Physical activity helps children succeed in school

Dr. Jake KleinmahonA volunteer expert at the American Heart Association and Dean of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology for Pediatric Heart Transplantation and Heart Failure at Oxner Children’s Hospital in Louisiana, How Physical Activity Helps Children’s Emotional or Behavioral Regulation I explained.

“Physical activity is well known for improving the rate of depression, anxiety, and emotional well-being in children,” he told the health line.

According to Klein Mahon, the mechanisms that can explain this are:

• Children involved in sports learn time management and communication skills and receive feedback from their coaches.
• Physical activity allows children to express their emotions through movement in a productive way.
• Organized sports provide children with structure, teach teamwork and allow them to feel attribution.
• Strengthening, training, or competing involves emotional challenges that children learn to tackle.
• Natural endorphins are released during exercise and cause a sense of well-being.

“All of these skills are useful in the classroom and improve brain development,” said Klein Mahon. “On the contrary, the inability to adjust emotions can interfere with learning, lead to destructive behavior and adversely affect their lives.”

Team sports provide children with the benefits of consistent schedule and physical activity, playing with peers and improving social skills. Nevertheless, all types of physical activity are beneficial.

“In general, the more children feel better about themselves, the easier it is to adjust their emotions,” said Klein Mahon.

Teaching children to express their emotions and give them names is an important part of their development, says Klein Mahon.

“Perhaps the best thing we can do as a parent is to model the behavior we want our children to see,” he said. “Accepting emotions and creating a sensitive environment helps children manage their emotions.”

Parents can also help their children learn to name their emotions, understand their feelings and find solutions more easily.

“It can be helpful to talk to children, especially after an emotional period, to empathize with their emotions, and to come up with ways to better coordinate their reactions in the future and help achieve the desired results.” Klein Mahon said.

He added that emotions themselves are not “bad” in nature. They make us human.

“There is also a good time to move emotions freely and allow children to express themselves freely,” said Klein Mahon.

“As a pediatric cardiologist, one of the most important conversations I have with patients is to increase patient activity,” says Kleinmahon.

He added that teaching children the importance of physical activity and incorporating it into their lives can positively change the trajectory of their long-term health.

“Exercise with the family is always a great idea because it incorporates family time into healthy activities,” said Klein Mahon.

He advised his family to schedule daily physical activity as if it were a necessary class at home.

So where do you start?

If it’s an option for you and your family, you can go to the gym.

“Gyms are a great way to increase physical activity, but they are often expensive, require transportation, intimidating, and difficult to work out on a daily schedule,” Klein Mahon said. I will.

So don’t worry if the gym isn’t yours or if your local gym is closed for COVID-19 safety.

Another option is home exercise, which requires minimal equipment. Sometimes all you need is your computer to play the video.

“For example, my daughter loves dancing, so as a great activity to do together, we make a dance video together,” Klein Mahon said.

The· Recommended by the American Heart Association Children aged 6 to 17 perform moderate to intense physical activity for 60 minutes each day. Adults should get at least 150 minutes a week.