Outdoor Recreation and Health Connection

This year, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced Let’s Move!, an campaign designed to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity and inactivity.  Children and adolescents are becoming increasingly unhealthy, both physically and mentally as they spend more time sitting indoors and less time recreating outdoors. Childhood obesity or excess weight threatens the healthy future of one third of American children.

Let's Move Outside! Initiative Launched in June 2010

As part of the Let's Move! campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama recently launched a new Let’s Move Outside! initiative at Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas. The initiative will involve the Department of the Interior and the USDA Forest Service and encourages activities both on public lands and close to home.

Kids need at least 60 minutes of active and vigorous play each day, and one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to meet this goal is by playing outside. Let's Move Outside! gives parents the tools they need to get their families moving outdoors. By linking parents to nearby parks, trails and waters - and providing tips and ideas - Let's Move Outside! will help families become healthier and develop a more active lifestyle.

The U.S. Departments of the Interior (DOI) and Agriculture (USDA) are leading a coordinated Federal effort to get kids moving outside. Together, these agencies oversee more than one-fifth of the nation's landmass, including nearly 200 million acres of National Forest, 84 million acres of National Parks, and over 60,000 miles of National Trails.

Public lands make the best playgrounds!

With the growing concern about childhood obesity and nature deficit disorder, NPLD is a perfect opportunity for families to get outdoors and experience what our public lands have to offer. Outdoor play time and activities such as hiking, skating and bicycling are beneficial to a child's physical and mental well-being. Regular exposure to the natural environment can increase physical activity, help in childhood development, act as a coping mechanism for attention disorders and help reduce stress.

Learn more about the health benefits associated with outdoor play on the National Environmental Education Foundation’s Children and Nature Initiative webpage.

On Sept. 25, children and families will get a chance to explore and enjoy America’s natural wonders. National Public Lands Day is a gateway for discovering the beauty and opportunity for fun at our parks – hiking, biking, swimming, recreating and getting healthy in America’s backyard.

• Remarks by the First Lady, Let's Move Outside!
  Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, Nevada, June 2010
• Michelle on a Mission: How we can empower parents, schools and the community to battle childhood obesity
  by Michelle Obama. Newsweek, March 2010.
• Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation.
  Report from the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity. May 2010
• White House Summit on Childhood Obesity
  April 9, 2010. Hear from experts about ideas for solving the problem of childhood obesity.