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Attempting to keep up with an active five-year-old can seem draining at times. If you have an active child of this age, or if you’ve ever been around one for any length of time, you may have found yourself longing for the kid to just sit still for a moment. However, recent research is validating the long-term health benefits of this whirlwind of activity. In fact, rather than attempting to slow these little ones down, five-year-olds should be aided in being as active as possible, according to a new University of Iowa study. Why? “Because it pays off as they grow older,” said Kathleen Janz, lead author of the study and professor of health and sport studies in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Even if kids don’t remain as active later in childhood, being active at age five helps them to stay lean as they get older. “We call this effect ‘banking’ because the kids benefit later on, similar to having a savings account at a bank. The protective effect is independent of what happens in between,” Janz went on to say.

The UI team tested the body fat and activity level of 333 kids at ages five, eight and eleven using a special scanner that accurately measures bone, fat and muscle tissue, and an accelerometer that measures movement every minute. Rather than depending on kids or parents to track minutes of exercise, the kids wore accelerometers to record their activity level for up to five days.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, indicates that kids who are active at age five end up with less fat at age eight and eleven, even when controlling for their accumulated level of activity. The average five-year-old in the study got thirty minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day. For every ten minutes on top of that, kids had one-third of a pound less fat tissue at ages eight and eleven.

Although further research is necessary to discover what happens to the bodies of the active kids that keeps them in better shape down the road, Janz said that it could be that the active 5-year-olds didn’t develop as many fat cells, improved their insulin response, or that something happened metabolically that offered some protection even as they became less active.

Nonetheless, as exciting as this study is, weight moderation is not the only benefit of early exercise. As a chiropractor I have observed in my own practice that active kids have far less of the usual childhood health issues, like catching colds and the flu. Chiropractic care is, of course, exceptionally beneficial in helping kids to stay healthier. But, in addition, the stimulation to the brain that occurs during activities, especially those that require “cross pattern” motor movements of the larger muscles, i.e., right hand/left leg and left hand/right leg, such as crawling, running, climbing, and skipping, also boosts the autoimmune system and keeps kids healthier.

A large number children today are overweight and unhealthy. Though part of the problem is an inappropriate diet, inactivity is also a major contributing factor. If you have a five-year-old who prefers to watch television or play video games rather than to participate in more active play, help your child to get up and get moving into healthier activities. Moderate to vigorous activity will not only benefit your child now, but will assist in building a healthier future. You can bank on it!

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