Kids need more sport!

Hi!  It’s the b5 media theme dayand it’s all about getting back to school. Thanks Kristina Chew at AutismVox for hosting it this month! Check out my fellow b5 bloggers, there’s some great articles!

So here’s my contribution to the day.  Not quite full on genetics but the subject matter is about our kids ever increasingly sedentary lifestyle which has a major impact on increasing a kid’s risk of developing a disease if they hold the faulty genes for a particular disease.

My kids went back last week which was a relief on the one hand – they became somewhat feral over the holidays and so needed routine back in their lives.  On the other hand there’s the endless homework, after school clubs, music lessons , sports clubs etc etc all to be juggled in between working.  My kids love sport and are constantly playing games.  They got a Wii for their recently celebrated birthdays and now get even more exercise (if you can call it exercise) by playing the sports games and sword fighting in Pirates of the Caribbean.

There are a couple of reports out from the UK today which sum up our less than active world we live in.  I imagine that the same results would be echoed across the world.  Barely 3% of UK children aged 11 are doing enough exercise, when they should be spending at least one hour a day doing some form of physical activity if they want to minimize their chances of developing diabetes type 2 or becoming obese later on in life, says an article published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood (BMJ).

Also, a new survey by Asthma UK has found that a quarter of all parents in Britain would prevent a child with asthma from playing in the football team or taking part in PE because of concerns about their health.  There are many athletes who have asthma but have gone on to be world class or Olympic champions. 

We are letting our kids down by wrapping them in cotton wool.  Let them have fun and be healthy at the same time!

Penny Harrington