Since it’s the New Year, what better topic to talk about than New Year’s resolutions? According to the Washington Post, 40-50% of Americans
make New Year’s resolutions. A whopping 8% keep them throughout the year. That’s not good! The number one trick to achieving your goal? Keep it Simple.
A goal we recommend is teaching your kids healthy habits, such as the importance of drinking enough water and exercising. A simple (for you and them) and fun exercise is jumping. If you aren’t sure about the actual results of jumping, we’ve compiled a list from studies proving the benefits of jumping.
*For reference, bouncing is defined as “to cause rebound; to spring back or up after striking a surface” and the definition of trampolining is “the sport of jumping and tumbling” and jumping is “to move your body upward from the ground and often forward, backward, or sideways through the air by pushing with your legs.”
NASA
This is from a 1980 study from the Journal of Applied Physiology that was commissioned for NASA and done by the Biomechanical Research Division of NASA-Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, in conjunction with the Wenner-Gren Research Laboratory at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
“For similar levels of heart rate and oxygen consumption, the magnitude of the bio mechanical stimuli is greater with jumping on a trampoline than with running…The external work output at equivalent levels of oxygen uptake was significantly greater while trampolining than running. The greatest difference was about 68%.”
Don Bennett from his 2006 book, Avoiding Degenerative Disease: The Operation and Maintenance Manual for Human Beings
“Your heart circulates your blood continuously, delivering nutrients, oxygen, and hydration to your cells. But what about your cell’s waste products? Although running is good for the lymphatic system, over time it can take a toll on your joints (and on your heart believe it or not). So, on balance, running is not the best way to move your lymph fluid around. Skipping, ‘spirited walking’, and rebounding are your best choices. Time to take a cue from kids-jump!”
Dr. David Eager, a professor of Engineering and Information Technology at Australia’s University of 
Technology in Sydney
“Trampoline users experience cyclical loadings between almost weightlessness to approximately 5 G-force. Not only is trampolining an effective but it is also an efficient form of exercise. NASA’s trampolining studies compared trampolining and running and found that 10 minutes of trampolining on a trampoline is equivalent to running for approximately 30 minutes. Like any other form of exercise, trampolining increases the heart rate and reduces the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Studies in the use of trampolining for cardiovascular fitness have prove that mini-trampoline exercise satisfies the American College of Sports Medicine criteria for improvement of cardiorespiratory conditions. The study by Perantoni et al. found that trampolining participants experienced a heart rate increase to 189 beats per minute…”
So, now you see the results. Do you feel a little like Bill Nye? We do. In our next blog, we will cover simple and realistic goals to teach your kids healthy habits on a budget that you can afford. Stay tuned!
