Physical activity in children ‘tailing off as early as age seven’

Children may be seeing their physical activity levels tail off much earlier than was previously thought, according to a new study.

Research from the University of Strathclyde and Newcastle University tracked the physical activity levels of 400 children at the ages of seven, nine, 12 and 15, using a small lightweight portable monitor called the Actigraph, worn for seven days at a time.

Overall, the total volume of physical activity was shown to fall from the age of seven onwards in both boys and girls, with declines no steeper during adolescence than in earlier childhood.  No evidence suggested this decline was greater among girls than boys.

This contradicts the prevailing assumption that physical activity levels during childhood are generally adequate, before falling sharply during adolescence, with girls affected more seriously than boys.

Professor John Reilly, of the University of Strathclyde's school of psychological sciences and health, said: "Future research and public health policy should focus on preventing the decline in physical activity, which begins in childhood, not adolescence, and providing an improved understanding of the determinants of the different physical activity trajectories."

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