You Need to Hear this Before You Let Your Kids Just “Lounge” Around the House All Summer

School’s out, but before you let the kids “relax,” a.k.a. lounge around and play video games, binge watch TV or text all day, you may want to consider the benefits of less sedentary hobbies. Keeping a healthy routine of physical activity may help protect children from certain diseases, according to a new study.

Be proactive about lead exposure for babies and children

Parents have enough to worry about! Toxic metals shouldn’t be one of them. However, whether we like it or not, lead is all around us -- in drinking water, lipsticks, older paints, foods, soil, air and dust. Although it’s a naturally occurring heavy metal found in small amounts in the Earth’s crust, it can be toxic to your health and even more toxic to your little ones.

Your guide to understanding TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) to get you through the fall sports season

School is back in full swing, complete with daily bus rides, homework and afterschool sports! For many student-athletes and their families, it’s a busy season. But don’t let safety discussions get lost amidst the day-to-day hustle and bustle. Sports season is prime season for discussing traumatic brain injury recognition, brain injury recovery, and of course, prevention.

Why recess may be the secret to your student’s academic success

What’s trending in schools across the country? The death of recess. Surveys and studies show schools are reducing recess in order to squeeze in more academics, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports. However, experts are grabbing the mic, saying hold on -- this is doing more harm than good. In fact, they say, research suggests physically active students who spend less time with academic content seem to outperform sedentary students who spend more time with academic content, they say. So is less academics and more recess the actual key to student success?

Scientists look to babies’ gut bacteria to predict their asthma and allergy risk

Products that promote “good bacteria” continue to be popular among health-seekers in supermarkets, with probiotic drinks like kombucha gaining notoriety. Even beyond digestion, the various microorganisms that live in your gut (called your “gut microbiota”) may affect things like your mood and how often you get sick. So it’s no surprise that scientists wanted to find out how gut bacteria in babies affected their likelihood for developing asthma and allergies.

Toddlers with Type 2 diabetes?

Did you know that even 3-year-olds can get Type 2 diabetes? Chronic diseases aren’t just for adults anymore. For many reasons, pediatricians are now having to handle Type 2 diabetes, a condition that most doctors considered to be an “after-40” type of disease. So what’s contributing to the surge in diabetes in children?

Try natural solutions to help kids with ADHD focus

Getting kids to pay attention has never been easy, but now, it’s a worldwide obsession. In the last few decades, diagnoses of childhood ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) have skyrocketed, along with sales of potent, expensive drugs to treat the disorder. Almost everyone knows a family affected by ADHD.

Exercise does a kid’s brain good

It’s no secret that many students in every grade level at schools across the country are struggling with their studies. But what if the answer for helping them blossom isn't necessarily more time in the classroom or more teachers? To the contrary, could the answer be spending less time in the classroom and more time being outdoors playing or doing some form of exercise?

Are cell phones harming your children?

For most people, cell phones are an integral part of daily life. And there’s an app for everything, from business productivity to video chatting and from laundry services to ride sharing. It’s easy to stay connected all the time and it seems that’s exactly what people are doing. As of April 2014, there were over 328 million cell phones in use in the U.S. (yes, more than one cell phone for every man, woman and child), and that number is expected to continue to increase. It seems everyone in the family but the dog has a phone or even two.

Be proactive about childhood obesity - Give your kids a chance to enjoy their healthy lives

According to the Centers for Disease Control, obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in teens in the last 30 years. It has officially become an epidemic. So there is no dispute that childhood obesity is a serious public health concern.