Melody Smith, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Children and teens around the world are not moving enough for healthy growth and development. Aotearoa scores only slightly better than the global average, despite a high uptake of school sports.
Residential ‘stroads’ – neighbourhood streets that have become rat runs for through traffic – can be turned back into safe, mixed-use streets that put residents’ and children’s needs first.
Physical activity levels decline during the teenage years. Introducing your teen to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is one way to get them moving and feeling better.
There are important strategies families can use to help promote mental health as kids head back to school and daily routines change.
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Family routines can provide stability during times of stress. Here are four strategies for building resilience against stress and family challenges to put into place as children head back to school.
Runners should have advance knowledge of what to expect in case of race disruption or rerouting prior to setting off on the course.
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During spring and summer, as more people consider exercising outdoors, a trauma- and violence-informed approach to physical activity can help ensure equity, inclusion, safety and access.
Sport and recreation are political issues because different governments view their role in delivering these services differently. A better understanding of how political parties view sport and recreation can help inform voters’ decisions when they head to the polls.
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Voters need to hold political candidates and their parties to account on sport and recreation issues and advocate for support from provincial and territorial governments.
A new study looks at UK kids’ physical activity levels once COVID restrictions had begun to lift compared with before the pandemic.
The gift of sleep, time, self-care (“me time”) and a message of what a remarkable job she is doing may be what new mothers need most this Mother’s Day.
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Mothers with young children are consistently identified as having lower levels of physical activity and leisure opportunities, which place their physical and mental health at risk.
Since the mid-1990s, people have been doing less and less walking or bicycling to work and school and spending a lot more time staring at screens.
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Research is revealing that fitness trackers alone can be helpful facilitators toward changing a sedentary lifestyle but don’t motivate people to increase their physical activity.
For people who exercise in a group, their sense of connection to the group may not translate into skills that help them exercise alone.
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There are benefits to group exercise, but relying too much on a group may leave people less resilient for solo exercise, especially if suddenly cut off from a group as many were during COVID-19.
Parents in a study discussed barriers and opportunities in encouraging children’s physical movement during COVID-19 — from arguing about warm clothing for outdoor play to finding local hiking trails.