How Physical Activity Effects Falling Asleep

This study demonstrates a beneficial association between physical activity and sleep latency (time taken to fall asleep), and a negative effect of sedentary activities. Common sense really but a good foundation for advice when kids are having sleep difficulties.

The full article (if you have access) is at: http://adc.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/adc.2009.157453v1?papetoc

The Cafeteria Talk Walk

For years I have been referring to it as the “Cafeteria Talk Walk”, although, it’s been so long that I can’t remember where the “Cafeteria” part came in. However, the principle and effectiveness remain as relevant and strong as ever.


It’s really an alternative to “exercise” as we have come to know it. Exercise at its worst moments is when, during the activity, the participant is thinking about, how boring and tired they are or how much it hurts.


The “Cafeteria Talk Walk”, on the other hand, is when at least two participants are walking along in a total gossip mode, not missing one word of what their fellow walker is saying. Their mind is almost total unaware of the fact that they are walking (exercising). Not only that, but they can’t wait for the next walk to get the latest scoop about who, what, where, and when. Who would have thought gossip could help improve fitness.

Should Early Age Organized Sports Rethink their Purpose

Up until the past few decades, the main playground for kids to play physically active games was typically someone’s back yard or some vacant field. Activities were loosely organized with the kids themselves developing and enforcing the rules. Although scores were often kept, they were not as important as just having fun.

In those days, the main purpose of organized sports such as “Little Leagues” was to introduce competition into what was mostly a bunch of neighborhood affairs. Kids and parents would use “Little Leagues” and other organized sports to learn to function effectively in a more competitive environment. It seemed to offer a great balance.

Now days, in most cases anyway, organized sports have grown to be even more competitive. Is this something children still need at their early ages? After all, just about everything is super competitive including but not limited to school grades, the clothes kids wear, cars owned, neighborhoods lived in and the list goes on. Add in the fact that back yards and vacant fields are no longer available to most children for non competitive fun.

So we’ve gone from decades of friendly neighborhood play for plain fun (which also provided good fitness development) and organized sports for more competitive experiences, to an environment where almost everything is competitive and there’s very little opportunity for just plain friendly, fun play. With this in mind, maybe more organized sports should rethink their purpose and provide more opportunities for just plain fun play. After all, ask most your children why they are playing and they’ll say “to have fun”!

The Importance of Physical Activity to Successful Dieting

A February, 2009 article published by the New England Journal of Medicine concluded, in general, that when it comes to weight loss, the kind of diet that is used – low or high protein, fat, or carbohydrate, does not matter near as much as the amount of calories consumed or not consumed.

I agree. However, the amount of calories consumed is only half of the equation. The full equation is more to the order of the amount of calories consumed versus the amount of calories expended determines one’s body weight.

The big challenge to diets is that the body’s metabolism tends to slow down when caloric intake is significantly reduced. This is where ongoing physical activity becomes crucial. Ongoing physical activity increases the amount of calories expended and helps keep the metabolism from slowing as much.

Here’s the surprise for most people. We use two types of calories, carbohydrates and fat. Carbohydrates have to be metabolized before use. Fat does not. It is used directly. Here’s the good part. The higher the intensity of physical activity, the more we use carbohydrates. The lower the intensity, the more we use fat as a fuel source.


With this in mind, my advice is to take it easy. Not only will you tend to use more fat as your energy source, you’ll be less prone to injury. Most important, if you want to make your physical activity endeavor last thereby increasing the chances of a healthy diet, make having fun the priority!

Measuring Increases In Your Child’s Physical Activity the Easy Way

In the past, many of us have relied on a variety of heart rate monitors to measure our personal physical activity. Most heart rate monitors today are reliable and, after a few sessions, not particularly difficult to use. That is, unless you are a kid. Most monitors require the use of a chest based transmitter that sends signals to the monitor itself. It quickly becomes a problem when a smaller child tries to wear the larger chest transmitter.

Polar, the king of heart rate monitors, has come up with a solution. It’s called the FA20 Activity Watch. It comes in both a larger and smaller size and does not require a chests transmitter or any other additional device. Simply put it on and press start. It uses a variety of sensors to measure motion and tracks physical activity in a very understandable way. At the end of the activity session, the information can be easily uploaded to both the Polar and P.A.R.S. software.


Will the FA20 Activity Watch increase your child’s physical activity levels or decrease his or her sedentary viewing time? With P.A.R.S. it’s guaranteed. Go kids!

The Art of Wogging - Faster than a Walk - Slower than a Jog

In the past, we’ve had three, one foot in front of the other, physical activity options. We could run, we could slow down and jog, or we could walk. In the beginning I ran. When running got too fast for me I slowed down to a jog. Then jogging got to be too fast for me so I began and continue to wog.

Wogging is somewhere between a walk and a jog. That doesn’t mean walking is not allowed. With wogging, we have the right to walk anytime we think it will prevent us from going into a state of exhaustion. You see, with wogging exhaustion is not allowed. That’s part of the reason for wogging in the first place.

Not only does wogging benefit our strength and endurance, it helps us burn more calories than walking and helps prevent more injuries than running. It also cuts down on any potential associated pain levels.

If you’re just beginning (consult your physician first), learn to be a good walker. As conditioning takes place and if you want a little more of that good feeling that a jogger gets, try intervals of wogging. When the faster pace cumulatively lasts longer the walking pace, you are officially wogging. Wogging is best done in settings or with friends and pets we enjoy. As conditioning continues to take place, it can even feel good (and enjoyable) during the wog. My goal is to wog forever. What is yours?

Modern Technology Encourages Physical Activity - Discourages TV and Video Time

The Physical Activity Reward System - P.A.R.S. - is a new technology that requires children to be physically active prior to and in order to watch TV or play video games with the amount of physical activity time proportionate to the amount of viewing time. First, using its patented software, P.A.R.S. turns off the flow of electricity to the household TV’s and video consoles.

Physical activity time is measured with a Polar Heart Rate Monitor. The heart rate monitor then sonically sends the time spent in physical activity to the P.A.R.S. software. With physical activity time recorded, the P.A.R.S. software communicates to transmitters and receivers through the house electrical wiring, allowing the flow of electricity to the viewing screens during user designated time periods. As the physical activity time gets used up, so does the flow of electricity to the viewing screen. Then, it’s time for more physical activity.

With sedentary viewing time on the rise and daily physical activity on the decline, P.A.R.S. offers a much needed solution to encourage physical activity while discouraging sedentary viewing. And it’s all done without constant parent intervention. See P.A.R.S. at http://www.newwayfitness.com/.

With P.A.R.S., modern technology paves the way to increasing physical activity habits. "Children, get off the couch on your own or P.A.R.S. will do it for you!"