Physical activity advice for children and young people

Abstract

Unfortunately, only 47.2% of children and young people in the UK are currently meeting the chief medical officer’s physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes daily, with 30.1% of children doing less than 30 minutes daily. Reduced physical activity in children is a significant contributor to childhood obesity, a growing paediatric pandemic with 1-in-3 children overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school. The long-term health implications of this and the additional burden on health services are already widely apparent. It is important for GPs and primary care staff to understand the current UK recommendations and evidence on childhood physical activity to empower their support of early engagement of children with measures to improve levels of physical activity. An understanding of childhood obesity is also important. At the other end of the spectrum elite children’s sport is becoming increasingly competitive and injuries in developing children can lead to lifelong complications and injury recurrence. It is, therefore, important to understand how much and what types of exercise and training are safe in the paediatric population.