Research Report: How Active Are Our Children?

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Authors Lucy J Griffiths, Mario Cortina-Borja, Francesco Sera, Theodora Pouliou, Marco Geraci, Carly Rich, Tim J Cole, Catherine Law, Heather Joshi, Andrew R Ness, Susan A Jebb, Carol Dezateux

Published by University College London, British Medical Journal, August 2013. www.bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/8/e002893.full

SUMMARY

This research aimed to find out whether primary school-aged children are adhering to physical activity guidelines set out by the UK's chief medical officers. New guidance was issued in July 2011, which stated that all young people should engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 60 minutes, and up to several hours, every day.

The researchers gathered data from 6,497 sevento eight-year-olds who were sent accelerometers, which measure movement, speed and direction. The children wore the gadgets around their waist for seven days to measure their activity.

On average, children managed 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, and took an average of 10,299 steps per day. However, half the children were sedentary for six or more hours every day, and half (51 per cent) did not reach the daily recommended exercise target.

The study found differences in the amount of exercise taken depending on gender, geographical location and ethnic origin. Girls across all ethnic groups were less likely to be active than boys in terms of their total physical activity, the amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity undertaken and in the number of steps they took every day. They were also more sedentary and less likely to meet their recommended daily exercise target than the boys (38 per cent of girls achieved this compared with 63 per cent of boys).

The researchers discovered children of Indian ethnic origin spent the least time in moderate to vigorous exercise, and took the fewest steps each day. Only one in three (33 per cent) children of Bangladeshi origin met the recommended daily exercise minimum. Across the UK, children in Northern Ireland were the least active (43 per cent took 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day), while children in Scotland were most likely to achieve the minimum daily target (52.5 per cent). Within England, children in the North West were the most likely (57.8 per cent) and those in the Midlands the least likely (46 per cent) to meet the chief medical officers' guideline.

Children whose mothers had never worked or had been long-term unemployed were slightly more likely to meet recommended levels of daily physical activity than those with employed mothers, and were least sedentary. Children from two-parent families were less physically active than those with single mothers. Little variation was found in activity levels according to the number of children living in the household.

The researchers say that the most significant variation is in gender, with other variations being relatively small. The most striking finding, they state, is the low level of activity across all groups.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The authors say their findings "strongly suggest that contemporary UK children are insufficiently active, implying that effort is needed to boost physical activity among young people to the level appropriate for good health". This effort is likely to require population-wide interventions, through sport but also other areas such as the journey to school. The striking gender differences in exercise levels shows a need for policy and practice to promote more exercise among girls, including dancing, playground activities and ball games.

FURTHER READING

• Start Active, Stay Active: a Report on Physical Activity from the Four Home Countries' Chief Medical Officers, Department of Health, July 2011. Guidelines on the volume, duration, frequency and type of physical activity required for all ages to achieve general health benefits.
• Longitudinal Study of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in Children, Laura Basterfield, Ashley J Adamson, Jessica K Frary, Kathryn N Parkinson, Mark S Pearce, John J Reilly, for the Gateshead Millennium Study Core Team, Paediatrics, January 2011. This paper charts a decline in physical activity in children before adolescence and calls for strategies to be put in place to combat this decline.
• Effectiveness of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review of Controlled Trial, Esther M F van Slujis, Alison M McMinn, Simon J Griffin, British Medical Journal, October 2007. This review of schemes that aim to promote physical activity found that school-based interventions with involvement of the family or community can increase physical activity in adolescents.