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REGULARLY active kids aren’t necessarily the ones signed up for an unending rotation of softball, soccer, football or volleyball.
A survey of 15,000 households in the San Francisco Bay Area found that 32% of children age 5 through 17 participated in some form of physical activity on weekends. Of those, about 40% got exercise bicycling or walking to and from activities.
“The general perception is that you get health benefits only if you exercise quite rigorously,” says Chandra Bhat, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. “But we found that there are quite a few kids who do not work toward exercising but do get physical activity benefits by biking and walking around the neighborhood or to stores or restaurants.”
The study also reported varying types and levels of physical activity among ethnic groups. For example, Asian youths got less exercise than any other group and Hispanic kids got the most exercise.
The message for parents to take away, Bhat says, is to make physical activity part of the daily routine. “For example,” he said, “designate time for family walking, active play ... even dancing to music in your house.”
The results will be presented today at the 85th meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C.
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