Benefits of Physical Activity
Research supports the need for more unstructured, informal activity in everyone’s life. Play is an essential part of childhood development.
- Play is spontaneous, accessible to all and low cost/free.
- Play occurs when you want, how you want and respects personal choice.
- Play brings families, neighbourhoods and communities together.
- Play requires little or no skill and no special equipment.
- Play is a universal concept and provides personal meaning to physical activity.
- Play can happen anywhere and does not require special facilities or organization.
- Play is well understood by children and can be shared with their families.
Play is the lifeblood of childhood – it brings children joy, it nurtures and excites their creativity, it builds social skills and it strengthens their bodies.– from Silken Laumann’s book “Child’s PLAY”
Regular physical activity is essential to staying healthy
The benefits of physical activity are undisputed by health professionals. A few of the many positives include:
PHYSICAL MOVEMENT
Helps maintain and increase muscle strength, improving balance, overall co-ordination, reaction time and flexibility. Some physical activities even improve mental concentration.
PRESERVES MUSCLE
Inactive people lose muscle fibre at a rate of 3% to 5% every decade after age 30. This amounts to a loss of 30% of muscle fibre by age 60.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Improves self-esteem and self-confidence and may even contribute to widening one’s social circle.
IMMUNITY & RECOVERY
Increases resistance to diseases by bolstering the immune system. Also reduces the risk of accidental injury and shortens the recovery period from accident and illness.
REDUCES STRESS
Increases tolerance to stress, improves mood and reduces the risk of depression and anxiety.
HEALTHY HEART
Reduces the incidence of illnesses such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.
