Come out and play

At an age, when technology is slowly taking over every aspect of our lives, physical activities for children have taken a backseat and there is a need to bring children out of home to play.

"Children, today, refrain from sweating it out in the playgrounds and instead prefer playing online games from their home. Such children miss out on healthy social interactions and natural stimulation. Kids as young as 10 years old today suffer from lifestyle problems, which in future lead to several chronic diseases," says Shrikant Hazare, chief marketing officer, Kids Out Of Home (KOOH). Lifestyle plays a critical role in determining the health factor.

Traditionally Indian schools have neglected paying attention to sports curricula in schools and as a result the only physical activity that children get while they are in school is limited to the games period. "There are several basic requirements for a school to make sure the children are well exposed to sports education. A trained coach who is well versed with the sport they are instructing, having the appropriate infrastructure and facilities to help facilitate the right environment for children in school and the most important, a structured curriculum in place to assess the physical development in kids. The whole idea of giving focus on theory in sports has emerged from sports not being considered a viable career when a child grows," says Hazare.

FLIP SIDE
And yet, with technology and exposure, a lot of awareness has also grown towards the need to participate in sports activities with the opening up of sports clubs, physical training centres etc in and around one's neighbourhood.

Says 'Mahabali' Satpal, former wrestler and Padma Shri recepient, president, School Games, Federation of India, "After Sushil Kumar and Abhinav Bindra got medals for the country, a lot of students in the government schools have taken to sports. At the National School Games, Delhi stood first with the most number of gold medals (254) followed by Maharashtra (187 gold medals). About 80% of students who enrol for coaching are from government schools. We also have students from government aided schools and few students from public schools. About 60% of the girls enrolled are girl students. The attitude of parents towards sports is changing."

Earlier children didn't have many options when it came to sports but now they do. "There are so many options available to students now, that were not there earlier. 20 years ago, I could have never imagined going on an ice- expedition. Now, students should make use of the different opportunities and be one with themselves and nature," says Aman Malik, a student of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, who went on an expedition to the Antarctic.

Outdoor games, exercise keep teens healthy and fit

Blame it on the effects of increasing academic pressure or the influence of television and video games, the cheering and screaming of children at neighbourhood playgrounds can no longer be heard today. Lack of physical activity has taken a toll on the health of growing children, especially teenagers. "The teens these days are extremely unfit. One of the main reasons for this being that most of them have grown up indoors and hardly played the run-around kind of games,'' says Puran Soni, manager of Talwarkar Fitness Centre at Vaishali Nagar.

Pediatrician Dr Rambabu Sharma doesn't recommend gymming for pre-teens. "Adolescents going towards adulthood can work out in gyms. But, it should be done in a graded manner under proper guidance. Heavy
weight lifting could have an adverse effect on the body, and may lead to catabolism. In spite of aerobic metabolism, youngsters may develop anaerobic metabolism, under which lactic acid accumulates in the
muscles, which is not good for the body." Lack of open spaces in the neighbourhood too, is one of the reasons for children taking to gymming or dancing at aerobic classes.

"Until a couple of years ago, I used to force my now 13-year-old daughter to go to the local park in the evenings. However, now she and her friends do not feel comfortable hanging out there. So, they prefer to spend time in the building compound chatting rather than playing games,"says Madhu Solanki, a resident of Chirtakoot area. The change in lifestyle has brought in a major change in the eating habits of children, making them all the more unfit. Senior dietician Rahat Bano says teenagers should not worry about calories but rather try and have nutritious food. "Increasing number of teens seem to have digestion problems or are obese and hence follow food restrictions.

For both the disorders, lack of physical activity can be blamed," she says. "The onset of adult diseases from childhood is a dangerous trend. Now, there are children who are coming to hospitals with coronary artillery
disease, obesity, diabetes type II (which is common in adults) and other respiratory problems. Children should follow good eating habits and take time out for physical exercises," suggests Dr S D Sharma, superintendent at J K Lon Hospital, a child speciality centre.