Playtime Is Not Just for Fun, also Boosts Your Child’s Gut Health – Experts

To promote childhood development at its full potential, scheduling playtime is often encouraged to foster creativity, social skills, and physical health among children. Moreover, playtime is now considered a determinant in upholding children’s gut health. Meaning, a regular active play can contribute to improving digestion, immune function, healthy microbiome, and overall well-being of children, according to experts. This article guides parents about ways to protect their child’s digestive system, through understanding the relationship between playtime and gut health, and the essence of using Probiotics and Prebiotics on their food.

Connection Between Gut and Playtime

It is important to note that the gut microbiome plays a vital role in your child’s intestinal health, as it makes the digestive tract healthy and strong. Keeping a stable amount of microbiome can promote digestion, nutrient absorption, and immune system function. Aside from having a healthy and balanced diet, experts state that physical activities, such as playtime, can also help in maintaining gut health.

Regular physical activities aid in the distribution of essential nutrients in the body, as it regulates the circulation of blood and lymphatic fluid. Playtime also helps prevent children suffer from constipation and other gastrointestinal problems by maintaining a healthy balance of gut bacteria in the digestive system. Children are also encouraged to play outdoors regularly for them to be exposed to different environmental microbes which can strengthen the gut microbiome and their immune system. 

The Influence of Playtime on Digestion

Gut motility, or the contraction of muscles in the gastrointestinal tract that move food along, can be achieved through active plays that strengthen our core muscles. This is known as peristalsis which promotes effective digestion. This is why children are encouraged to engage in physical activities like running, jumping, or climbing. Doing these regular playtimes helps them have smoother digestion and prevents them from experiencing bloating or indigestion.

Also, children who actively play outdoors tend to drink more water, thus improving their overall hydration and optimal digestive function. This is vital in breaking down food intake and absorbing nutrients in the body more effectively. 

Probiotics and Prebiotics for a Healthy Gut

Aside from regular playtime, the inclusion of Probiotics and Prebiotics in your child’s diet can promote gut health and further improve the health of their microbiome. When we say probiotics, these are live bacteria that are helpful in digestion and can be acquired through food and supplements. Meanwhile, non-digestible fibers that serve as food for probiotics are called prebiotics. 

With that, parents should include Probiotics-rich food such as yogurt, kefir, and fermented vegetables in their children’s diet so that their digestive system can have sufficient amounts of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. These helpful bacteria tend to push out the damaging bacteria from the tract, which leads to a balanced gut microbiome and improved immune health. Meanwhile, you can enhance these probiotics by consuming prebiotic-rich food such as bananas, oats, and asparagus. These types of food can have positive effects on the gut as it helps reproduce the good bacteria in the body.

Probiotics and Prebiotics: Which is Which?

Let’s dig deeper into the difference between Probiotics and Prebiotics to further help you enhance your child’s gut health. Known as the “good” bacteria, probiotics help you maintain a healthy balance of microbiome in your gut. We can have sufficient intake of probiotics through foods or supplements. The main purpose of probiotics is to crowd out the harmful bacteria in our tract to help improve our overall digestion. 

When we say prebiotics, these are usually fibers that serve as food for the probiotics to grow in our gut. Prebiotics are not considered live bacteria, compared to probiotics. The main function of prebiotics is to support the development of helpful bacteria in our digestive tract. 

After understanding more about these two, parents should now enrich their child’s diet with Probiotics and Prebiotics. This is to ensure that the good bacteria are sufficient enough to promote a stronger and more resilient gut microbiome and digestion for their children.

Healthy Play and Gut for Better Digestion

Parents can further boost their child’s gut health if they let them engage in regular physical activities along with maintaining a healthy diet. Specifically, outdoor plays, such as sports, playground games, and nature exploration, benefit the gut as they expose children to diverse microbes that lead to improved physical well-being. 

However, as mentioned earlier, fluids and meals rich in Probiotics and Prebiotics should also be served to children along with completing their physical activity. The combination of regular active play and a gut-healthy diet can help them achieve optimum digestive health and vitality in the long run.

Having regular playtime for your child is indeed enjoyable. But more than that, it promotes a healthy gut and improves digestion. Physical activity combined with Probiotics and Prebiotics-rich healthy diet can protect your child’s gut microbiome and overall immune system. Thus, parents are encouraged to start prioritizing physical play and gut health to maintain to ensure their children’s lifelong well-being.