Today, more than ever childhood obesity is becoming a real problem with children from every facet of life. Even though schools are making strides to improve the lunch and snack fare available to them during the hours that our children are under their care. It seems like more and more children, from elementary through middle-school are experiencing medical issues such as stage 2 diabetes.

Nearly one in six of all U.S. children and adolescents are obese, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. And with some struggling schools forgoing traditional physical education classes, health experts view this issue as a growing concern. The regular physical activity encouraged in PE classes not only helps build and maintain healthy bones and muscle, it has also been shown to improve students' academic performance.

"Research shows that school is one of the first places where kids establish health habits," says Jen Ohlson, co-founder of Interactive Health Technologies LLC (IHT), a company pioneering customized P.E. curricula through the use of heart rate monitoring. "As a solution, many health advocates are turning to physical education to positively impact adolescents' overall health. With the right tools and resources available in school that can extend to home, teachers and parents alike can reach students on an individual level, helping them achieve their own fitness goals."

This of course needs to be actively pursued by both parents and the school systems. Today’s children need to be shown that being more physical can help them both in the classroom and out of it as well. Especially if we get them motivated to join in available school sporting venues. We need to get them off the couch and outside participating in physical activities that get them breathing a little hard while using muscles that just aren’t being used when their sitting on a couch watching a movie, playing a video game or simply texting their friends who are also just sitting around their homes.

Physical activity, along with a sensible diet, rich in good proteins, the right carbs and even the right amount of fats will go a long way into allowing your child’s body to function the way it was designed to. You just can’t get fit by playing an action hero in a video game without you taking part in any REAL ACTION!

Set measurable short-term goals.
Motivation is all about goal setting. Teaching your kids to evaluate their habits, showing them just how much out of the day they’re just sitting around, being non-active as sort of a wakeup call, and showing them how they can make little changes that will improve their wellbeing is important and if explained correctly they just may surprise you and start listening to you about how they need to change up their lifestyle.

Setting goals can be a fun project for teachers and parents along with the students so you can all work collaboratively on making sure the goals are measurable, timely and realistically achievable. In order to track everyone’s progress. Yes, we said everyone because its not only the kids that are migrating to a larger pant size, it’s the adults as well. So we can all get on the same bandwagon and start getting in better shape by following through with the goals we mentioned above are so important to make.

Tracking Your Goals:
Use technology to help them understand.
"Research shows kids and adults in the U.S. are spending more than 7.5 hours a day using technology. Alarming as it may sound, we see leveraging that technology as an opportunity to help kids and the adults get and stay active," Ohlson says. Using activity trackers, that also have the functionality of a wrist-based heart rate monitoring device for PE, can make using wearable technology to motivate students and adults to exercise to their own individual potential. Harnessing the power of heart rate zone training, you can reach your goals by running around, jumping, dancing, really any activity that raises the heart rate.

One such tracker, maybe better suited for the adults is the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker. This SmartWatch with GPS, Tracks steps, distance, your sleep and has more than 15 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps, including yoga, running, swimming and more

You can monitor your fitness level with Vo2 Max and fitness made estimates, plus keep an Eye on how you handle stress with the Stress Indicator feature by First-Beat Technology. This little feature alone can help you stay focused on what you need to be able to do in order to reach your fitness goals.

Now depending on the age of your kids, for those aged from 5-10 years old you can look into the Garmin Vivofit Jr 2 : Kid's Interactive Activity Tracker  Parents manage their kid’s activity tracker by using the free app. Add multiple children, and see their steps, sleep, daily activities, and chore data when it syncs to your mobile device.

You can, Assign tasks and chores, set schedule alerts, find out how many reward coins each child has, access adventures, and even invite the whole family to compete in daily step challenges together, all from your mobile device.  Keeping track of just how much your kids are actually doing and then offer a reward for good performance.  Making a game out of being active, will jump-start their "Competitiveness-Mode" which will keep them looking to outperform their siblings, and or, friends.

So, now that you have a couple of tools available to you to inspire both your children and yourselves, what are you waiting for. Go on, get yourself motivated and get stepping, as a whole family!

