1 in 3 schoolchildren are active for less than an hour a week

 

 

By Fiona Macrae

Last updated at 12:27 AM on 28th September 2009

 

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One in three schoolchildren does less than an hour of exercise a week, a survey has found.

 

Many see it as a 'chore' that only the overweight need to do, while just one in eight gets the 60 minutes a day recommended for good health, according to the British Heart Foundation.

 

In contrast, more than half of children aged eight to 15 surveyed said they spent an hour or more a day chatting to friends on their mobile phone or social networking websites such as Facebook.

 

 

Overweight: Schoolchildren spend more time chatting to mates on their mobiles or on social-networking sites than they do exercising

 

A third of youngsters are overweight or obese, and experts predict that will rise to two-thirds by 2050.

 

They have warned that today's children run a real risk of being the first generation to die at an earlier age than their parents.

 

Dr Mike Knapton, director of prevention and care for the BHF, said: 'We have a generation of kids growing up who have a shockingly blase attitude towards exercise and being active.'

 

 

More...

 

 

• Being too happy 'stops you losing weight'
  

 

 

The charity surveyed 1,029 pupils and found that 78 per cent did not know how much daily exercise was recommended, while 30 per cent said that they 'can't be bothered' to do any.

 

Adults are advised to get at least half an hour of exercise five or more times a week.

 

Victoria Taylor, the charity's senior dietician, said it was important to get into good habits early in life.

 

'Physical inactivity is one of the key risk factors for coronary heart disease,' she said.

 

'Being physically active as an adult can reduce your risk of having a heart attack by up to half.

 

'If you are inactive as a child, you may be less likely to be active as an adult.

 

'We are not talking about highlevel athletics but fun activities that make you a bit out of puff. You can break it up.

 

'So you can start the day by walking to school, be active at playtime and then play outside when you get home, rather than sitting in front of the television or computer.'

 

To tackle the problem, the charity has launched an Ultimate Dodgeball challenge in schools as part of its Food4Thought campaign.

 

Athlete Sally Gunnell, who won an Olympic Gold medal in the 400m hurdles in 1992, is backing the challenge.

 

'As a mother, I know how children can benefit from being active,' she said.

 

'It's something that all children should enjoy as part of a healthy lifestyle and is also a great way to socialise with friends.

 

'Children's sluggish attitude towards daily exercise is worrying and it's great to see the BHF thinking of new ways to get them intrigued and active again.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1216533/1-3-schoolchildren-active-hour-week.html#ixzz0SMJCLPES

I'm surprised it's that few.

The UK is right behind America! It's too bad.

 

I have a selfish reason for wanting fat people to lose weight: so I can date them. Please, fat people: increase the size of skinny peoples' dating pool!

Yes lose weight, I hate having to search for clothes in my size. Everything is a large or extra large because of fatasses.

^Both valid points.

its times like this that im happy to be a skinny american

skinny enough to fit in a suit case

 

but its times like when iv'e zipped myself up in the suit case and cant get out......

that i wish i wasnt skinny enough to fit in a large suitcase

mmmm manboobs

I just read a very appropriate mini-article by Charlie Brooker:

 

"Don't get me wrong. I am not disputing whether these Anti-Pie, Pro-Skipping campaigns have the potential to save lives. I'm sure they do. But come on - are human lives really worth saving in the first place? I mean really?

 

Take a look around: there's far too many of us, and we're not much to write home about. We spend more time picking our noses and wondering what famous peoples' kitchens look like than we spend doing anything worthwhile or interesting

 

The average citizen is a cretin in sore need of a good hard culling. If we can slowly reduce our numbers by gently guzzling snacks till our hearts burst - thereby saving the government the hassle of herding us into a stadium and blowing our heads off, one by one - that's a good thing isn't it? Well?

