{"id":7218,"date":"2018-06-01T14:21:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T14:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitproblog.mysites.io\/childhood-obesity\/"},"modified":"2018-06-01T14:21:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T14:21:36","slug":"childhood-obesity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/childhood-obesity\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood obesity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you doing enough to help? <\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to new analysis reported this week by Public Health England, 1 in 25 children aged 10 or 11 is said to be \u2018severely obese\u2019. Height and weight measurements show the number of children classed as severely overweight rose from 15,000 in reception to 22,000 by the time they leave primary school.<\/p>\n

Childhood obesity<\/h3>\n

The Local Government Association, which analysed Public Health England figures, said action was urgently needed yet, as reported in BBC Online, the Government insisted that its obesity plan was \u2018comprehensive\u2019.<\/p>\n

An initiative that has been proactive in seeking to lower obesity rates in children is the Change4Life project, which seeks to instill healthy lifestyle habits in children. Sharon Phillips is a school games organiser in the London Borough of Havering and is a senior development coach for the Youth Sport Trust. Since implementing the Change4Life initiative six years ago, Phillips has seen some positive results in the schools she works in. The Havering team has rolled out multi-activity clubs in primary schools for children who are less active or at risk of being obese. The clubs now tend to attract children aged between 6 and 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many pressures on teachers and sometimes they don\u2019t have anyone to run the sessions. Throughout the primary schools that we work with, we have actually launched \u2018Change4Life Champions\u2019. This is for those 10 or 11 year olds who have been to the club before and have transitioned through it so they can now run games and activities for the other children. Quite often the children make up their own games; they have brilliant imaginations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Havering has linked up with fitness instructors and other individuals within the industry to create a more streamlined approach on how it aims to tackle childhood inactivity. Phillips continues, \u201cI think sports coaches are sometimes the wrong people to call upon. They are very intent on delivering a sports session; the reason why a lot of these children aren\u2019t active or are overweight or obese is because they don\u2019t want to play sport. Playing sport and being physically active are two different things. We need to inspire children to be physically active whether it\u2019s walking, swimming, jogging or playing games. I haven\u2019t come across many children who don\u2019t want to do something.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Branching out seems to be key to making this project successful in your area \u2013 the team in Havering came up with the \u2018Change4Life Challenge Club\u2019, an after-school club for parents and children that ran for 10 weeks. A programme was put together for physical activity, healthy eating and for whole families. According to Phillips, there are still some places whereby fitness isn\u2019t being linked; coming from a fitness instructor background herself, Philips certainly practices what she preaches.<\/p>\n

For parting advice, Phillips advises trainers to source out the links where possible and to make contact with their local school games organiser. \u201cPrimary schools have got an awful lot of money ring-fenced for PE and school sports for another year. I say, why not work with fitness instructors? Instructors should make contact with individuals at local primary schools, do a bit of research, and see how you can get involved.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Change4Life impact<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Change4Life sports clubs have a wider impact on young people and lead to positive outcomes, as follows:<\/p>\n