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.
While there has been widespread concern over children's lack of physical exercise, Dr Reilly said this research presented some of the first hard evidence. 'Activity levels of young British children are low. The study shows that unhealthy, physically inactive lifestyles are established at an early age, much earlier than we previously imagined,' he added.
Dr Reilly is leading a further research project, funded by the British Heart Foundation, to examine the impact of improving under-fives' activity levels. The three-year project, launched in April at Rowena Nursery School in Glasgow, will recruit children in the year before they start school and will put them through their paces with a year-long programme of physical activity.
The children will be monitored to assess what impact the exercise has had on their weight and blood pressure. One group of children will have 30 minutes of activities a day, three times a week, at nursery as well as continuing exercises in the home environment while a control group will continue their normal activities at nursery and home.
Dr Reilly said, 'There is an increasing belief that the promotion of physical activity should begin at an early age. Until now research studies have not been large enough to test how effective education strategies can be. If successful, this programme can be integrated into an early years curriculum across the UK.'
