Study: Kids follow parents' exercise example

CLEVELAND - Parents your children are learning more from you than you might think. A study finds kids who have parents that exercise are more likely to exercise themselves.

Dr. Kim Giuliano did not take part in the study but is a pediatrician at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital.

"We've known for a while that parents who are active tend to have more active kids. But this was the first study that looked at taking families that were a little less active than we would like them to be and increasing their physical activity levels," said Dr. Giuliano.

National Jewish Health researchers studied 83 families. They were asked to increase their physical activity by adding an additional 2,000 steps per day.

Results showed when mom and/or dad exceeded their 2,000 step goal, their children averaged more than 2,100 extra steps, too. However, when mom or dad did not hit their mark, their children also fell short.

"If families just get outside and have fun together, take a bike ride, play a family game of baseball in the backyard, go swimming- everyone wins," said Dr. Giuliano.

Complete findings for the study are in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health .