Yep, it’s hard to believe but Labor Day, 2018 is just about here. In fact, it’s this coming Monday. For a LOT of people, Labor Day signals the end of summer. It’s also, for most people the day that they want to end their summer party season with a bang. This means, lots of food, from the traditional Hot dogs and Hamburgers to steaks, pulled pork, slow smoked barbecue and all those delicious sides and summertime deserts. Yes, a Labor Day cookout, family gathering or just getting all the friends together for one last summer bash puts paid to the phrase “Party Hearty”! And don’t forget all that liquid refreshment, some with alcohol, some with just plain old tremendous amounts of added sugar. Did I mention the word soda?? Always a great idea to have a cooler loaded with ice and bottled water to help slack everyone’s thirst, especially if that September sun makes you feel like its still August!

Well, having a Labor Day cookout/get-together is fine. Just keep things in perspective. Especially if you’re the one that has been trying to be fit and healthy all this year. You don’t want to blow it in one day, with trying to ingest all those summertime foods that seem to disappear once the Football season-pre-games start to appear in your tv’s schedule lineup, right?

As always, moderation is the key to everything. No one is saying that you can’t indulge in a pork-barbecue sandwich with a side of potato salad if you really want one. No sirree! But the important thing to keep in mind as your walking around that picnic table loaded with all that Labor Day party food, that keeping a reign on piling that plate full of food is something that after all the guests go home, you're going to feel pretty good about yourself.

One piece of advice on how to handle all that delicious, tempting, picnic fare, is handling it the same you would be doing at the upcoming holiday season, in regards to indulging in holiday fare. Take your plate and hit the salad items first. Selecting various vegetables and fruits prior to that potato and macaroni salads can curb that appetite down a bit. After all, remember those family members and friends that you may not have had the opportunity to see for a while. It’s easy to meander around with a plate of veggies in your hand while you catch up on everything they did over the summer. Once you’ve done the requirements of catching up with everyone, then you can head on over to the grill and select your favorites. After all, cookout foods are everyone’s favorites, I know my mouth waters when I think about sampling a nice slice of steak or savoring that sauce from a nice rib.

So, keeping things in perspective as you enjoy your food is that eating slowly, again, keeping up with all the conversations that are going on while the food is being passed along can keep you from refilling that plate, time and time again. And you’re really going to have a great time in hearing all the latest gossip from cousin Mark and hearing about your sister-in-law, talk about the savings she made in buying “Back to School” things for little Becky.

Now, to dial up that Labor Day picnic a notch, after the meal, before everyone sags into their chairs, get them up and get a backyard volleyball game started. Nothing says summertime cookout fun than getting everyone moving and enjoying some fun-time memories in the making by playing some outdoor games. And with everyone having a phone nowadays, you can be sure there will be a lot of pictures taken of those last-minute saves or spikes that made your brother Harry sprawl on the ground as he misses that ball 😊

Getting everyone active after, or even before that meal, can go a long way to boosting up everyone’s metabolism, so it can go a long way of helping everyone both digest that food and even help them to burn a few calories, at the same time, of course, that depends on how active they tend to be.

And if there are going to be children at the party, which as everyone knows makes the whole holiday worthwhile! Why not get together with their parents before the holiday and order a few children level activity monitors. This way you can get them interested in being more active than just telling them to get off the couch and put the video games or smartphones away as they stay riveted to their “Candy Crush” game or “Clash of the Titans”. One kid-friendly monitor that exceeds expectations, and allows the parents to view just how active their children have been is the Garmin Vivofit Jr 2 : Kid's Interactive Activity Tracker  Parents can manage their kid’s activity tracker by using the free app. Add multiple children, and see their steps, sleep, daily activities and chore data when it syncs to your mobile device.
Assign tasks and chores, set schedule alerts, find out how many reward coins each child has, access adventures, and even invite the whole family to compete in daily step challenges together, all from your mobile device.

And after the party, the Vivo-fit Jr. can still spike their interest by having them work towards continuing to be active every day with magical adventures. Every day that the kids meet their 60-minute activity goals, they advance in the kid-friendly adventure of their choice! You can choose between Mickey’s Birthday Surprise, Ultron’s Revenge: A Marvel Avengers Mission, or BB-8’s Adventure: A Star Wars Story. So, there is no reason for them NOT to be active, now and even as the season continues to change.

The main point in all of this is to be able to enjoy that Labor Day end to summer gathering, without feeling like you just dropped a bomb on your year of being good, both eating and fitness wise.

So, get your plans laid for marking off that volleyball court on the grass, lime works best for marking off the lines. I know that from experience. And then make sure you have enough fixings for those other people that are looking to eat a little healthier for the holiday. Turkey burgers, lean turkey sausages, and some whole wheat buns can help them and you out.

From All of us here at HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com, Happy Labor Day, enjoy it, We will be doing the same!