Being able to spot health problems early can allow you to seek treatment early. With children, this can be very important for not just overcoming the problem, but also limiting any damage to your child’s development. Below are just some of the key health checks to consider looking into for your child.
Dental check-ups
It’s worth regularly taking your children to the dentist to check on their dental health. Children consume a lot of sugar and don’t always have the best dental regime. Dental check-ups can allow you to determine whether your child’s teeth are in good condition so that you can limit sugar or enforce a stricter dental routine if necessary.
Children can also experience dental problems as a result of adult teeth coming through incorrectly. In fact, it’s usually a good idea to visit a dentist after your child’s adult teeth have come through just to check that there are no complications (although ideally you should try to visit a dentist twice per year).
Eye tests
Many children experience loss of vision during childhood. Not being able to see clearly can affect children’s ability to learn by not being able to see the board or not being able to read textbooks clearly. An eye test can help to determine if your child needs glasses so that they can learn at the right pace.
Some schools will carry out eye tests on children. If not, it could be worth booking an eye test at your local optician or with a pediatric specialist. An online search for ‘oahu pediatrics‘ or a similar term tailored to your location will help you find professionals near you who specialize in children’s eye care. The experts will conduct a thorough assessment to ensure your child’s vision is healthy. This post lists some of the signs that your child may need glasses.
Hearing tests
On top of testing your child’s vision, it could also be worth testing your child’s hearing. Imparied hearing can have just as negative an impact on learning and can also negatively affect your child’s ability to socialise and communicate.
An audiologist can carry out a hearing test on your child. A hearing aid can then be prescribed to your child if they have hearing loss. You can check out some of the signs of hearing loss in children here.
Tests for genetic conditions
You should be wary of any genetic conditions that run in your family. It could be worth running tests on your kids to determine that they have not inherited these conditions – especially if they could be dangerous if not treated or if they could negatively affect your child’s development. A few examples of such conditions include hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and heart disease.
A doctor will be able to carry out tests for these conditions. This could allow you to pursue the necessary treatment options for your child early.
Other health checks to considerIf you worry that your child may have a condition, it’s always worth looking into relevant health checks. For example, if your child is displaying signs of autism, don’t be afraid to look into an autism assessment – it could be essential for giving your child the upbringing they need. Any concerning abnormality is worth seeing a health professional for.
Do you dread going to the gym? Are you bored of the same old fitness routine? Well, then it may be time to shake things up. After all, working out should not only be beneficial for your health—but it should also be fun! That’s why we’ve put together this list of nine new fitness activities for you to try.
Trail Running
If you love the great outdoors, then trail running is just the thing for you. Trail running is essentially when you run on any unpaved surface. Trail runners will often hit the local hiking trails, which offer a mix of different textures and elevations to run on. Before heading to the hills, though, make sure to pick up a good pair of running shoes for men or women.
Cycling
If you haven’t been on your bike in a while, now is a great time to start riding again. The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a renewed interest in cycling, as people were itching to get outdoors and find new hobbies. Cycling can be a great way to both get some exercise in as well as explore your local community.
Swimming
It’s tough to find a better full-body workout than swimming. When you swim laps in a pool, you engage virtually all of the major muscles in your body. Plus, swimming is a very low-stress exercise that’s easy on your joints. If you live in a warm climate, then this is the perfect way to exercise.
Yoga
Whether you used to practice yoga or you’ve never tried it before, consider taking a class. Yoga is beneficial not only for your physical health, but also your mental health—many find it to be nice and calming, especially when it comes to the breathwork. There are several yoga classes available for all fitness and skill levels, so you can work your way up as you become more competent.
Boxing
More and more people are starting to turn to boxing as an alternative way to workout. You certainly don’t have to be a pro-level boxer or even an elite athlete in order to get started. In fact, you don’t even have to get hit if that’s not what you’re into. Simply practicing boxing combinations and doing bag work can be an exhausting and effective workout.
Hiking
If trail running sounds a little too intense for you, but you still want to get out in nature, give hiking a shot. You can either go out on a hiking trail alone or with a friend if you’d like some company on your hike. Hiking is one of the best ways to get your daily steps in while getting outdoors and breathing in fresh air.
Rock Climbing
Rock climbing may sound intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be—as a matter of fact, it can be a really fun way to improve your upper body and core strength. Check out your local rock climbing gym and see if you can purchase a day pass to try it out. Many gyms offer free passes or trial periods for first-time climbers. If you really take to rock climbing, you can take it to the next level and join a climbing group that embarks on outdoor expeditions.
Team Sports
Many of us haven’t played a team sport since high school. Maybe you’ve never played a team sport before, period. In either case, you can still enjoy team sports as an adult. Chances are that your community has adult recreational leagues for a variety of sports, from softball to volleyball to ultimate frisbee. In addition to being great exercise, joining a recreational sports team can be a great way to meet new people and make friends.
Surfing
Sorry, but this one’s a bit location-specific, as you’ll need to be near the ocean to surf. Nevertheless, surfing is a surprisingly tough workout that can help you increase your upper body strength. And, of course, you get to have a lot of fun in the water, soak up the sun, and hang around the beach.
As this article demonstrates, the gym isn’t the only option when it comes to being active. There are countless fitness activities you can try. Give one of the activities on this list a shot and expand your fitness horizons.
