Regular exercise helps to keep you healthy, and boosts your energy and self-esteem. However if you are not keen on sport and dread PE lessons, you may feel little urge to introduce more physical activity into your life.
Making sport more enjoyable
There are plenty of ways you could make sport an enjoyable, positive experience, and you may get the chance to try out new activities that you enjoy more.
Think about the changes you would like to see and suggest these via the pupil council or class forum. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- smaller class sizes to allow more focus on individual pupils
- less competitive team games
- introduce more 'individual' activities, like trampolining, gym work or aerobics
- single sex classes to get over the 'embarrassment' factor
- start a club for your favourite sport, which may be new to the school.
Activity without sport
Physical activity is not just about formal sports, however. You don't have to don a sweatband and tracksuit – there are many other ways of introducing more physical activity into your daily routine. Here are just a few suggestions:
- have a kick around or throw a ball around with friends at break times
- walk or cycle to school: if this is not practical, get dropped off five minutes' walk from the gate – a brisk walk will help wake you up and will also ease traffic congestion
- use the stairs as much as possible – even if your school has a lift
- take your dog (or a neighbour's dog) for a walk before or after school
- find a paper round or leaflet delivery job – which will help the cash flow as well!
Useful web links
- Food Fitness
This easy-to-use website features the Activater and Dolittle families and provides lots of good advice for a healthy lifestyle and tips on how to improve diet and fitness. - Kids Health
The USA-based Kids Health website has advice, games and activities on all aspects of health with tips on how to get more physically active and eat a healthier diet. - Kidnetic
The Kidnetic website produced in the USA has lots of advice and tips about how to get more active as well as interesting and exciting recipe ideas for a healthy diet. - Body and Mind
The Body and Mind website has interactive games and activities on different aspects of health including being more physically active. This website is produced in the USA.
