Benefits of swinging for overweight children: An interesting overview

Megan Smith
 min read

The benefits of swinging for overweight children shouldn’t be underestimated.

benefits of swinging for overweight childrenWho doesn’t remember swinging as a kid? The sensation of flying through the air.

Feeling the cold wind blow through your hair. The fresh air that enters your lungs. The open sky above you. The total sensation of liberty…

In today’s society, indoor activities and digital screens dominate our lives. The simple happiness of swinging seems lost in the modern electrical noise.

This means (obese and overweight) kids are missing out on the incredible advantages of swinging.

Swinging has great benefits for their development and buying a swing set is a good idea as these are excellent tools for the development and education of kids.

These playground tools can help manage the weight of overweight kids. At the same time, kids won’t even notice that they’re staying fit. Especially while having fun!

A few remarkable benefits of swinging for plus-size kids are the following:

Increase of their attention span

For some kids, staying focused is incredibly difficult. Swinging helps to focus their brains.

It is a simple, balanced way to become (and stay) alert.

Swinging is impossible when you’re not focussing on the motions.

To successfully swing, you need to focus on learning the skill and using it correctly.

It’s rather simple to train this ability. This is done by calming their mind and focusing their attention on the moves.

Kids’ sensory input is distracting and frustrating. That’s also why kids have a smaller attention span.

Swinging helps reduce these sources of distraction. It also helps refocus the brain and relax their mood.

Improves your child’s sleep quality

After a day of learning at school and playing with other children, it’s finally bedtime.

However, similar to adults, going to sleep can be challenging for children.

While kids don’t think about paying bills, grocery lists or work when they’re in bed, their little minds can also run wild in bed.

Another benefit of swinging is that it will help your kid sleep.

Children will most likely get tired from exercising and playing on a swing set at the end of the day.

It’s a lot like rocking your babies to sleep. Kids enjoy the gentle swinging motions to help them relax and fall asleep much faster.

Moving back and forth, combined with the spinning motions, is an activity that even trains your kids’ brain!

The motions help balance neurological activity in your child’s brain. The brain settles distracted minds into a more relaxing state.

Think about the illnesses that even kids can suffer from…

Swinging can help with issues like:

  • autism
  • sensory combination disorder
  • anxiety
  • OCD

This is because swinging can help them de-stress. The swinging movement is relaxing for everyone.

Tip: Having an indoor and outdoor swing can be helpful on rainy days.

Fun to be outside: Benefits of swinging for overweight children

Certain swing sets are best for indoor use. The best example is a hammock swing.

Still, nothing can beat the real deal. This is, of course, swinging outdoors.

The outside world encourages more outdoor activities. But not just for the fresh air.

By being outside, children increase their production of vitamin D from the sun.

Vitamin D helps your body to build strong bones.

It also plays a big role in their immune system! Having lots of vitamin D strengthens the immune system.

As a result, your kid won’t get sick so quickly.

State of mind and happiness booster

Swinging can raise endorphin levels and brighten your mind up!

Simply a couple of minutes of rocking or playing on a swing can change the state of mind.

You’ll probably never see an angry person leave the swing. Swinging is simply enjoyable!

Of course, all the other benefits are great too (like how swinging on a swing can help to lose weight).

But the best part of swinging is having some good old-fashioned fun. While swinging, endorphins rush through your system.

You’re learning new abilities, and you get a feeling of achievement. No one can leave a swing without a smile!

Improvement of coordination skills

Along with body balance, coordination is also an important motor skill.

By swinging, kids learn to move multiple body parts at once. It also teaches children where each part of their body is.

In order to swing in the air, their legs need to be swung. At the same time, their arms must hold on tight.

To keep their posture, their core muscles need to tense up.

Only by doing all of this together can a kid learn to swing.

Simple and fairly inexpensive to enjoy

Swing sets are a relatively cheap and easy-to-install tool.

You can select a DIY swing set kit and install it yourself to minimize setup costs.

Plus, as soon as you’ve got your stunning swing set, it enables you to get free, constant fun.

