The COVID-19 virus has changed our world. In just a few short months we’ve created a whole new vocabulary to describe the virus and its effects, new terms we’re all familiar with by now. Lockdown, sheltering, social distancing, flattening the curve, they all refer to the new landscape we’re living in. 

One of the most profound effects of the virus is on the way people exercise. During lockdown itself, when we couldn’t go out except for exercise, millions of us realised – some for the first time – how important it is to be able to get outdoors and move around. 

How children have missed out on vital exercise and social contact
Our children have suffered a lot, being stuck indoors for weeks on end, unable to play out. But it’s much more than a physical thing. A lack of fresh air and exercise affects our mental health, our happiness, the quality of our sleep, all sorts of things. 

Because children have not been able to go to school they’ve missed out on fun stuff like regular football training for kids. They’ve missed seeing their friends as well as missing out on all the regular physical activity they do at school, playing formal games in lessons and after school as well as running around at playtimes and breaks. 

If like millions of others, your child has spent more time at home in front of the TV or games console recently than outside having fun, it’s time to redress the balance. With lockdown easing and the country starting to get back on its feet, now’s the time to get your child back on track – maybe even join them yourself! 

The importance of exercise for every part of life  
Football is a truly beautiful game. Anyone, of any age, can play the planet’s best-loved sport, and playing football is very good for you. It’s such a brilliant all-rounder. You get stronger and fitter, you burn fat, you build muscle, you become flexible and strong. No wonder football training for kids and even toddler football classes are so popular. Footie helps with hand-eye coordination, balance, teamwork, discipline, even self-confidence. But there’s so much more than football training for kids and toddler football offers your children. 

• Exercise makes you feel happier. It boosts your mood and decreases depression by lowering the brain’s sensitivity to stress and anxiety with the happy hormones serotonin and norepinephrine, as well as releasing endorphins, known to produce positive feelings and reduce the impact of pain. 

• Exercise helps to lose weight. Regular exercise increases the body’s metabolic rate, so it burns more calories. It also helps to maintain muscle mass. 

• Exercise benefits the muscles and bones, building and maintaining strength. It also builds up bone density in children, which helps prevent osteoporosis later on It’s interesting to know that impact sports like football promote higher bone density than non-impact sports 
• Exercise can boost your energy levels and cuts fatigue
• Exercise reduces the risk of serious diseases, improving insulin sensitivity and heart and lung health while decreasing blood pressure and blood fat
• Exercise supports good brain health and memory skills, firstly by boosting the heart rate, which sends blood and oxygen to the brain. It can even stimulate hormones that make brain cells grow better. Excitingly, exercise also makes the hippocampus brain area grow, which helps with memory and learning 
• Exercise, as you probably know if you’ve had kids at home through the crisis, helps us relax, sleep better, and feel more energetic throughout the day 
• Exercise can have an effect on pain, both reducing and relieving it 

As you can see, regular exercise has so many physical, mental and emotional benefits for children. And that means you, as a parent, benefit as well! Will you treat your little ones to football training for kids or toddler football training in 2020? If so, you’ll improve their health in many different ways. 

Get in touch to book a football training class for your little one on 020 8360 8997 or visit our website to book online.