long.
The inactivity is more
dangerous, in the long run, than any potentially objectionable material on the
screen that might soon be forgotten. So make fitness a family affair and it will
have benefits that last a lifetime.
