May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month!

Did you know the month of May is designated National Physical Fitness and Sports Month? In 1983, President Ronald Reagan encouraged Americans to incorporate more activity into their lives, and the reminder is even more significant today as kids are distracted more and more by television, social networking and video games. Kids living an active lifestyle can improve their health, productivity and overall well being, and best of all? It doesn’t have to take a lot of time!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has provided these helpful public health guidelines for your information. The guidelines call for children and teenagers to exercise one hour every day of moderate intensity physical activity (such as playing sports or brisk walking) or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity (jogging, dancing and jumping rope).

At R. Scott Smith Orthodontics, we always encourage our patients to exercise or participate in sports. However, we want to remind you to always wear a mouth guard or other forms of facial protection - there are plenty - when playing sports. To learn more about how often your child should exercise, we recommend you check out this series of helpful articles about kids and exercise, courtesy of our friends at KidsHealth.org.

Happy Wednesday!