Parent Power
As parents, perhaps the greatest gift we can give our children is good
health. Unfortunately, illnesses like heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes
and certain cancers are common in Ireland. Worryingly, these illnesses have
their roots in childhood. For example, heart disease doesn’t happen
overnight, it takes decades to develop - the habits that our children pick
up now will affect their risk of heart disease in 20 or 30 years time.
Luckily, as parents we are in a great position to mould our kids habits.
If we can encourage our children to be more physically active and to have a
better diet, we can drastically improve their future health, and help them
to avoid serious illnesses in later life. Good lifestyle habits, including a
healthy diet and regular physical activity can also reduce the risk of
stress and depression, and can even help children to perform better in
school.
Irish children often have very poor dietary habits. Our children consume huge amounts of junk food, and don't eat nearly enough
fruit and
vegetables for good health. Irish children have the sweetest tooth in
Europe, consume huge amounts of fizzy drinks, and snack heavily on junk
food. Levels
of physical activity in
Irish children are also worryingly low. As a nation we are increasingly
inactive...a significant percentage of children spend most of their leisure
time mentally and physically passive watching TV. These lifestyle
habits are a deadly combination, increasing the risk of certain cancers, heart
disease, type II diabetes and obesity...with obesity being only the tip of
the iceberg. You can
check what the World Health Organisation has to say about this issue by clicking
here. Poor lifestyle habits are becoming the norm, and this is a real
problem.
Lifestyle choices
also affect performance in every area
of human endeavour. Poor diet and
lack of physical activity affect mood, academic performance, and may even contribute to behavioral difficulties
like ADHD.
If you are a
parent, you can make a massive difference to the future health of your child
simply by guiding your children towards good dietary habits and regular physical
activity. Click on the links above for more information and practical tips.