This also teaches a crucial lesson. Not all the fun in life should cost a lot of money.

Burn body fat and calories

There are many types of movements on a swing.

By trying a new swinging move, it helps reinforce bones and muscles as they grow.

When you exercise frequently, you lower the risk of obesity. How? By simply burning calories as you swing!

Did your child get a plus-size warning after a medical exam?

Then frequent exercise on the swing set can absolutely help to lose weight! The benefits of swinging for overweight children are huge!

The goal of setting up a strong swing set is not to develop little bodybuilders.

But having good muscle tone and strength will help your kid in their other activities.

Think about sports or physical education!

Sharing is caring

There’s more going on than just games when kids are playing on the playground.

Children are finding out about the needs of others.

Through video games, they learn how to interact and share concepts. The exact same concept continues in swinging.

It’s often the case that your child has to wait in line.

Whether it’s a swing set in a hammock, on a playground, or in the garden. They have to wait their turn.

Also, if another kid is struggling to swing, showing them how it’s done teaches cooperation.

To summarize: Toddlers and kids learn that sharing is caring.

What’s the easiest way to do this? Obviously, by having fun with a swing set in the garden!

Stimulation of the senses

The touch of the swing seat, the sun, and the wind on your face…

The creaking of the swing set. The smell of the outdoors…

Swinging engages an entire world of sensory details.

Kids need to bring all these details together to swing effectively.

They also find joy in basic pleasures.

Improvement of balancing abilities

To master your senses, you must develop a sense of balance.

Swinging on a swing set triggers the vestibular system.

Together with visual hints, this is crucial to your balancing abilities.

By practicing these systems on a swing set, children can improve their body balance.

At the same time, they have tons of fun!

Swing sets have many purposes and assist in many ways.

The most important one might even be the benefits to their balancing abilities.

Relaxing without worries

There is a reason our grandparents like to sit in a stable outdoor rocking chair. Or why hammocks are so popular amongst children and adults.

It is the gentle, rhythmic swaying that is very unwinding. The back-and-forth movement calms people of any age down.

It creates a moment in which you can quietly think. While, at the same time, engaging the body.

After a hard day at school, 30 minutes on the swing in your garden is perfect for relaxing.

It is a terrific method to cool down your children. But it also helps them to release their excess energy.

This will especially help after sitting inside at school all day.

Flexible outdoors activity

Swinging is very enjoyable alone or with a parent. Whether your kid wants a quick swing before or after school, everything is possible.

You can also take some time to give them a little push. There’s also a range of games possible!

Once they’re a pro at swinging on a swing, have them try to toss a ball into a goal as they swing.

Let their imagination run free! Allow them to create fun, brand-new games.

It can also be a great activity to burn some calories and keep your kid in shape.

Obesity is a typical issue among kids due to food patterns and a lack of sports.

Investing in solid swing sets for heavy-duty use can make a difference.

It can really improve your child’s weight loss efforts while providing enough weight capacity.

Interested in more details concerning the weight capacity limit of swing sets? Then our article about how much weight a swing set can hold can further enlighten you.

Body awareness: Benefits of swinging for overweight children

Childhood is when we first find out about our bodies. It might seem strange to children how adults know how their bodies work.

But it’s an essential skill to learn! One day, they’ll have to find out how to control their joints and muscles.

For example: What happens if you pump your legs and swing your arms?

How do you move your body in a specific direction? All these are checked out through the art of swinging.

Surprisingly, our joints have receptors! They let our brain know where our limbs and joints are.

We call this proprioception. Kids also use the vestibular system, which is located deep in the ear.

This helps them understand how fast they are moving and in what direction.

By swinging on a swing set, all these details come flooding in. They provide a child the chance to improve to their complete range of senses.

About Megan Smith

Megan has been fighting overweight and her plus size since her teenage years. After trying all types of remedies without success, she started doing her own research. Megan founded Plus Size Zeal to share her findings. She also developed various detailed buying guides for plus-size people in order to make their lives easier and more comfortable. Read More