Australia is raising a generation of couch potatoes, according to a new study which has found that only 19% of children get the recommended amount of exercise each day.
The study by Active Healthy Kids also found that despite Australia’s love of sport, the level of participation among kids in organised sport is not enough, with children still spending too much time in front of screens.
The study used a Canadian-developed international ranking tool to match Australian school children against those from 14 other countries and released the results in the first of an intended annual report card.
Researchers concluded that Australia only “narrowly” avoided a “Fail” grade, scoring a D- grade in overall physical activity, ranking 11th ahead of Canada, Ireland, the USA and Scotland. New Zealand and Mozambique scored highest, with a B grade, indicating 61-80% of children achieving the goal.
Australian kids also scored a D- for “sedentary behaviour”.
Among the key findings was the discovery that just 19% of children aged five to 17 are getting the recommended hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MPVA) each day. Almost half of the reported MVPA is taken up by organised sport.
The results were better for toddlers, with 72% of parents reporting their children aged two to four years old do reach the 180 minutes of physical activity recommended for good health.
The report’s author, Natasha Schranz, PhD, from the University of South Australia, said participation in organised sport was not enough, and kids need to be more active the rest of the time.
“Things like walking to school, playing outside and turning off televisions and computers also contribute to overall health and physical activity levels – and these things are being forgotten,” said Schranz.
“We’re raising a generation of couch potatoes and if we don’t start to reverse this trend this will drive up health problems in the future – obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease,” said Professor Trevor Shilton, the Heart Foundation’s national lead on active living.
A big issue was screen time – as children spend more time using an increasing range of electronic devices, including computers, phones, games, tablets and TV – damaging in itself as well as replacing valuable activity time.
“It’s a double edged sword,” Shilton told Guardian Australia.
“[Children and young people] are sitting too much and not moving enough. The window of opportunity – between when they finish school and dinner’s on the table … we all know that’s when televisions, Facebook, computer games, DVDs – screens are dominating time in a way that a decade ago wasn’t the case.”
“The other important thing about that is that it doesn’t just have a sedentary dimension, it has a social dimension as well.”
The report called for a proactive, coordinated response from communities, parents, schools and governments.
“Outside of the home environment, school is a setting that imposes large amounts of sedentary time onto children and young people,” said the report.
“The possibility of breaking up sedentary time (i.e. prolonged periods of sitting) with regular physically active breaks and active/non-sedentary learning time should be explored in both primary and secondary schools.”
David Morgante’s two children both play football and swim, but enjoy their TV and online time as well, spending about half an hour each night on “electronic time”.
“There’s a lot of temptation with all the media and iPads etc,” Morgante told Guardian Australia.
“They do get their fair share of playing their gadgets, but me and their mum limit that quite a lot. It’s more important that they get their schoolwork done.”
Morgante said Madeline, 12, and Dylan, 8, both walk or ride their bikes to their school in North Fitzroy, Melbourne if the weather is fair, contributing to their daily incidental activity.
Madeleine is also encouraged to play guitar, with the promise of an electric instrument next year. “We make sure she focuses on that,” he said.
“It’s to keep her away from the electronic gizmos, we’ve got to give them something to strive to.”
The report also found Australia led the rankings for “community and built environment” and came second behind New Zealand for organised sport participation with a score of B-.
Sofa potato Australia: only 19% of kids get adequate exercising every day
If you’re one of the fortunate number of that scored a ticket to the game (Ebay listings included a thirty individual suite with foods and beverage for $ 508,265), then dress warm and be sure to participate in the pre-game festivities occurring all week on Super Bowl Blvd. and come check out me at the SAP Stats Zone on Times Square. This location will incorporate fan voting for the NFL.com Fantasy Player of the 12 months, far more trivia quizzes, fan avatar creators, and social media buzz monitoring. Also contemplate voting on the “Oscars” of Design and style, a instrument employed by the San Francisco 49ers to simplify the scouting procedure. But most of all appreciate the game and attempt to save the tweeting for Monday.