Lack of walking and cycling to school having ‘massive impact’ on children

Sophie Collins

According to the HSE, 17% of children in Ireland are suffering with obesity

A leading expert is warning that a lack of walking and cycling to school is having a major impact on kids.

Speaking about the issue, senator Róisín Garvey said part of the problem is that children “have to be driven everywhere” for a variety of reasons.

Child obesity specialist Grace O’Malley, spoke to Newstalk and said the amount of exercise kids are getting is directly impacting their health.

“We do have to look at how our environment is built, does it promote walking and cycling to school?”

O’Malley went on to say that there are countries, like Germany, where people would be “shocked” to know that kids are driven to school in a village or town.

“Whereas in Ireland we kind of expect it,” she added.

O’Malley then said that in most cases, kids are driven to school because of the lengthy distance between their home and school and how dangerous the road to and from may be for pedestrians and cyclists.

“Other children and teenagers do have the capacity and the ability to actively travel to schools,” she said.

“That’s really important in terms of what the Green Party are trying to do in terms of cycling and walking.

“Physical activity is essential for children’s health and development and it’s been engineered out of their lives and we have to really understand that kids need to move and build their heart tissue, their lung tissue, their bones and their mental health.”

The obesity expert then said that when a child sits for too long, too regularly, they are far more likely to put on weight.

Her recommendation for a child under five years of age is three hours of activity each day, spaced out throughout the day.

For a child between five and 18, she suggested one hour every day.

“Physical activity, people often just think of it on one side of the scale as ‘energy in and energy out’,” she said.

She then said that experts know from research that moving burns energy, but more importantly it sends signals to the brain to control appetite.

“So, we know that children and adults who are more sedentary, their ability to sense being full or being hungry is dampened – they tend to feel more hungry.”