Daycare centers play a very important role in helping preschoolers reach their daily physical exercise needs. But a new study shows that very few children get adequate outdoor recess time.
Only three in 10 children had at least 60 minutes of a full child-care day outdoors for recess, as is recommended by current guidelines.
“We know daily physical activity is essential for children’s growth and development. It improves cardiovascular and bone health and has been linked to improved mood, attention, and cognitive performance,” said senior author Kristen Copeland, M.D., of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“Yet, few preschoolers are meeting daily physical activity recommendations of 60 minutes or more per day.”
The findings of the Preschool Eating and Activity Study (PEAS) revealed that children in daycare centers who did receive at least 60 minutes of outdoor time were more active over 24 hours than children that did not get this time. In fact, the amount of outdoor time while at child care was the only factor that predicted the total amount of physical activity children obtained over the full 24-hour day.
[For more of this story, written by Traci Pedersen, go to http://psychcentral.com/news/2...e-centers/94856.html]
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