Charities warn our children aren't getting enough exercise

Three quarters of school children are not doing enough physical activity, leading health charities have warned.

Research into child activity rates by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Diabetes UK found that 77% of children do no more than four hours out of school exercise each week.

Poorer children fare even worse, the research found, with around nine in 10 children from low income households active for less than four hours a week.

The study discovered 75% of parents underestimate the amount of exercise their child needs, believing around 30 minutes a day is needed.

The benefits of physical activity outside of the classroom and within the community are vast

More shocking is that over a quarter (26%) of parents believe their child is only doing a maximum of 50 minutes of activity a week in school.

Catherine Kelly, director of prevention, survival and support at BHF, said being inactive can lead to a multitude of health problems for children, including an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in later life.

She added: “The benefits of physical activity outside of the classroom and within the community are vast and as well as benefitting their heart health, it’s fun too."

Parents stated cost to be the biggest barrier to their children doing more exercise outside of school, with 85% of parents who earn £15,000-£20,000 a year saying their child misses out on activity because it’s too expensive.

Almost a third said there children weren’t active because of a lack of free or cheap facilities nearby.

Parents also highlight they would most like to take their children swimming (20%), horse-riding (16%) and to martial arts classes (15%) if they could afford to.