News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Do your children hate to exercise? The reason could be that they have been ruined for life for exercise by one bad gym teacher, according to a new study from the University of Alberta in Canada.

• Professor Billy Strean interviewed 24 adults about their attitudes towards sports, physical activity, and fitness.
  
• They found that bad experiences in physical education classes carried over into adulthood.
  
• Just having one bad gym teacher who humiliated you in front of class or treated students unfairly can create bad memories and attitudes that last for decades, the researchers found.

One participant, a woman in her 50s, told the researchers that her "childhood experiences with sports, particularly as handled at school, were so negative that even as I write this my hands are sweating and I feel on the verge of tears. I have never experienced the humiliation or felt the antipathy toward any other aspect of life as I do towards sports."

Dr. Strean stressed that it is important for children to think of sports and physical activity as fun. Participants had better memories of minimally organized activities, such as pickup games of baseball or street hockey.

"We've got to remember that these are kids," he said.

The study appears in the journal Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise.

Labels: sports, exercise, physical education

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Teenagers who are physically active reduce their chances of the most common brain cancer by 36 percent when compared to inactive teenagers, according to a study that was published in the journal Cancer Research.

• Researchers evaluated data on almost 500,000 men and women who answered questions about their physical activity, body weight, and height.
• Eight years later, 480 of the study subjects had developed glioma brain tumors.
• Those who were obese as teenagers were three or four times more likely to develop such tumors, and physical activity during adolescence was determined to be a protection against these cancers.

Labels: exercise, cancer

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Research has revealed yet another benefit of childhood exercise.

A new study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood found that children who are active in the daytime fall asleep more quickly and sleep for longer periods of time.

Researchers studied 870 children who were enrolled in the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study. For every hour a child was sedentary, he or she needed an extra three minutes to fall asleep.

"These findings emphasize the importance of physical activity for children not only for fitness, cardiovascular health, and weight control, but also for promoting good sleep," the researchers wrote in their report.

Labels: health, exercise, sleep_deprivation

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A new kind of stationary bicycle provides users with the feeling that they are moving, which leads to a more effective workout.

The new stationary bikes twist and tilt so that riders have to use more muscle groups to negotiate imaginary curves and other hazards. One of the hardest things to do is to maintain a leaning position while you stand up on the pedals, because in real life your bicycle would tip over.

"It's a great way to prepare for the outside," personal trainer Toussaint McCrae said about the bikes, though he noted that "there are things you cannot have inside, like wind resistance."

Labels: exercise, activities

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More than 60% of California middle school students failed an annual physical fitness test. However, the scores represent a slight improvement (between 1% and 5%) over past years' performances. Schools that participated in the Governor's Challenge Competition, a program that encourages 30 to 60 minutes of daily physical activity, received higher scores than schools not in the program.

Experts on physical fitness, such as Dr. John Ratey of the Harvard Medical School, contend that higher levels of fitness go hand in hand with higher levels of academic achievement, which is why schools should encourage fitness.

Problems related to childhood obesity and overweight cost the California Department of Health Serves over $20 billion a year - more than 10 times the annual cost of fires and earthquakes.

Labels: health, exercise, fitness

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A recent study found that levels of physical activity drop significantly when children enter their teen years. Summer can be the perfect time for kids to do less, as parents are at work, there's no school, and they're not participating in extra-curricular activities.

"Experts suggest teens spend an hour a day engaged in physical activity, and when you compare that with the 6 hours per day that the average teen spends in front of screens, it really isn't that significant."

You can help your teen stay active by encouraging his interests, whether it's team sports or skateboarding. You can also set a good example by staying active yourself. In addition, try assigning "active" chores like lawn mowing or car washing. Source: San Marcos Daily Record

Labels: exercise, summer, activities

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High school boys who work out or participate in sports are less likely to smoke, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Boys who exercise individually are 12% less likely to smoke; those on sports teams are 18% less likely. The effect did not hold true for girls.

Dr. Daniel Rodriguez, who did the study for the American Cancer Society, said the results were important because most people start smoking in high school.

"If you can make it out of the adolescent period," he said, "you're pretty safe."

Stone Mountain School, a boarding school for boys, helps boys who are exhibiting unacceptable behaviors due to out-of-control emotions or learning disabilities like ADD/ADHD. Visit StoneMountainSchool.com to learn more.

Labels: exercise, boys, smoking

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