It is well known that sport and exercise can have mental, as well as physical benefits for the population. However, activity levels in the UK are declining.
The pandemic, and lockdown, led to a significant reduction in physical activity, according to a report published in The Lancet.
Sport England have reported that “Children who are more active are happier, more resilient and more trusting of others, but over half aged 5-16 are not active enough to enjoy these benefits.”
They go on to elaborate that “rates of 5-16-year-olds who may have had problems with aspects of their mental health to such an extent that it impacted their daily lives, has increased from one in nine in 2017, to one in six in 2020.”
So how do we address this?
There are many fantastic projects working on addressing these issues, and various excellent ideas on how to encourage children to participate in exercise. One such method is through narrative and storytelling, providing positive roles models in popular culture. I aim to play a small part in this regard, as an author, through the world of The Cheetah Cub Running Club.
While my recent primary focus has been on publishing books, I am an exercise and technology advocate and fascinated by how Web3 and other emerging technologies, can be leveraged to both incentivise exercise in the real world, provide access to education for underprivileged children, and play a role in rewarding community participation. I elaborate on this in this blog post.
A new focus
As such, I am focusing more of my time on explore the intersection between emerging tech, storytelling, and exercise, to help encourage and empower children.
Whether you are a parent, teacher, coach, running or tech enthusiast who has an interest in this area, I would welcome the opportunity to listen, learn and engage to discuss how we can encourage increased participation by our children in sport.
I look forward to sharing further articles on this topic based on my research and experiences over the coming weeks. Now it’s time for a run! 🙂
