Doctors Recommend Three Hours' Daily Exercise for Young Kids

As part of the effort to battle childhood obesity, the British government issued new guidelines recommending three hours of daily exercise for children under the age of 5. Allowing young children to move around is critical, according to England’s chief medical officer, Sally Davies, who recommended that parents turn off the TV and take their kids to the pool in an effort to encourage their children to be more active.

The guidelines were a response to the rising obesity statistics; according to the British National Health Service (NHS), nearly a quarter of children aged four and five were overweight. The numbers are similar in the United States, where according to a recent report, “almost 10 percent of infants and toddlers carry excess weight for their length, and slightly more than 20 percent of children between the ages of two and five are already overweight or obese.”

To make sure that babies are a healthy weight, they should take swimming lessons and play on “baby gym” activity mats. Toddlers should walk for fifteen minutes of any journey, like the walk to a preschool or daycare. In both cases, parents should keep their children’s time restrained or sitting still to a minimum.

Play that allows under-fives to move about is critical and three hours a day is essential,” said Davies. “I think there are parents who are not aware how important it is for their children to be physically active for a minimum of three hours. Other parents are very busy and may not see how important it is to get that prioritization and balance right.”

The idea that babies and toddlers should be physically active makes sense, and it’s helpful of the British government to provide parents with a reminder. But three hours of exercise a day seems like something that two working parents would have trouble providing, especially if the child went to a daycare. Perhaps these new guidelines will encourage daycares and preschools to provide physical activities for children. But otherwise, I don’t see how they can possibly be implemented on a large scale.

Photo from various brennemans via flickr.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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federico b.

3:28AM PDT on Apr 24, 2012

Giustissimo.

send a green star

ei F.

3:20PM PST on Nov 20, 2011

yay! and also: let's all work together to make sure that playgrounds are accessible to all children and adults- not just able-bodied peeps of all ages!

to do that, we need to encourage our neighborhoods to
1. choose play structures that allow for children to get on the play element from a side or in-front footprint that's about 4 feet square (manual wheelchair footprint is about 30" x 48" and power chairs can be larger);
2. make sure that at least half of the different types of play elements in the play area are accessible; and
3. encourage the local neighborhood or government to stop using the chips as surface materials and instead use recycled rubber mats or other more smooth surfaces that can allow a wheelchair and other wheely devices to roll from an accessible entry point around the play area.
thanks, everyone!

Holly L.

7:34AM PST on Nov 12, 2011

My little ones get about 5-6 hours a day and me just as many keeping up with them! Totally agree with this article ..thanks..

jane r.

7:29AM PDT on Oct 13, 2011

Totally agree

Sonny H.

10:32PM PDT on Oct 3, 2011

How many hours for adults?

Caitlin F.

1:13AM PDT on Aug 17, 2011

I agree kids need to get away from the TV, computer, vidoe games etc and back outside.