Nursery World - 'Couch potatoes' getting younger

Research evidence showing children as young as three and four are inactive much of their waking lives has fuelled concerns that their 'couch potato' lifestyle may damage their long-term health.

lifestyle may damage their long-term health.

Dr John Reilly, lead researcher at Yorkhill NHS Trust's department of human nutrition, told a conference held in Aberdeen last week that the young Scottish children who took part in the research were just as sedentary as American adolescents, who a recent study found to be immobile for 80 per cent of the day. The children's activity levels were equally low at nursery and at home.

Supported by funding from the medical charity Sport Aiding Medical Research for Kids (SPARKS), Dr Reilly and colleagues from the University of Glasgow studied a representative sample of 104 Glaswegian three-year-olds using small activity monitors, which they wore on their waists for three days. A year later, in 2000, the children were studied again. The changes over the year were small, suggesting that physically inactive lifestyles become entrenched early on.

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