Exercise More, Drink More – Teaching Children Healthy Habits
Excerpted from the Chicago Daily Herald, Challenge Issued to Illinois Parents, by Brandon Noel on August 7, 2013 http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130805/submitted/130809941/
Our drinking water systems are the perfect tools for teaching your children how to live healthy and stay active. The lessons you instill in your child’s youth will be habits they form as they grow older. In order to promote healthy families sharing healthy lifestyles, August 4-10 has been proclaimed National Exercise with Your Child Week. On average, children now spend more than seven-and-a-half hours a day in front of a screen, and less than 20 percent of adults meet the 30 minutes of recommended activity each day as indicated by President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. According to Dr. Sue Walsh, associate professor of health science at Concordia University, “It’s important for Illinois parents to know that their involvement can lead to increased levels of physical activity for their children.”
Modeling and supporting activities with your children, from signing them up to participating with them, still shows that you want your child to form those healthy habits. “Either way, parents should know that simply being involved can create an important emotional bond between them, their children, and being physically active,” Walsh said. Childhood obesity in the United States has more than doubled in children in the last 30 years. In 2010, more than one third of children and adolescents were labeled overweight or obese. Similarly, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention CDC stated that “overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.” This means that we need to get our children moving and learning how to live a healthier lifestyle balanced with healthy eating, exercise, and hydration.
About 75% of your body’s weight consists of water. This water is mostly found in your cells and the rest of it is in blood vessels and the spaces in between your cells. When you feel dehydrated this is a sign that you are losing more water than you are drinking. When you exercise, most of your water loss is through sweat. You need to drink after exercising to replace this water loss. Filling up water bottles with filtered drinking water is a great way to prepare for thirst and to stay hydrated before, during, and after a workout. Our drinking water filters with advanced reverse osmosis technology can provide your household with a nearly unlimited supply of great-tasting drinking water that is free of harmful contaminants, thus supporting the healthy lifestyle you want to teach your children. Healthy habits start with safe drinking water. Teaching your children about safe drinking water and the importance of hydration starts with a phone call to us for information regarding an affordable drinking water system. You may get a good jumpstart this week, but exercise and hydration is something you can do with your children all year long.
