If you have not been able to find the motivation to exercise within yourself, then do it for your kids. Your health is one of the greatest gifts you can give your family.
1 Exercise is proven to reduces stress, elevate mood and ease anxiety by releasing feel-good hormones. We react better as parents when our baseline stress level is lower.
2. Fit mothers are healthy role models for their children.
3. Scheduling exercise shows a commitment to yourself and your needs. This improves family dynamics by establishing you as a priority and not just a person who serves the needs of others.
4. Exercise gives you more energy to keep up with your kids. The more you exercise, the more energetic you feel. You will find that you enjoy more active time with your kids when you can keep up with them.
5. People who exercise regularly fall asleep faster, sleep more soundly, waking up less frequently and remain in the deep sleep phase longer. Not only do you sleep more effectively, but when you wake up you are more alert and have better ability to concentrate…no need for coffee! Being well rested is clinically proven to improve decision making.
6. Exercise raises self esteem. Body image issues arise early in kids whose mothers are self-conscious. Your, “I look fat in this dress,” comment is more detrimental to a child’s budding sense of self than you may think. After all, they think you are the sun and the stars, if you don’t see yourself in that light, maybe they aren’t that great either.
7. Regular exercisers are more cognizant of what they eat and tend to make more nutritious food decisions including the choices they make for their children.
8. Mom’s gym time provides kids with needed autonomy or dad only time. The gym care center provides an ever-changing group of kids and staff which helps your child learn to introduce themselves, make friends and interact with others without the same parent or teacher monitoring them. Likewise, dads need time to bond with their kids without mom around.
9. Regular exercise boosts your immunities and reduces your risk of developing a host of health problems from diabetes to cancer. When you are sick it’s difficult to enjoy your children or keep up with the demands of family life.
10. Babies born to mothers who exercised while pregnant were more cognizant and developed faster according to a study that followed newborns through age five. These children scored significantly higher than children of non-exercisers in tests of intelligence and language over the five year study period.
Dani Federico M.P.H. holds a Masters in Public Health and a B.A. with a concentration in human biomechanics both from UC Berkeley. A lifetime athlete, Dani has studied various training philosophies and personally experimented with many different training techniques. Owner of KickStart Fitness, Dani is a personal trainer and nutritional counselor who has helped many people overcome obstacles on their way to becoming fabulous. She is the author of Mommy Fabulous: Complete Pregnancy Nutrition and Fitness Guide Designed to Deliver a Fabulous Postpartum Figure.