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It is essential to get children into good eating and exercise habits because these habits will generally be the ones they carry with them into adulthood. Children are very much influenced by their parents' behaviour, and so it is hardly surprising that childhood obesity rates have increased substantially over the past couple of decades. Many adults are struggling with obesity as they have developed bad habits; eating too much junk food and not getting enough exercise, habits which they have simply passed on to their children. Exercise clearly is a major component of any strategy designed to tackle childhood obesity, and thus should be given more attention.

Of course, politicians talk about tackling childhood obesity and design health campaigns to inform adults and children about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle, yet they were the very ones who sanctioned the selling-off of school playing fields. Children are supposed to be more active, and yet they have fewer spaces to engage in physical activity.

In Britain
physical education is compulsory up to the age of 16, but most schools find that their budgets are constrained, and that physical education comes low down on their list of priorities, thus many children only participate half-heartedly in lessons which do not reflect their interests. There have been discussions about incorporating a wider variety of activities into physical education lessons, such as martial arts, but whether such changes will actually happen is another matter.

Government recommendations are that children should engage in physical activity for at least an hour a day, but many children fall short of this target. They end up watching television or playing with their computer games, whilst their parents are often reluctant to let them out of the house by themselves to play, but also cannot be bothered to supervise them. However, regular exercise can improve balance, increase coordination, build strength and improver overall health. Physical activity can also help reduce stress and anxiety levels, and make individuals feel more energised and better about themselves. It is therefore a good idea for parents to make sure that their children are more active outside of school hours.

A fitter child is likely to have stronger muscles and bones, to have a leaner body, is less likely to become overweight and thus develop the associated health problems such as diabetes. Exercise is not only important for children, though, and can provide an opportunity for all family members to become more active. When people consume too many calories compared to how many they use, they end up putting on weight, and clearly this is happening all too often. The only way to tackle the issue, therefore, is to redress the balance between the calories people consume and the number of calories they expend, which exercise can help achieve.

Learn more about this author, Michelle Wilkinson.
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