Got an idea for a health and fitness product that you think could take off? Perhaps you’ve had an idea for a new exercise gadget, a new healthy food product or even an app? While health and fitness may be one of the fastest growing industries, it’s also a very competitive industry. Creating a product and getting it to stand out is no easy feat, but it can be done if you launch your product correctly. Below are a few steps for launching a successful health and fitness product.
Research the competition
Before you start putting any ideas to paper, it’s worth having a look into what other similar products are already out there on the market. For instance, if you’re thinking of releasing your own meal replacement shake, take a look at what other companies are already out there. You need to be sure that your product is not exactly the same as a product already on the market. At the same time, there’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from other products – you may be able to blend some of the best features from multiple products in order to create one that is superior to all of them.
There are many types of competitor research that you can do. It could be worth buying a few rival products and doing an analysis of them. It’s worth also looking into their marketing practices, checking out their website and reading customer reviews.
Do some consumer research
On top of researching your competitors, consider doing some consumer research. This involves identifying your consumer base and asking them what they look for out of your type of product (for example, if you’re launching your own line of weightlifting shoes, it could be worth talking to fellow weightlifting about what they want out of these types of shoes).
There are many ways to do consumer research including creating surveys, assembling focus groups and reading reviews of other existing products. Do all of this before you start designing.
Work out the costs and find the right funding method
You need to work out roughly how much your product will cost to design, build and market. This will allow you to apply for the right amount of funding.
There are many different ways to fund a new business idea. You could save up the money yourself if you think you only need a small amount. Alternatively, you can try taking out a business loan. There’s also the option of seeking investment – either from a VC firm, an angel investor or from crowdfunding. There are some VC firms that even specialise in funding fitness startups.
Design your product
You can now start designing your product. Start with some basic sketches and once you’re happy with a concept, start creating more accurate designs with measurements.
You may prefer to hire a professional designer to create accurate designs. If you’re creating a fitness app and don’t have coding knowledge, it could be worth hiring the help of a mobile app design company. With food products, you should try to work out the precise recipe and design the packaging.
It is also essential when it comes to food that you ensure the flavors are exactly right before putting it on the market. Glancing over this can be a serious issue as people will not buy your products if they taste awful, no matter how healthy they are. You might want to utilize the services of businesses such as Trilogy Flavors for instance, as they will be able to help you create something that will make people want to come back for more.
Test and refine your product
Once you’ve designed your product, you can try to create a working prototype. You should test this and use the results to refine your design until you’ve got a final product ready to put to market.
Testing is a process that shouldn’t be rushed. It could be worth assembling a focus group or hiring testers so that you can test your product on consumers. You should also do your own testing to try and find weaknesses that you can patch up. This could include trying to find glitches on an app or deliberately trying to break a gadget to test its robustness.
Choose the right manufacturing method
Once you’ve got a final product designed and settled on, you need to work out the right way of manufacturing it (this doesn’t apply to apps – only physical products). You could choose to manufacture the product yourself with your own machinery, this would allow you to benefit from economies of scale when the business grows. Furthermore, it would also allow you to implement a suitable ERP software selection in order to centralise your operations and collect data from all areas of the business to inform future strategies, as well as save time on day to day tasks. Alternatively, outsourcing your manufacturing could potentially reduce start-up costs with equipment, but the production costs will not scale as much in your favour should the business grow, as you will be paying a set rate to your manufacturing partner.
When it comes to processes like thermoforming and PCB manufacture, most people outsource manufacturing companies. If you’re creating your own organic health food product, you may find that you’re going to need a larger sized kitchen than your own to prepare it. You’ll also likely need to invest in equipment from companies such as Temp-Pro to ensure that the correct temperatures are maintained to safely prepare your products, so that they meet health and safety standards. The initial scalability of your manufacturing process will ultimately come down to how expensive the necessary machinery is to acquire and the volume required to meet your demand.
Build your brand identity
A good product needs a good brand identity. This involves coming up with aspects such as a brand name, a logo, a color scheme and a tone of voice. This will all help to dictate the style of your marketing, while also helping to give your company its own personality.
A good brand identity should help to convey what your product is and who it’s aimed at. For example, a cycling helmet aimed at kids is likely to have very different branding to a cycling helmet aimed at professional athletes. Brand agencies may be able to help you create a brand.
Create a website and social media pages
An online presence is necessary for any business. Start by creating a website that you can sell your product through. Then create social media pages that you can use to promote your product.
You could consider hiring a digital marketing company to create a website for you and set up social media pages, or you could do it yourself (there are code-free website builders that you can use). If you decide to use a digital marketing company, consider looking into companies that specialise in health and fitness.
Look into different marketing strategies
You’ll need to consider other marketing strategies beyond a website and social media pages. PPC ads and SEO are two services offered by many digital marketing companies that could help to boost awareness of your product. You can also consider creating video adverts, encouraging product reviews and encouraging product endorsements from influencers. There may also be events like trade fairs that you can attend and you may even be able to organize a launch party. Marketing companies will be able to help with this.
Connect with key fitness retailers
You may want to consider selling some of your products to retailers to help boost sales. This could include physical fitness stores and online fitness stores. You’ll need to be prepared for these retailers to take a cut of your profits. There are guides online that can help you when it comes to selling your product to retailers.
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
