Twenty, even ten years ago, children were constantly playing games like basketball, hopscotch and many other activities outdoors, but with the recent increase in technology, children have started spending more of their time indoors and being sedentary. It used to be very common for someone to drive through a neighborhood and see children playing in yards and driveways no matter the weather conditions, but in the past decade this has happened less often. This is devastating to children's growth because they are missing out on the key health benefits that people receive from exercising and being outdoors. Outdoor exercise, which is vital for children to grow up healthy and strong, has consistently been overshadowed by technology and education in the recent decade. 

Children have numerous options in order to receive an adequate amount of exercise in a day. Some of the easiest options are recess during school, gym class, and playing sports ("Kids"). Physical Education classes are generally the main source of exercise for children, but they are not the most beneficial and profitable because they tend to not involve long periods of consistent exercise. The best source for children to receive adequate exercise comes from sports (Rehealthify). Although, sports can be limited at times because each sport exercises a different part of the body. In order to stay well rounded, it is smart for children to be involved in several different sports that focus on different aspects of exercise towards the body. Another opportunity for children to receive exercise is by joining community programs like the YMCA (Svoboda-Barber 142). While exercising is important for people of all ages, it is especially important for children because they are constantly growing. This is important because by exercising, children's bones and muscles will grow strong. There are many other health benefits of exercising which include controlled body fat, decreased likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, and lower blood pressure. Generally, children should receive at least one hour of exercise a day, but exercising for a longer period of time is suggested ("Kids").  Exercise helps children develop motor and physical fitness. The motor skills are developed first because they include elements such as balance and speed, which are developed through play. Physical fitness begins once children are in kindergarten and include aerobic and endurance activities. 

The three elements that are exhibited when children are exercising are endurance, strength, and flexibility. Children often exhibit endurance when they are doing aerobic activities such as playing a sport, running, or bicycling. During these types of exercise, the heart begins to beat quicker causing individuals to breathe harder. When this behavior is done often, the heart becomes stronger which will improve the body's transportation of oxygen to the cells ("Kids"). Aerobic activities have other health benefits including decreasing the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease and helping to lower stress levels (Svoboda-Barber 141). Most children do not develop strength through weightlifting like most adults do. Instead, children can develop strength by doing pushups, crunches or simply climbing a structure on the playground ("Kids"). By building up endurance and increasing strength, bones become stronger thus making it less likely for an injury to occur. Children can also decrease their chances of developing hyper-flexibility injuries by strengthening their muscles around joints, thus strengthening joints (Svoboda-Barber 141). The third element, flexibility, is described as the tightness of the muscles in the body and the connective tissue encompassing joints (Svoboda-Barber 141). Children can improve their flexibility by stretching ("Kids"). Joints can become hyper-flexible or have a limited range of motion, which is why it is important to exercise all these of these elements instead of focusing on one. Hyper-flexibility occurs when the joint has too much range of motion than normal (Svoboda-Barber 141). Without even knowing it, children stretch when they are reaching for an item or doing a gymnastic trick. These three elements are shown during almost all exercise activities ("Kids"). 

Exercise can also provide children with cognitive and social development benefits. While there is not proven evidence that exercise directly impacts cognitive development, many scientists believe that by using muscles the brain grows faster, leading to enhanced cognitive abilities. This can be extremely beneficial to children's growth in the classroom. Another study gave a standardized test to children who exercise and children who do not exercise to compare the results. Those who do exercise generally scored higher than those who do not. Exercise is also a great way for children to socialize and interact with other people their age. Exercise can be a great source for children to learn correct behavioral lessons. When children do partner or group exercises they are learning how to properly work on a team. These types of exercises also show children how to act fairly, particularly when they do not succeed at their goals (Svoboda-Barber 143). Exercise can additionally be used as a stress reliever for children. By playing sports, children can get their aggression out, which will then reflect in better behavior when communicating in everyday situations (Brownbridge). Children often receive increased self-esteem from exercising, especially playing sports. Players will often set goals for themselves, and when the goals are achieved their self-esteem increases. Confidence is linked to enhanced cognitive and social development. Cognitive and social development relating to positive self concepts are interlocking benefits that come along with exercising (Svoboda-Barber 143).  

Not only is exercise important to people's health, but exercising outside is even more beneficial. Weather can be a big deterrent for people to exercise outside, often coming up with excuses like that it is too cold. Seasonal affective disorder is when people avoid the outdoors as often as possible during particular months-commonly winter. Symptoms of this condition include depression, sluggishness, and anxiety. In particular cases, people will begin to oversleep or have trouble focusing. There is not a known cause as to what triggers this condition, but it is believed that the body's chemical makeup and circadian rhythm are integral parts of it. During the winter months, there is less sunlight which confuses the circadian rhythm causing people's moods to be more negative than usual. Lack of sunlight exposure also means a decrease in serotonin, which is important for regulating moods. Sunlight exposure is not the only way to avoid this problem, by exercising, serotonin levels rise and stress levels decrease. By exercising outdoors, children can especially decrease their chance of experiencing seasonal affective disorder. Another reason why it is important to exercise outdoors is because of the vitamin D that the sun provides for the body's skin. Vitamin D helps avert heart attacks, cancers, and diabetes. Studies have also proved that by receiving sunlight exposure, injuries are healing faster. The University of Pittsburgh proved this when one of their spinal surgery patients reported feeling less pain when exposed to sunlight ("This"). Outdoor exercise does not just benefit children, but it benefits people of all ages. 

