OVER three quarters of schoolchildren in the South-West are not doing enough physical activity, according to a new study.

The new research into child activity rates in the region has found that 78% of children are doing no more than four hours of out of school exercise each week.

The survey of over 2,000 parents, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Diabetes UK and Tesco, also revealed that very few parents in the South-West know how much activity their children should be doing, with 85% admitting that they don’t know what the recommended guidelines are.

More than half of parents (67%) underestimate the amount of exercise their child needs, believing they only need around 30 minutes a day.

According to Public Health England “all children and young people {aged 5 to 18} should engage in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes and up to several hours every day2”.

A quarter of parents (26%) say their child does no more than an hour a week, with 17% saying they do none at all, putting them at increased risk of being overweight and developing serious long term health conditions in the future, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Parents stated cost to be the biggest barrier to their children doing more exercise outside of school.

Parents also highlight that they would most like to take children swimming (24%), to gymnastics (20%) and horse riding (14%) if they could afford to.

32% of parents believe the responsibility to ensure children get enough exercise lies with their children’s school.

The 2002 Education Act states that the Secretary of State is barred from ordering any school to devote a certain period of time to any particular subject, including physical education.

Catherine Kelly, Director of Prevention, Survival & Support at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Being inactive can lead to a multitude of health problems for children, including an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in later life.

"The benefits of physical activity outside of the classroom and within the community are vast, and as well as benefitting their heart health, it’s fun too!

“That’s why we are working with Diabetes UK and Tesco to deliver projects in areas most at need across the UK, helping communities to get active, lower their risk of developing these conditions and ultimately benefit the health of children in the future.”

Jenna Hall, Programme Director for the National Charity Partnership, explains: “East London is the first of 15 areas where the Partnership will be running mass participation community projects and will encourage at least 200,000 people to get active in its first year.

"These projects will be run in areas that have a high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, high mortality rates from cardiovascular disease, high levels of obesity and low levels of activity rates.”

The National Charity Partnership between Diabetes UK, BHF and Tesco was announced earlier this year.

Its aim is to help save lives, by helping millions of people to eat better and get active, reducing their risk of serious ill-health in the future.

This will help reduce people’s risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, both of which are largely preventable through healthy lifestyle choices.

Through the money raised by Tesco colleagues and customers, the partnership will deliver a variety of preventative and informative initiatives.