Action needed to change lifestyles

The importance of living active lifestyles is well understood – the slow debilitating burn of obesity is a crisis everyone can see coming and which is entirely preventable.

Raised BMI increases the risk of heart disease and strokes, diabetes, osteoarthritis and some cancers.

Our lifestyles from a young age can end up costing both individuals and the community dearly. Yesterday the Health Improvement Commission published the results of a survey of young people that used wearable tech to measure how active they were. In Years 4 and 6, only 44% met current recommended guidelines of an average of an hour of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a day. There was a gender divide identifiable too, with boys twice as likely to get 30 minutes than girls.

It is vital to instil healthy behaviours at a young age, with childhood obesity associated with a higher chance of obesity, premature death and disability in adulthood. Obese children also experience health and psychological effects as they grow.

To turn the tide requires action on different fronts, something the commission recognises.

One of the key ones will be what opportunities are offered to these students in schools. This is already where children do most of their moderate-to-vigorous activity, but 51% did less than 30 minutes, with just under four in 10 girls achieving this mark. There are also opportunities for change in how children travel to and from school.

It is imperative that activity is thought about in the broadest sense and that children and crucially their parents are also engaged. Poor lifestyle choices become ingrained and normalised.

There is a large physical, emotional and financial cost to this all.

It is also no longer enough for political leaders to talk a good game on preventative health measures while only taking minimal steps to achieve the change required. This has begun to be teased out in this election campaign, but more action is needed in the next term.