In the past decade elementary schools have been starting to do away with recess in order to make more time for learning. While some parents think this is a good idea because it provides their children with more knowledge, others disagree because the lack of exercise is negatively affecting their children's behavior. Nearly one third of kindergarten classrooms have eliminated recess to foster learning. This is teaching the younger generation that it is not important to spend time in nature, which is something that has not been taught before ("This"). One parent, Denene Millner wrote an article for Parenting School Years Magazine explaining her outrage of her daughter's recess being taken away. Millner begins her article by explaining that she understands why teachers would remove recess because children are at school in order to learn, but acknowledges the way that it makes her daughter act. She noticed that her daughter, an elementary school student, was more sluggish and exhausted because of the lack of breaks she was receiving from learning. During her daughter's long school day, the only break she received was a short lunch in which the children were only allowed to quietly talk to each other, (Millner). Several researchers held a study comparing the behavior of children who received recess and those who did not. The scientists used previously collected data of eight and nine results for their study. In order to draw a clear conclusion, the researchers divided the children as to whether they received recess or not and then further divided the children with recess based on how often they had it and how long it lasted. Outside of classroom characteristics were also taken in account regarding lifestyles and parenting. The teachers were in charge of rating the children's behavior in order to make the comparison. Based on the data from nearly 12,000 children, those who did not receive recess were likely to be from poorer areas and attend public school. It was also found that the behavior of those with recess was far better than those without it. Though, the data did not lead the researchers to believe that there was much of a difference between the behaviors of children with different amounts of recess. With these results, the scientists were able to come to the conclusion that recess is an important element in a child's school day in order to behave well (Barros). Recess provides children with such wonderful childhood memories that it can be shocking for parents to hear that their own children are not able to make the same kinds of memories. Overall, Millner states that around 40 percent of schools across the nation have cut back on recess because of there is not enough time or supervision in order to hold it. While most parents agree that it is important for children to receive recess, there are some parents that disagree with Millner believing that recess is not as important. Millner mentions that some parents are not bitter about the absence of recess because it allows for more time for their children to be learning. While these are legitimate reasons, there are more reasons to include recess in a school day than to not. 

In the past few decades, technology has become a significant part of everyday life, taking away from time that people would be spending outdoors. This is especially apparent for the younger generations because they are growing up as this technology is advancing, which makes it more intriguing for them. As technology has become more apparent in everyday life, it has started to replace normal activities such as playing outside. Children are more likely to sit inside to watch television or play a video game than they are to go for a bike ride or play basketball outside. Many people believe that this is not a problem because technology is going to be even more important in the future, thus it is important that children are fluent in the technology available now so that they are able to easily grasp the future advancements. A few researchers held a ten-year study called "The Influence of Young Children's Use of Technology On Their Learning: A Review" in order to test the effects of technology on children's learning. Based on the results of the study, the researchers found that technology has a positive effect on children's behavior. The scientists found that technology is an integral way for children to interact with each other and help each other on more complicated lessons (Ching-Ting). While this is proven by this study, not all people believe that this is true. Other researchers have found similar results from other studies. Douglas Clements wrote the report Young Children and Technology discussing the increase in the use of technology and how it affects children's learning abilities. He found that computers are a helpful tool for children because it allows children to learn at their own individual level. Children who need extra help in a subject can focus on that, while children who quickly grasp a subject can move onto the next topic. When children are learning in the classroom with one teacher, there is not as much of an opportunity for them to receive personal attention. Computers can also be a helpful source for visual learners. Many children learn better when they can see the material physically instead of hearing their teacher reciting it to them (Clements). While the Internet has been shown to have positive effects on children, other studies have proven that there is a larger amount of negative effects. 

There is often discussion as to whether the internet makes people lonelier or less lonely. This is usually not the case with exercise because many physical activities involve more than one person. Activities that do not need more than one person can be done in public areas, such as the gym or a park, so that people do not feel lonely. Many people make an argument that technology makes people feel less lonely because there are many ways to chat on the internet, but others argue that it makes people lonelier because the internet can be used to fill boredom. It is also thought that by using the internet too much people forget how to properly communicate in face-to-face situations. This is not often an issue that is related to exercising. Exercising and doing outdoor activities are often linked to improved communication skills through contact in sports. Two scientists, Elisabeth Engelberg and Lennart Sjoberg, held a study based on inter-personal skills between frequent and non-frequent internet users. Based on the data that the researchers found, those who use the internet more frequently are far lonelier than those who do not. The scientists also found that internet users had worse inter-personal skills than non-frequent users (Engelberg). This data proves that it is important for children to not spend as much time on the internet, and instead make spending time exercising and outdoors a priority. By interacting with other children through sports and other physical activities, inter-personal skills are learned and practiced. Skills that are practiced during these activities include sharing, sportsmanship, and communication. These are all important skills that children will need their whole life. By using technology constantly, instead of interacting physically with people, they could miss out on these vital life skills. 

Exercise is a beneficial way for adults, especially children, to stay healthy and make friends. Exercise and sports are social activities that involve face-to-face interaction, which allows children to build social skills. By exercising, children are also able to build strong bones and prevent diseases. Lately, children have been spending more time using technology than exercising which is detrimental to their health. Through many studies, it has been found that exercise is more beneficial to children growing up than technology. While education is just as important as exercising, children need balance during their school day. This balance can come from recess, allowing children's minds to have a break from learning. Outdoor exercise has many more benefits than daily use of technology for children, thus why it should be more a priority for their lives. 

