Are future generations of inactive children destined to be ticking time bombs with their health and longevity? It has been predicted that children born today will have a 20 ? 30 year shortened life span than us adults living today. How can we as sensible and intelligent adults change this fact and leave a much better legacy to the young people of tomorrow.



Could it start with us teaching them that about the history of physical activity and its importance to us human beings? They need to learn that the lack of enough physical activity in all of our lives has become such a massive problem in the world today. It could also be one of the most serious global health issues that they will face in their lifetime.

This threat is called modern chronic disease and accounts for 60 percent of the world's deaths. This modern day epidemic of self inflicted "lifestyle" disease includes heart disease, cancer and diabetes kills more than 2600 Americans every single day. The predicted number of people that will die from these causes in the next decade is 388 million worldwide.

Previous generations of our ancestors engaged in hard manual labor, whether farming, hunting, building and had to exert a high level of physical effort just to survive on a daily basis. The technological revolution and modern inventions have changed the way we do things and most labor intensive jobs have been replaced by automation.

The changes have happened so quickly, a hardworking man just 50 years ago would sweat behind a horse and plow all day, walk or cycle to the village to buy food or go to the bank, and do home repairs in the evening. The lifestyle of his grandchildren however, is very different. Many modern day workers sit in front of a computer almost all day, drive a car virtually everywhere, and spend the evening in front of the TV or on the internet. All done without any vigorous movement involved.

So what you may say to yourself. But the problem is that the human body has been built for constant and vigorous "work" to allow our species to survive in harsh conditions going back thousands of years. Our genes have not yet had time to change and adapt. They have no idea there is a fridge full of food in the next room and we no longer have any reason to be strong as we don't have to do any manual work to survive.

You see, without constant activity the human body cannot possibly stay healthy. It needs vigorous movement to stimulate the hormones that instruct every tissue, cell, system and process in our body to repair, rebuild, replace and renew itself. Without this happening there is only decay and degeneration and a downward spiral of decreasing health with the life force slowly been being siphoned out of the victim.

The facts are that at least 35 chronic major diseases are linked to a lack of vigorous activity in our lives. How can we allow this to continue to effect future generations? We would not want them to suffer and experience the strong possibility of a premature and preventable death, yet what are we doing to help them?

Don't children learn from their parents? If the parents do not practice self care and live an inactive or sedentary lifestyle how will children know any different? It is bad enough that they are bombarded by junk food advertising everywhere they go as well as in their own living room from television.

They don't know that eating 5000 calories a day and spending their leisure time mesmerized with a screen of some description instead of being active is a certain recipe for chronic ill health down the track. How can the adults of today teach anything to help these young people lead healthier lives when 70% of us lead inactive and sedentary lifestyles ourselves?

Don't be in denial that your child is fit, as nine out of ten parents do, when in reality one out of three gets enough physical activity. Does your child spend 20% of their waking time watching TV as most children do according to research?

It would be a good start if each of us took responsibility for our own health and well-being first so we would be good role models and teachers for our young people. After all shouldn't it be "do as I do" not "do as I say". Take some serious action and turn all this around. Besides, getting involved in your children's physical fitness is a great opportunity to start and benefit from your own fitness regimen.