Gloucestershire children have fallen below the national average for recommended physical activity

Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey shows that a staggering 55% – or 4 million – children in England are not meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines for health and wellbeing. And, for the first time, Gloucestershire has fallen below the national average.

Tom Hall, Physical Activity Lead for Children and Young People at Active Gloucestershire, said: “With the strain of home-schooling and the added pressures many parents are facing, day-to-day life management is a significant challenge. However, children need our help more than ever if we are to cushion them from long-term mental health issues. With the clear link between physical activity and wellbeing, staying active is arguably the number one tool in the box for maintaining robust mental health.”

The guideline recommends that children are physically active for 60 minutes a day. Across Gloucestershire, the number of young people doing less than 30 minutes of activity a day has risen to 31%.

Hall said: “Research shows that young people’s happiness and confidence has taken the greatest hit in 12 years1, and one of the most worrying trends we are seeing is the widening of inequalities. At the same time, it is encouraging to see people, communities and organisations come together to find creative, fun and innovative ways to stay active and reconnect with others.”

Active Gloucestershire has worked with local school games organisers and school sports networks to engage young people from across the county in virtual school games challenges. It is also supporting partners to adapt to Covid restrictions. For example, play rangers from Play Gloucestershire have used physical activity to help reconnect with young people in deprived communities. 

Ben Morris from Play Gloucestershire said: “the negative impact of inactivity and isolation through lockdown restrictions on mental health among children is a major concern. Taking part in active play, or even walking, helps the practical side of the brain find more balance with the emotional side. We have found that the indirect approach to emotional support – walking, talking and playing – really works. Children feel more at ease as their bodies are engaged in movement, leaving their minds free from the seriousness of the world around them.”

Tom Hall concluded: “We have seen so many organisations come up with really innovative and fun ways to connect with communities – we’ve seen everything from physical activity and wellbeing packs being delivered across the county, to family trails and dance classes.

Many parents are getting creative too. The most important thing parents can do to help their children cope with the mental stresses of lockdown is to encourage them to be more active. You don’t need a garden, or even a lot of time, to inspire children to move.”

Active Gloucestershire and Play Gloucestershire have come up with tips for parents looking for extra ideas during lockdown:

•. Move at your child’s pace. Some kids are super-active and like charging around; others prefer a chilled yoga session. https://sportengland.org/jointhemovement has lots of ideas and video workouts with fun characters.

•. Join in. Show your kids that being active is fun. Being silly together has the added bonus of being a great way to relieve stress for everyone.

•. Make it fun – dance in the kitchen, search for fairies in the park – being active doesn’t have to be a chore. Here are some of our favourite ways to get moving, inside and out:

•. Chalk! Use chalk to make obstacles courses, or draw boats floating across hot lava; chalk hopscotch on the pavement, or write messages for friends or members of the community. This might be as simple as ‘Keep going jogger’, or public messages.

•. For indoors, cover a balloon in a plastic bag. This weighs it down and means it can be batted around more safely if you don’t have much space.

•. Human snakes and ladders. Make a giant cardboard dice and use household objects  – climb up cushion ladders and slide down snakes made of sheets. 

1The Prince’s Trust 2021 Youth Index survey of young people’s happiness and confidence returned the worst findings in its 12-year history. More than one in four young people surveyed in said they had felt unable to cope with life since the start of the pandemic, increasing to 40% of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). Half of 16 to 25-year-olds said their mental health had worsened since the start of the pandemic.

Photo credits to:

Leo Rivas: leo-rivas-wtxcaDIdOCM-unsplash-2

Mick Haupt: mick-haupt-W42nGQIpNN8-unsplash-2

Ends

Editors notes

Sport England’s annual Active Lives Children and Young People Survey shows that:

• 44.9% of children and young people (3.2 million) are meeting the Chief Medical Officer guidelines of taking part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes or more every day. Meanwhile 31.3% (2.3m) do less than an average of 30 minutes a day.
• Boys (47% or 1.7m) are more likely to be active than girls (43% or 1.5m).
• Those from the least affluent families are less likely to report positive attitudes to sport and exercise. Furthermore, they saw notable decreases in enjoyment, confidence and competence widening the gap to those from the most affluent families who only saw a small drop in competence alongside a small increase in understanding.

Within Gloucestershire, there has been a significant increase in those who are inactive (doing less than 30 minutes of activity a day) from 27% to 31%. This means that physical inactivity amongst young people in the county is higher than the national average for the first time.

Active Gloucestershire is part of a national network of Active Partnerships operating across England. At our essence we are about driving positive change.

Staying active right now can make you feel a whole lot better mentally and physically. We can move is a social movement to get everybody in Gloucestershire active. We are building a movement of people committed to helping not only themselves to be more active, but others too.

We can move addresses all aspects of daily life, to create an environment in which everyone can be physically active. It is coordinated by Active Gloucestershire which works with organisations within our community to promote and facilitate greater physical activity.

We believe that physical activity can have a transformative impact on the lives of people and their communities. It is the single biggest thing that can be done to improve a person’s health. We work with organisations within our community to promote and facilitate greater physical activity.