That's why it's important for your children to move 🏃‍♀️

The recommendations are from the age of six and say that you should be active 60 minutes a day, but more time than that brings more good health effects, effects that follow the rest of your life. The opportunity to strengthen the skeleton and thereby avoid osteoporosis as an adult is, for example, before puberty. Therefore, weight-bearing activities are important in childhood. If you are active as a child, it can lay a good foundation for your health as a 35-year-old.

Örjan Ekblom is one of the researchers behind the work of the Swedish recommendations. He tells us that there is no golden age limit for when you can start to assimilate training. In fact, exercise is beneficial from day one.

Three times a week the activity should be more intense and you should be out of breath. 60 minutes of movement a day can be a brisk walk to and from school or just pure play.

Örjan Ekblom points out that it is important to know the purpose of the training. As an example, he mentions cardio training. Before puberty, it is difficult for the body to absorb cardio training.

- This form of training can of course have other good effects, but it will not affect fitness. However, strength training can lead to a child becoming stronger before puberty. The control of their muscles becomes more efficient, but it is only after puberty that you can get bigger in terms of muscle mass.

Ekblom says that studies clearly show that those who are stressed, depressed or anxious can have a very good acute effect in these areas. Things like poor sleep and school performance can be improved with primarily cardio.

In 2019, the World Health Organization, WHO, produced recommendations for younger children as well. These recommendations state that children under one year of age should get at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day and children between 1-2 years of age at least 180 minutes of physical activity. 180 minutes also applies to children aged 3–4, but in this age group 60 minutes of these should be of moderate to high intensity.

Regular strength training for children and young people has been reported to lead to several positive effects, such as increased strength and reduced risk of suffering injuries in various sports. Furthermore, it has also been reported that training with the aim of increasing strength can play an important role in motor learning. The recommendations state that muscle and bone strengthening activity should be included at least three times a week for children between 6-17 years of age.