Fitness not Fatness

We hear all the time about the obesity epidemic and how our children are getting bigger.  However the figures from the National Child Measurement Programme, suggests 9% of 5-6 year olds were obese and this equates to 2.7 children in a class of 30.  Back in 1990 this was 1.5. 

So in 20 years there has been an increase of only one extra obese child per class.  In fact overweight and obesity levels among 2-5 year olds have stayed relatively stable at 25% for boys and 23% for girls between 2003-2013.

Does this look like an epidemic?

Among the adult population obesity and overweight levels have increased steadily over recent years but as you can see this isn't the case among our children.

However Public Health's focus on food and weight, overlooking the far more dangerous effects of inactivity and ignoring the benefits of moving more may be creating a health time bomb for the next generation . 

http://titanfreestyle.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/sitting-is-new-smoking.html

Arguably, inactivity can be a better indicator of ill health in the population rather than obesity.

Figures from the Physical Activity Statistics 2015 conducted by the British Heart Foundation show less than a fifth of children move enough for health and this figure is still falling.

The British Heart Foundation found that when they got children to use accelerometers, it shockingly showed that none of the 11-15 year old girls and only 7% of boys that were measured actually did enough moderate exercise of at least 1 hour daily. 

Increases in activity often fails to make a big impact on Body Mass Index (BMI) but rarely does a person feel less fit and healthy if they start to increase their activity levels.

Therefore a better indicator of the health and fitness for our children would be to measure activity rather than levels of obesity to gain a truer picture, as recommended  by the chief medical officer as far back as 2009!

So ensure your child is getting enough exercise, start walking to school instead of taking the car.  I walk my daughter to school and back on most days and this takes the best part of an hour in total and I get much more quality time with her chatting and finding out how she got on in school that day.

http://titanfreestyle.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/how-to-get-your-kids-more-active.html

Whatever you choose to do ensure your child moves around enough to gain the health benefits and lay down the foundations of becoming more active and healthier adults.