29 May 2007
OnMedica Staff
Inactivity among children has reached 'epidemic levels' claim researchers, leaving thousands at risk of diabetes and heart problems.
Using funding from the British Heart Foundation, academics from the University of Leicester surveyed over 3500 pupils from five inner city secondary schools in Leicester.
They identified low levels of physical activity in both South Asian and white children, with only half the children walking to school, and nearly half spending four hours or more watching television or playing computer games, on a daily basis. And children with a family history of diabetes or heart disease were just as likely to have sedentary behaviours as those children without a familial risk.