Family Health and Fitness Day

Family Health and Fitness Day USA is on the last Saturday of September and it’s a day that promotes physical activity and health with your loved ones. We share genes with our family, but aren’t aware of the everyday habits we develop from our families as well. Food and health patterns tend to spread between family members when they live in the same household, which means that it can be hard to break out of unhealthy patterns when everyone else is doing it. Thankfully, Family Health and Fitness Day USA reminds us to put family fitness first.

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The Facts

The Health Information Resource Center organizes Family Health And Fitness Day USA each year.

The day was started in 1996 which encourages the entire family to get involved with National Family Health & Fitness Day on the last Saturday in September. 

The day promotes family involvement in physical activity in support of one of the goals of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health. When families strive to be healthy together, the success rate increases. Incorporating exercise and a healthy diet into a family’s lifestyle takes a team effort. It’s kind of like celebrations. Who celebrates alone? 

When we make reaching health goals a family goal it becomes a fun activity. One way to achieve better fitness is by cooking together. When we do, we learn which flavors fit their lifestyle best. While learning new exercise routines, families encourage each other, too. Once one member finds success, it challenges the other family members to pick up the pace. We support each other to bike, walk, or stretch through to the next peak.

Don’t forget about the health aspect of this family holiday. Then go through the house and reduce or eliminate the unhealthy snacks in the house. Replace them with fruits and vegetables. Start cooking together. Aim for at least one meal week and work up to cooking every day together.

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Resources

Check out these additional resources to get your family started on a path to health and fitness together.

The Benefits of Getting Exercise as a Family

How to Get Started Exercising as a Family

Do it Together

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Activities

Zoom Backgrounds
Virtual backgrounds are one of the easiest ways to spread awareness about family health and fitness! You can replace your normal backdrop with one below to encourage others to take care get healthy as a family in any Zoom meeting you have!

Right-click the image then save as to your computer. Open your Zoom application and update your background to the file you saved from this page.

Social Media

Get out and play as a family. It’s important to do something physical every day. Whether the family goes for a walk, throws a Frisbee, or plays with the dogs, get the heart rate up.

Other ways to celebrate the day include:

Invite the family to suggest their favorite ways to work out.

Incorporate vegetables into your breakfast routine.

Bring the kids to the grocery store to help them understand their options.

Join a fitness group that encourages family activities.

Don’t forget to join us in the celebration by posting on social media, use #FamilyHealthAndFitnessDayUSA and tag Special Olympics Maryland.

Tag and follow us on Social!