 

Besides, all these health promotions really do is make you neurotic and miserable, thereby ruining what's left of your lifespan anyway. What would you rather do - spend every waking moment joylessly assessing your diet, and live to be a wizened 500-year-old mantis? Or die fat, young and merry, with caramel smeared around your mouth?

 

It's time they launched a campaign actively encouraging the population to gorge its way to an early grave. We need gigantic billboards with big colour slogans like "tuck in and get it over with!" or, "Hey, bollocks to everything, right? Enjoy!"

 

Actually, sod the billboards. Let's just erect shelves all over the place. Shelves heaving with pork pies and marshmallows and chocolate biscuits and piping-hot ready meals. Cut out the middle man and pass them out for free. The streets'll be full of cheery, wobbly, blobby people, munching their way to oblivion. It'll be one big life-affirming, population-reducing party!

 

Come to think of it, let's hand out wine, cocaine and heroin as well! And handguns! Free loaded handguns, on a shelf, on every street corner! Life would become markedly more dangerous, sure - but imagine the buzz you'd get from simply making it home alive (and besides your chances of survival would be higher than you think: there'd be loads of fatsos puffing about between you and the bullets

 

They should do that. Our quality of life would improve."

The one on the with his moobs and 3 tyred belly makes it looks like a hideous creature from Doctor Who.

The one on the with his moobs and 3 tyred belly makes it looks like a hideous creature from Doctor Who.

 

Billie Piper?:rolleyes:

the sizes on children's clothes are getting bigger as they get fatter.

I have some clothes for children aged 12 .. I'm a size 8 ( english size ) 17 year old.

 

Sorry to any gamers , but i blame games consoles and tv too,

think back to when you were young,

i remember building carts, going on adventures and playing those great games ( that you rarely see now a days )

Loads of kids ( not all of course ) and sit in front of the tv.

Well it's due to lazy parents who plop their kids down in front of a television rather than actually spending time with them. And Barack Obama, who wants to increase the length of the school day and shorten summer.

 

People naturally enjoy physical activity (look at the popularity of the Wii) and they enjoy having a healthy diet, but the incentives to be lazy outnumber the incentives to be active.

 

And then people cry when runway models are skinnier than they are, and demand the government put an end to it.

 

*whipcrack*

Sorry to any gamers , but i blame games consoles and tv too,

 

That's too easy, it's always something or someone else's fault. Lets put the blame on the parents and the kids, in the end there is always an excuse it's up to to the person. We can blame all the food, tv and video games but in the end no one forced anyone to play or eat that crap.

 

Today we have too many excuse makers, and that's why the problem keeps getting worse.

 

I'm sick of people acting like being fat is a disease, yes for some people it is but for the majority is laziness and bad diet. I feel bad for the small few who have medical problems that lead to obesity, but the majority are just lazy and I have no sympathy for them.

 

I used to be a fatass but lost 75 lbs and help my self accountable, if I can do it anyone can.

I used to be a fatass but lost 75 lbs and help my self accountable, if I can do it anyone can.

 

I remember seeing an old picture of you before you lost the weight, your transformation was truly incredible. What did you do, exactly? I'm curious how you tackled your problem.

I remember seeing an old picture of you before you lost the weight, your transformation was truly incredible. What did you do, exactly? I'm curious how you tackled your problem.

 

Throw up after every meal.

 

Cardio and eat right, it's that simple.

Oh my lord I thought you were serious at first, lol. No I mean did you keep a diary or keep track of your weight with a scale or what? Did you count calories? Or were you just non-scientific about it?

Calorie count, lots of exercise. Now that I learned more it's better to add weight lifting in too. It's odd now, I can't seem to gain weight, I stuff my face all the time and still weigh around 120, I do work a lot and lift.

I hate it when people think they're going to lose massive amounts of weight just by dieting.

I hate it when people think they're going to lose massive amounts of weight just by dieting.

 

Me too, losing weight is more than that.

I just heard about the cookie diet, I want to try it.

I blame Greggs!