To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more
GENEVA, Switzerland — Children under five must spend less time sitting watching screens, or restrained in prams and seats, get better quality sleep and have more time for active play if they are to grow up healthy, according to new guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Achieving health for all means doing what is best for health right from the beginning of people’s lives,” says WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Early childhood is a period of rapid development and a time when family lifestyle patterns can be adapted to boost health gains.”
A WHO panel of experts developed the new guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under five years of age. They assessed the effects on young children of inadequate sleep and time spent sitting watching screens or restrained in chairs and prams. They also reviewed the evidence around the benefits of increased activity levels.
“Improving physical activity, reducing sedentary time and ensuring quality sleep in young children will improve their physical, mental health and well-being, and help prevent childhood obesity and associated diseases later in life,” says Dr Fiona Bull, programme manager for surveillance and population-based prevention of noncommunicable diseases, at WHO.
Failure to meet current physical activity recommendations is responsible for more than 5 million deaths globally each year across all age groups. Currently, over 23 percent of adults and 80 percent of adolescents are not sufficiently physically active. If a healthy physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep habits are established early in life, this helps shape habits through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.
