According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), being physically active is one of the most important steps that an individual can take to improve one's health. In fact, the CDC has established physical activity guidelines for children and adults.
For example, with respect to children, the CDC recommends at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day for healthy physical, mental and social development. With respect to adults, the CDC recommends a combination of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, which may take several hours to complete (see www.cdc.gov).
Unfortunately, many children and adults fail to meet the CDC's physical activity guidelines. This, in combination with poor eating habits (including overeating and/or consuming foods that lack nutritional value), has led to a vast amount of obesity in the U.S. It is well known that obesity is linked to many diseases, including diabetes, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarctions, strokes, kidney failure, liver disease, cancer, arthritis, atherosclerosis and hypertension, among others.
As of January 2009, the U.S. population was estimated to be about 305 million. According to health statistics released in 2009, of the 305 million Americans, over 58 million were overweight. Furthermore, over 40 million Americans were obese and over 3 million Americans were morbidly obese. More than 80 percent of Americans did not engage in adequate physical activity and more than one quarter of all Americans were considered to be “completely sedentary.”
Alarmingly, more than 30 percent of American children were obese. More than one quarter of these obese children were showing symptoms of the development of Type II diabetes. Even worse, of those children developing Type II diabetes, more than 60 percent of them were also showing one or more signs of cardiovascular disease.
While there are many outdoor activities in which adults and children may participate, some find certain activities to be boring. Furthermore, even if some activities are interesting to potential participants, some may become discouraged by long set-up times or the requirement of tools to facilitate setting-up an activity.
In view of the above, there is a need to develop devices that increase outdoor activities. Furthermore, there is a need to develop devices that may help to promote exercise by children and/or adults. In addition, there is a need to develop devices that may increase the duration that children and/or adults exercise by making such exercises interesting and/or fun. Even further, there is a need to develop devices that are quick to set-up and may not require tools.