Welcome to the PERC blog. This will be an informational gateway to everything that entails children and exercise including highlights and latest studies and activities from the UC Irvine Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center (PERC).

We will try to follow the words of Dale Carnegie - “Knowledge is not power until it is applied.” –  and translate research to the playgrounds and playing fields, so that children can enjoy all the benefits of physical activity.

More specifically, we will be blogging, vlogging, podcasting, and providing infographics and tweets @ucipeds to reach out to children, parents, school teachers, physical educators, coaches, pediatricians and other health care providers of youngsters, and anybody else in our communities interested in children and exercise. 

We will provide information about exercise in the following categories:

• Growth, Nutrition and Obesity
• Exercise and Aerobic Fitness
• Exercise, Muscle Strength and Bone Health
• Exercise, Sleep and the Brain
• Exercise and Chronic Diseases
• Exercise and the Happy (Epi) Genome

We are looking forward to “bridging the gap” between research and practical understanding and how-to guides for everyone interested in developing physically active children and adolescents.

Here’s a sneak peek at some potential topics and titles, which again could be a blog, vlog, infographic, podcast or a combination since we all learn differently.

• What you need to know about body composition
• Run, jump, lift weights: not just for youth athletes
• 3 games to develop coordination
• Obstacle courses: a great way to develop creativity and fitness
• Strength training in youth: what parents and coaches need to know
• Exercise in children with Cystic Fibrosis: What you need to know

To end, here is another quote that exemplify our efforts in knowledge translation:

 “There is no such thing as a special category of science called applied science; there is science and its applications, which are related to one another as the fruit is related to the tree that has borne it.” - Louis Pasteur

Learn more » Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center (PERC)

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @ucipeds and use the hashtag #KidsExercise #PERC