The National Dairy Council & Macra na Feírme: Health & Wellbeing

Physical Activity for School Children

According to national guidelines on physical activity for Ireland, published by the Department of Health & Children and the Health Service Executive in June 2009, children and young people are advised to engage in moderate to vigorous activity for 60 minutes every day. Muscle-strengthening, flexibility, and bone-strengthening exercises should be included three times a week. In order to avoid excess weight gain or achieve/maintain weight loss, these recommendations need to be increased.
Moderate intensity activity refers to activity that results in the heart beating faster than normal and breathing is harder than normal. Active recreation such as hiking, skateboarding and roller-blading and brisk walking fit into this category. Vigorous activity, causing the heart to beat much faster and you to breathe much harder, includes sports such as football, basketball, rugby, swimming and tennis.
These activities should be ‘weight-bearing’ in order to promote good bone health. ‘Weight-bearing’ activities refer to activities during which your bones support your weight. These include most of the common sports with the exception of swimming and cycling.
Muscle-strengthening exercises e.g. games such as tug-of-war and bone-strengthening exercises e.g. skipping, running, tennis should be encouraged.
Encouraging your child to be active from an early age is important as such habits may continue into adolescence and adulthood. Age-related decline in physical activity is not uncommon – during the teenage years teenagers should be encouraged to maintain their interest in sport and physical activity.
Limit sedentary past-times such as playing video games, watching television and surfing the internet.

Physical activity is associated with a range of benefits:

· Play a role in reaching and maintaining a healthy body weight

· Reduce the risk of many diseases such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes

· May encourage social interactions

Irish Trends

A national survey, ‘The National Children’s Food Survey’ (2005), demonstrated a number of physical activity-related trends among Irish children aged (5-12 years). Some highlights include:

· Only 1 in 5 Irish primary school children walks to and from school. There may be a variety of reasons for this, but try to encourage your child to walk/cycle when possible.

· 85% of Irish primary school children take part in P.E. class frequently – this figure is very positive but it is important that this high rate continues as children grow older.

· 54% of obese children watch TV for more than two hours per average school day compared to about 33% of normal weight children and 36% of overweight children.

Main Influences on Children’s Activity Patterns

School

As children spend a large proportion of their time in the school environment, it is important that physical activity and fitness is encouraged during this time.

· The Report of the National Taskforce on Obesity sets out a number of recommendations relevant to physical activity within the educational environment. Examples include that a minimum of 30 minutes physical activity should be achieved in all educational settings everyday and that all schools should emphasis increased physical activity including participation in sports.

· P.E. is an ideal opportunity to encourage activity and the importance of an active lifestyle.

· Organising activities by the school and participation in such activities should be encouraged e.g. setting up a school football or basketball team.

Family

Children tend to learn from, and copy, their parents! So when it comes to a healthy lifestyle – what better way than to set a good example:

· Engage in activities which encourage all the family to be active. For example, make Sunday walks or Sunday hikes a regular occurrence.

· Take time up to play sports with your children.

· Attend matches and support and encourage your children.

· Set a good example by walking to the shop when possible.

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