Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy!

Kids exercise all the time without even thinking of it. Just being active, like when you run around outside or play kickball at school, is a kind of exercise. What else counts as exercise? Playing sports, dancing, doing push-ups and even reaching down to touch your toes. When you exercise, you’re helping build a strong body that will be able to move around and do all the stuff you need it to do. Try to be active every day, and your body will thank you later!

You may know that your heart is a muscle. It works hard, pumping blood every day of your life. You can
help this important muscle get stronger by doing aerobics.
Aerobic means ‘with air,’ so aerobic exercise is a kind of activity that requires oxygen. When you breathe,
you take in oxygen, and if you’re doing aerobic exercise, you may notice you’re breathing faster than normal. Aerobic activity can get your heart pumping, make you sweat and quicken your breathing.
When you give your heart this kind of workout on a regular basis, your heart will get even better at its
main job — delivering oxygen (in the form of oxygencarrying blood cells) to all parts of your body. Do you want to do some aerobic exercise right now? Try swimming, basketball, ice or roller hockey, jogging, walking quickly, in-line skating, soccer, cross-country skiing, biking or rowing. And don’t forget that skipping, jumping rope and playing hopscotch are aerobic activities, too!