According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics only 6 out of every 10 children between the age of 6 and 14 participate in sports outside of the schools grounds. To add to that according to the Australian health survey done in 2012 over 25% of children aged 7-17yrs old are obese.
All of these statistics indicate that we need to begin to adapt a more sport-minded culture that encourages our children, from a young age, to be active.
There’s an endless list of advantages for the children and people that are regularly being active. There is a reduced risk of future diseases and problems with the body. Mental health advantages such as reduced emotional problems such as anxiety and depression. As we know, habits can be difficult to form, hence why children are encouraged from a young age to be physically active and participate in sports so they are more likely to mature into physically active adults.
Sometimes parents and guardians can find it difficult to get their child out and doing physical activities, here is a number of ways that parents can help their children to be physically active;
- Lead by example – be physically active yourself.
- Make sure that some family outings offer opportunities for physical activity, such as playing sport together.
- Encourage your child to walk or ride their bicycle for short trips, rather than rely on you to drive them.
- Support your child’s efforts in sport. Make sure you’re there at each match, cheering them on from the sidelines.
- Set time limits on sedentary activities like computer games and television (no more than 2 hours on electronic devices per day)
By encouraging your children to get involved in physical activities it presents them with many long term benefits. If your child seems to have a lack of energy, reducing inactivity may be more effective than you believe. Taking small steps to begin with such as going to the park once a day and getting them to run around can be the start to getting your child involved in sporting activities.
There’s an endless list of benefits of participating in sport but the biggest ones are;
- Reduced risk of obesity
- Increased cardiovascular fitness
- Healthy growth of bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons
- Improved coordination and balance
- A greater ability to physically relax and, therefore, avoid the complications of chronic muscular tension (such as headache or back ache) improved sleep
- Mental health benefits, such as greater confidence
- Improved social skills
- Improved personal skills, including cooperation and leadership.
Karate, Krav Maga and Kickboxing have many specific benefits that it brings children, both mentally and physically.
The top health benefits to doing these as the sport of choice include;
- It helps you lead a healthy lifestyle.
- It gives you supreme self-confidence.
- Experience weight loss as you get in the best shape of your life.
- It improves focus and stillness.
- It teaches great morals and values.
- It improves your athleticism.
At AKKA Martial Arts we are always pushing to improve our students mental and physical health as we believe it’s a very important part to developing and brings comes with a lot of benefits.
Check out our individual Martial Arts pages for more in depth details of the class content.
