Motivation

(ARA) - Video games. School vending machines. Internet surfing. It’s all helping create a new generation of unhealthier, more sedentary youth. Experts partly blame low participation in sports, cuts in physical education and less walking and biking to school. There are so many distractions found in new television, computer and video game technology, without strong motivation adolescents are at risk of becoming inactive. So what motivates teens to exercise and stay healthy?

Two new studies in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine explore the reasoning behind kids’ and teens’ choices about exercise and dieting.

Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany surveyed 200 middle school students on their motivations for exercising. They discovered that both boys and girls were most likely to say that personal enjoyment or wanting to be fit was their main motivation to exercise, a finding that surprised lead researcher, Katie Haverly, M.S.

“You might expect that adolescent girls would be motivated to be physically active for the purposes of weight loss or weight maintenance, but we did not find that to be true.” Haverly stated that the students who were motivated by personal enjoyment exercised or played sports because it felt good, to be healthy and to improve their skills. “We were just surprised that adolescents would report that they felt that way about physical activity.”

But the researchers also found that a child’s motivations changed depending on their abilities. Students who felt they weren’t skilled at sports were less likely to be motivated by personal enjoyment than those who were more athletic.

Haverly suggests that stressing the health aspects of physical activity, instead of athleticism and competition, could encourage participation by kids who feel less confident in their abilities. “These students would be most motivated to be active if they could improve their skills while being active, if the activity is enjoyable and if the activity improves their health and fitness,” Haverly says.

In addition to requiring physical education in schools, Haverly recommends that administrators promote a wide variety of fun, skill-building activities. “An environment that offers different choices or ways to be active would be helpful, because not all adolescents will find the same activities fun, rewarding or motivating.”

Research has also shown that a child’s parents have an effect on the way they think about exercise and dieting. Children not only imitate their parents’ habits, good or bad, but also respond to what they believe is important to their parents. In a second study in the same issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, researchers questioned over 9,000 teens and their mothers about weight and dieting. They found that girls were much more likely to think about being thinner if they thought it was important to their mothers. Interestingly enough, whether or not a mother actually wanted her daughter to be thinner had less of an impact than the daughter’s perception of her mother’s opinion. The researchers also noticed an association between a mother’s repeated attempts at weight loss and her daughter’s dieting.

Mothers were found to have less of an effect on their sons’ ideas about weight. Only sons who correctly guessed that their mothers thought weight loss was important were more likely to think about being thinner.

The study’s lead author, Alison E. Field, Sc.D., of Harvard Medical School, warns that parents should be careful when talking to their children about weight issues. “Parents are justified in not wanting their adolescents to be overweight. However, it is essential to strike a balance between promoting a healthy weight and not placing too much emphasis on the importance of weight.”

The researchers suggested that parents should be role models to their children by incorporating exercise and healthy eating into their everyday lives, rather than imposing these strategies on their kids. Doctors who treat overweight adolescents should be sure to promote exercise for benefits other than weight loss, such as improving self-esteem.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Tags: Motivation

What is motivation to you? In reality, motivation is an inner process that helps you to move toward your goal in definite motion, with purpose and vision. Drive and determination are two qualities necessary to experience real motivation.

Some people allow different things to motivate them. It could be your job, your marriage, your family, your income or your wealth. What is motivation to you? If you can find out what is motivation to you, then you would have tapped into your true self and hone in on exactly what it takes to succeed.

Some have learned what is motivation by seeking to improve themselves and creating a vision that is realistic as well as having an inner desire that outweighs the challenges.

Since motivation is parallel to the word, “move,” lack of motivation is when your life is at a standstill. This equates to fear of failure and what keeps people who lack motivation to remain in the same pattern every day of their lives.

You can tell a motivated person when you see one. They have that sparkle in the eye and are always looking for new challenges and ways to grow. Growth is synonymous to what is motivation and the ability to stay focused even when the going gets tough.
Self-Motivation and You

If you are a person who is disciplined, goal-oriented, and organized, it is quite likely that you have the skills to motivate yourself. It is possible that you have realized what is motivation and have used it to become the person that you are today.

Staying motivated is not easy especially when we face obstacles or uninvited trouble that dampens our spirit. Negative thoughts and anxiety come into play and we can become unmotivated and doubtful about our future. However, there are some people who have learned how to pick up the pieces and use their challenges as a stepping-stone to move forward. That is what makes these people successful. They view failure as a lesson in life and not as a personal vendetta against them.

Self-motivated people know that there is no simple solution to becoming motivated after a disappointment, but they also know that if they can beat the odds, then they will be stronger the next time another obstacle comes along. . Self-motivated individuals realize that their thoughts are what control their emotions. Learning how to nurture their thoughts into a positive outcome helps them to pull themselves together and keep focused on the immediate goal instead of on the problem that is trying to distract them. 

Tags: Motivation

You feel a little sluggish today and are moving slow. You want to do something today that will help your business pursuits, but you feel somewhat dull towards the idea. Perhaps you should head back to bed? Then again, that may not be the best idea in the world. So, you drag yourself to your desk and start to work. As you work, you begin to once again remember that you have a skill and a talent for what you do and this allows you to draw internal inspiration. This inspiration quickly turns to motivation and that soon translates into success. Now, that is not exactly a bad formula to difficult is it not?

Understanding Motivational Drive

As much as we would like to be able to draw upon internal sources for motivation on an on demand basis, the fact remains that this is often not possible. The answer for this is obvious. Human beings are, of course, humans and that means that there is a sense of fallibility which can yield a lack of motivation at times. While this may seem like the source of concern for many people, there is no reason to panic over a lack of motivation. Yes, a decline in personal motivation is something that a person should always take seriously, but one should despair over a perceived lack of motivation since re-invigorating one’s motivation is not difficult to do provided one takes the steps necessary to do so.

Developing Motivational Drive

Of course, we all can suffer from a lack of motivational drive and this is normal. If one does lack such a drive then one simply must take the steps necessary to improve one’s personal motivation. Now, some may believe that this requires tremendous amount of effort. Of course, there will be some effort involved with this, but in terms of the amount of effort required the actual effort put forth is no where near as involved as many would think. Often, simply making a few minor changes in one’s lifestyle or simply slightly changing one’s outlook or mental state is all that is required.

For example, reading an inspiration quote, listening to a CD from a popular motivational speaker, or any other manner of simple steps can yield a turnaround of sorts in terms of motivating oneself. Yes, it is often the simple steps that are effective and taking these simple steps are usually the right way to go.
 

Tags: Motivation