I think they just mean kids should be active for at least 1 hour a day. As in get outside and play...it doesn't have to be an organized sport or something. I think part of it is for health and part of it is just to cut down on screen time.
The requirements for adults for maintenance are 30 minutes a day I believe, but for weight loss around 5 hours a week is recommended.
Well, adults are bigger than kids. They likely burn more calories from just living than kids do. Especially guys. This may be offset by adults eating a bit more than kids do, though.
60 minutes of playtime for a kid is not huge. Like most others, I'm pretty sure I did that when I was little - riding bikes, running up and down the cliff behind our house, running in circles around the house, playing games.
Kids these days have more options to just sit and do nothing. We had no computer, and were only allowed to watch 30 minutes of TV a day so we were quite active.
When I think about how much time I spent running around and playing sport with other children when I was a kid, 60 minutes of exercise doesn't seem like all that much.
I suppose kids need more exercise because they have muscles to build and bones to strengthen when growing.
If you read further on in the paragraph it suggests enlisting children in things like sport teams. So, I think it is just referring to activity and being active and not necessarily structured exercise which adults would do.
I think the real problem is that we've got such distorted views on exercise that we see one hour a day as a lot.
It's 4% of the day.
Consider that before the industrial age, most adults and children physically moved 8-10-12 hours a day. Our bodies were made to move. Obesity was rare. Our sedentary lifestyles in conjunction with processed foods are killing us.
I strive for a minimum of an hour of vigorous exercise a day, and more on the weekends.
Why Are the Exercise Requirements for Children So Huge?
