Only 20% of Children Get The Recommended 60 Minutes of Exercise Every Day

The Pfizer Health Index has revealed that only 20% of children are getting the recommended 60 minutes of exercise every day. Parents were questioned about a number of issues in relation to their children’s health and it was revealed that only a fifth said that they adhered to the national guidelines. The average was found to be four times a week while one in four children are currently overweight or obese. Speaking of weight, less than half of parents knew their child's weight and a mere 7 per cent believe that their child may be overweight. Speaking about the findings, Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, Director of Human Health & Nutrition at safefood said:

“One in four of our children are currently overweight or obese, yet because the norm has changed we are not recognising this reality. Children's social, emotional and physical health is being harmed.  We as a society must partner with industry and the Government to turn the tide on childhood obesity in Ireland as a matter of priority.”

And it seems that the reason could be that children are using screens more and more with 2 hours 16 minutes the average amount of time kids spend on screens daily. Family Psychotherapist Dr John Sharry explained:

“Modern technology is undoubtedly impacting on the health of our family unit and we can see that children are more sedentary than before.  There has been exponential growth in the use of screens particularly with mobiles and tablets and in Ireland we currently have more mobile phones than we do people.  While technology is a powerful tool, it is important that parents aim to be in charge of the use of that technology, rather than technology being in charge of you.”