How Exercise Benefits Children

A couple days ago I was talking to someone about the benefits of exercise and it occurred to me that perhaps the apparent diminishment of education, motivation, and the rise of ADD in the United States can mostly be blamed on the worsening trend in children getting exercise.  Well, I wouldn't call it exercise per se, but simply having physical fun, like climbing monkey bars, riding bikes, and throwing pine cones at your brother.  These were things that kids used to do every day, not even so long ago as the 1990's. Lo and behold,, researchers have found a link between lack of exercise and a decline in mental abilities among children.  Could it be that the decline of American intelligence is principally caused by lethargy (don't blame television or computers, they are just mediums), and will this "virus" of laziness spread across the planet, infiltrating all countries, gorging new economies that only lend interest to a parasitic lifestyle of consumerism? 

Exercise in young children improves their memory, helps them focus at school, and makes it less likely for children to develop a mental illness later on in life.  It's actually pretty obvious how this is true.  The hormone that is released during exercise is called endorphin, and this why a lot of people who exercise will tell you that they are "high on life".  Natural endorphins are better for you than any drug on the black market, I guarantee it.  It's a natural high, not the kind you get by tokin' it up with your homies.  Every time I exercise I feel like I can retain information or express myself better.  Not to mention it improves self-esteem, confidence, and increases awareness.

I was telling this woman about how it was only in the late 90's that my friends and I would play our favorite sports out in the streets of the neighborhood.  Ever since then I have not seen one group kids out there doing the same things we did, and it's a bit frightening.  Apparently we were the last generation that enjoyed good old fashioned reality-fun, not the kind you have pretending you're a demon slayer while drinking red bull on the sofa.  Nope, we liked to get down and dirty.  Even then there was a lot of virtual entertainment, so I can only imagine how often the kids played outside back in the 1950's.  Please parents, take your children to the playground and don't coop them up in your home all day.  Not only will they have more appreciation for nature, but there's a subtlety to the way natural fun inspires people to become deeper, kinder people who care about others, and to the way they realize who they really want to be.  There's no art in virtual entertainment; there's only art where the heart is free to explore its environment.