Lengthy, but Interesting…
December 19, 2007, 3:49 pm
Filed under:
14-18,
5-9,
barriers,
cultural,
gender,
movement,
overcoming,
play,
research 
“COMPLETE FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT”: VIDEO GAMES AS GENDERED PLAY SPACES
by Henry Jenkins
[Download PostScript version for printing] A Tale of Two Childhoods
Sometimes, I feel nostalgic for the spaces of my boyhood, growing up in suburban Atlanta in the 1960s. My big grassy front yard sloped sharply downward into a ditch where we could float boats on a rainy day. Beyond, there was a pine forest where my brother and I could toss pine cones like grenades or snap sticks together like swords. In the backyard, there was a patch of grass where we could wrestle or play kickball and a treehouse, which sometimes bore a pirate flag and at other times, the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy. Out beyond our own yard, there was a bamboo forest where we could play Tarzan, and vacant lots, construction sites, sloping streets, and a neighboring farm (the last vestige of a rural area turned suburban).
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The Tickle Monster Needs To Lie Down Now
Why don’t parents like to play with their kids?
By Emily Bazelon
Posted Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007, at 1:39 PM ET
In his new book,
Children at Play: An American History, Brown University historian Howard Chudacoff gives us the following late-19
th-century snapshot of a mother-daughter outing to a city park: “The older person, quietly seated beside the footpath, is half absorbed in reverie. … The other, left to her own devices, wanders contented within the limited scope, incessantly prattling to herself; now climbing an adjoining rock, now flitting like a bird from one side of the pathway to the other.”It’s an entirely approving portrayal written by an educator of the period named William Wells Newell, which Chudacoff offers as a rare recognition of the importance of children’s free play. But to me, and I’d wager to a lot of parents, it’s all too sinkingly familiar. Yes, the kid seems happy enough. But what about that daydreaming mother—shouldn’t she be turning over pine cones and acorns with her daughter, or at least talking to her once in a while? Is that mom really giving her daughter the latitude to discover nature, explore the world, think her own thoughts—or is she just lazy?
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Parrellel’s to be Drawn from Guitar Hero…?
December 19, 2007, 3:16 pm
Filed under:
14-18,
19-39,
barriers,
lifestyle,
motivation,
movement,
object,
overcoming,
play It seems for every Guitar Hero video posted by anyone, there will inevitably be comments like, “Go buy a real guitar!”, “What’s the point?”, “Get a life!”, and so on. I think people overestimate how much time it takes to learn how to play these games. If you play other music/rhythm games, the concept is similar and the learning curve is a lot lower. Even if you’re playing for the first time, it’s pretty simple.
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Get Out of the Rut…
Stuck in a Fitness Rut Why it’s bad for you: If you never vary your fitness routine, your body adapts to it after time, and muscle will stop growing, says Pamela Peeke, MD, author of Fit to Live and Prevention’s medical advisor. You’re likely to get bored with your workout if you’re doing the same thing every time, making it easier to find excuses to skip the gym altogether. A University of Florida study found that exercisers who varied the type of exercise were 15% more likely to work out regularly than those sticking to the same routine and 63% more likely than people who had no set schedule or rules.
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Fitness through the decades…
If there’s a magic pill for staying youthful, it may be one that’s hard to swallow: exercise. Daily doses have been proven to thwart a number of aging factors — stress, obesity, heart disease, diabetes — and the longer you’re physically active, the less you’ll notice getting older.
Weight training is good at any age.
The catch is that a 50-year-old’s body is not the same as a 20-year-old’s; you can’t push it the same way you once did, nor should you if you want to keep it in working-out order.
So listen to these coaches — they’re talking not just professionally but also firsthand — on how to remain fit, and proud of it, through the decades.
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Adolescent Boys report…
Male adolescents’ reasons for participating in physical activity, barriers to participation, and suggestions for increasing participation
Kenneth R. Allison Physical activity and fitness are generally recognized as contributing to enhanced physical and mental health as well as prevention of a number of diseases and other problems later in life (Blair et al., 1989; Haskell, Montoye, & Orenstein, 1985; Powell & Blair, 1994; Stephens, 1988; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Furthermore, concern about greater numbers of overweight and obese children, and the question of whether this pattern will continue into later adolescence, also suggest the benefits of physical activity among children and youth (Dishman, Sallis, & Orenstein, 1985; Sallis, Prochaska, & Taylor, 2000; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). The normal pattern during adolescence, based largely on cross-sectional studies in North America and other settings, indicates a decrease in activity with increasing age (or grade), compounded by consistently lower levels of activity among females compared to males (Allison & Adlaf, 1997; Tappe, Duda, & Ehrnwald, 1989; Trost et al., 2002). Because of the health and other benefits of physical activity, these lower levels of physical activity among older adolescents are of concern.
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Older Adults report…
Barriers to Being Physically Active for the Older Adult
We all face barriers to physical activity – time constraints, energy levels, boredom and so on. Seniors face even more barriers, like…
- Difficulty getting to facilities and programs
- A lack of interest in physical exertion and getting hot and sweaty
- Poorly designed neighbourhoods, or neighbourhoods that are unsafe because of crime or traffic congestion that make it difficult to even just get out and walk
- Trouble finding specialized programs
- Difficulty finding time for yourself because you’re busy caring for others
- Feeling you’re unsteady on your feet
- Stiffness, arthritis, osteoporosis or other medical conditions
- A previous poor experience or injury.
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Urban planning and activity…
By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Sunday, November 05, 2006
NEWS RELEASES
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
HEALTH BEHAVIOR NEWS SERVICE
*************************
New Saint Louis University research paints portrait of how active communities look
ST. LOUIS – A new comprehensive study by Saint Louis University researchers that flags the top 10 features of activity-friendly communities is a blueprint for improving public health, the author of the research says.
“We wrote the book on identifying the range of different influences that gets people engaging in physical activity not just for recreation but as part of their everyday life activities,” says Laura Brennan Ramirez, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of community health at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.
“We outlined what needs to happen and what is most feasible. It’s going to require a commitment toward health and social wellbeing.”
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Teen Girls report…
December 17, 2007, 3:13 pm
Filed under:
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personal Teen Girls Report Barriers To Physical Activity
05 Apr 2006
Teenage girls perceive lack of time as the number one barrier to physical activity, according to a new study published in the March issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise�, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The three-year survey assessing black and white adolescent girls reveals sedentary habits are mostly linked to internal barriers (interest, motivation), which were unrelated to external factors (jobs, recreation).
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From the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention…
Overcoming Barriers to Physical Activity
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” —Anonymous
Given the health benefits of regular physical activity, we might have to ask why two out of three (60%) Americans are not active at recommended levels. There are barriers that keep Americans from being, or becoming, regularly physically active. Understanding common barriers to physical activity and creating strategies to overcome them may help you make physical activity part of your daily life.
