Activity encourages healthy habits to avoid heart disease
Cleveland Clinic News Service | 216.444.0141
We’re available to shoot custom interviews & b-roll for media outlets upon request.
CCNS health and medical content is consumer-friendly, professional broadcast quality (available in HD), and available to media outlets each day.
images: 0
video: 0
audio: 0
text: 0
Only one in three children are physically active every day. Children and teens spend more than seven hours per day on average using TVs, computers, phones and other electronic devices for entertainment. Inactivity can lead to obesity, and obesity can lead to a multitude of health problems including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and more.
Cleveland Clinic Children’s helped fourth and fifth graders at Chambers Elementary School — one of Cleveland Clinic Children’s School Based Health Care locations — learn to “love their hearts” with a fun, heart-healthy kickboxing class. Kids learned the importance of aerobic exercise before jumping into a high-energy routine led by Cleveland Clinic Children’s pediatric dietician and certified group fitness instructor Diana Di Fabio.
Although you typically don’t think of children when you hear terms like “coronary artery disease,” “high blood pressure” and “stroke” — it’s never too early for parents to take steps now to keep their children from worrying about those terms later. Inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease, and creating good habits around physical activity at a young age can get children off to a heart-healthy start.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children six years and older engage in exercise for at least 60 minutes per day. Kickboxing is a great aerobic exercise because it gets your heart pumping, it helps with coordination and endurance, it burns calories and it reduces stress.
More than 25 million U.S. children are currently overweight or obese — triple the number in 1980. These children are likely to be the first generation to die sooner than their parents. Help encourage children to put down the tablet and get active. View tips on how to motivate your kids.
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. Cleveland Clinic is consistently recognized in the U.S. and throughout the world for its expertise and care. Among Cleveland Clinic’s 81,000 employees worldwide are more than 5,743 salaried physicians and researchers, and 20,160 registered nurses and advanced practice providers, representing 140 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic is a 6,690-bed health system that includes a 173-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 23 hospitals, 276 outpatient facilities, including locations in northeast Ohio; Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2023, there were 13.7 million outpatient encounters, 323,000 hospital admissions and observations, and 301,000 surgeries and procedures throughout Cleveland Clinic’s health system. Patients came for treatment from every state and 132 countries. Visit us at clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at twitter.com/CleClinicNews. News and resources available at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.
Editor’s Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.
