Category: Exercise

Exercise, Inspiration

A little inspiration for the weekend

‘Up For Air’ explores the human spirit’s fight for survival through the eyes of Jerry Cahill – a 53-year-old pole-vaulter who continues to fight respiratory degeneration, depression and a potentially fatal double-lung transplant. Shot over a period of five years, Up For Air captures the fragility of life with a chronic, fatal illness as it disrupts physical, mental, interpersonal and professional well-being, and how the intersection of dedicated athleticism, self discipline, and community outreach can achieve unprecedented outcomes.

Doesn’t that make you want to put your trainers on and take your kid for a run?

Exercise

Spring / Summer Sports ideas

yewAustralia is famous for its participation in winter sports. Now that they’re sadly coming to an end, it’s time to put the thinking caps on about how to keep activity levels up over the warmer months. Spring/Summer sports don’t come to mind as readily as winter sports, but there are actually a lot of options. Registration for organised sports is usually in September, so don’t delay. Here’s a few options to start you thinking:

 

Basketball  

Cricket

Cycling

Dancing

Gymnastics

Trampolining

Rock Climbing

Little Athletics

Nippers  

Futsal

Rowing

Oztag

Softball/Baseball

Surfing

Tennis

Swimming
       

Just remember, it’s not all about paid, organised sports and activities. We are fortunate to live in a country with beautiful weather conducive to being outdoors for long periods in the mornings and evenings during day light saving. One of the best things you can do to help manage your child’s CF is to put them in environments that encourage them to be active, so get out there and get active!

Here are a couple of links which may give you some ideas for kid’s sporting activities

Kidspot Sports Activity Listing

Sydney Olympic Park Sporting Activities

Active Activities

Ella’s List Kids Sporting Activities

Healthy Kids – NSW Sporting Activities

And don’t forget for those of you who live near a beach, salt water activities are terrific for the health of your child. Think surfing, swimming, body boarding and snorkelling. All great activities to start thinking about now. And we’re lucky in Sydney that our weather gets warmer earlier than in other states so now might be the time to start thinking about dusting off that body board, strapping on a warmer wetsuit and getting out into the ocean. There’s a few surf companies who run surf camps in the holidays and lessons after school that might  help your child catch the surfing bug.

Let’s Go Surfing – Eastern Suburbs

Manly Surf School – Northern Beaches from Manly to Palm Beach

Cronulla Surf School – The Sutherland Shire

And for those of you who haven’t read about the benefits of surfing for CFers, check out these articles:

The Surfing Solution

Look to the Sea for CF Treatment

Surfers Inspire New Treatment

How Surfing Helps Those with CF – A US Story

Michael Doumit – CF Physiotherapist

Exercise

Get into surfing

1GriffandGrom

So what does CF have to do with surfing? Quite a bit, it turns out.

Just a few years ago, there were some CF doctors here in Australia who noticed there was a group of their patients who seemed to be doing better than others. They tried to figure out what the patients had in common and finally had their answer.

Surfing.

“These kids all surfed,” said Michael Shumard, executive director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “They did their research and found that when they were out there on the water, they’d breath in that misty, salty air, and it lubricated their lungs.”

Breathing clearly is a big problem with CF, and when the kids would come in from a surf, they could more easily clear the mucus, and it settled their airways. The findings resulted in the development of what’s called “hypertonic saline” treatments, which mimic breathing in that salty air.

And that’s great, but surely these kids would rather get on a board than suck on an inhaler.