Do Your Kids Get Enough Exercise?

Kids ages 6 to 17 need to get at least 1 hour of exercise every day. It helps them sleep better, burn off energy, and even build stronger thinking skills. Their exercise should be enough to get them breathing faster and their heart rate up. Depending on your child, that could mean a brisk walk to a really good run.

Any movement counts, and small bursts can add up to the 60 minutes: walking to school, playing tag, or turning on music and dancing in the living room. They're all good ways to get your kids to move.

Surprised? Actually, the number is as low as 29%. Girls fare worse. Just 19% of them get enough.

If 60 minutes seems like too much to fit into a busy day, think about it this way: They don't have to do it all at once. Moving for 10 minutes at a time throughout the day can help. The average kid spends about 9 hours a day watching movies and TV, playing video games, and using electronic gadgets. Cut back on some screen time -- kids should be getting less than 2 hours a day -- and get them moving more. They can walk the dog before school, take a bike ride or shoot hoops when they get home, or join you for a family walk after dinner. It all adds up.

Regular exercise boosts blood flow to the brain, making cells healthier -- especially in the areas connected with mood. That's why physical activity gives most people a lift.

Endorphins, your brain's feel-good chemicals, do cause a natural high. But it doesn't last long. And you have to really exercise hard to feel the effect.

When kids take a few minutes to move around, it can actually give them more get-up-and-go, even if they're feeling sluggish. Exercise triggers the body to release chemicals that it uses as energy. Just a few minutes of movement can kick your kid's body into gear, recharging and re-energizing them.

Exercise helps kids become better learners, too. Studies have found that after a quick burst of activity, kids with attention problems scored better on math and reading tests.

Try to get your kids to be active before they settle down to do homework -- play basketball, ride bikes, or do some jumping jacks. It will help them focus and get to their daily exercise goal of 60 minutes.

It's true -- moving more means they'll fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

Heard the advice that they shouldn't be active too close to bedtime? The opinion on that is changing. Some experts now say that if the only time you can fit in physical activity for your kids is within a few hours of bed, give it a shot and see how they do. The benefits of exercise are too good to pass up.

Swimming and biking are great types of exercise. But to build strong bones, your kid needs weight-bearing exercises -- the kind that makes them support their own body weight. Those are activities like skateboarding, running, and even hopscotch.

Getting your kids to use one of these step counters is a great way to get them moving. Adults should aim for 10,000 steps a day. Girls need 11,000, and boys need 13,000.

That might seem like a lot. But remember that kids tend to move around more than adults do. A kid's stride is also a lot shorter than a grown-up's, so they take more steps to cover the same distance.

Studies show that parents are 16% less likely to take their preschool girls outside to play than their boys. A lot of parents think of energetic, outside time as a "boy thing." But not even boys get enough of it. Only half of all preschool kids play outside with their parents once a day.

Free play outside is a key way to get all kids to love being active. To inspire the fun, have a bucket of toys -- jump ropes, balls, and sidewalk chalk -- ready to grab and go.

Remember that you have a huge effect on how much your kids exercise. Studies show that how much a parent moves is key in whether a kid exercises or not.

It's not just how much you exercise that matters; it's whether you enjoy it. So find something you like to do and go for it. You can show your kids that exercise isn't a chore -- it's fun!

You don't want your kids to get all their activity in front of a screen. But active video games -- with motion-sensitive controllers or cameras -- are fine for getting some of that daily 60 minutes of movement. If they get up and really get into them, it's definitely a whole lot healthier than sitting down, clutching a controller, and punching buttons.