Back to routine ... and better health
As much as children enjoy the carefree months of summer, those lazy, hazy days often mean less sleep, fewer fruits and veggies and more time spent in front of a screen.
Several studies note that children have a tendency to return to the classroom in poorer physical condition and with accelerated weight gain compared to the months spent in school.
This trend is especially pronounced among children who are already overweight and/or who come from lower-income families.
Interventions in public schools, through meal programs and increased bouts of structured physical activity, have contributed to a modest drop in obesity rates among Canadian children (to 27 per cent in 2013 from 30.7 per cent in 2004).
But much of those efforts to combat sedentary behaviour fall by the wayside during the summer when children lack the daily structure that occurs when school is in session.
Researchers from the department of exercise science at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health labelled this phenomenon the Structured Day Hypothesis. It suggests that our kids are less healthy without such structure.
“It is plausible that, in comparison to school, a more autonomous and unhealthier home environment operates and thus allows children to self-select and indulge in a variety of unhealthy behaviours ... which, compounded over an uninterrupted threemonth period, results in adverse health outcomes (such as accelerated weight gain) that are not manifested during weekends or the nine months of the school year,” the researchers said.
They contend that “a preplanned, segmented and adult-supervised compulsory environment” is what kids need if we want to get them off the couch and moving.
For many children, this type of environment is a given from September to June when they participate in recess, schoolbased physical education several times a week, active travel to and from school and set meal and snack times. The same can’t be said for the other three months of the year.
To verify their hypothesis, the researchers reviewed studies that compared the weekday and weekend activities of children.
Basing their theory on the suggestion that summer activity patterns are similar to what happens on weekends during the school year, the researchers noted a general trend of kids being less active on Saturday and Sunday compared to Monday through Friday.
More than 80 per cent of the studies reviewed supported their hypothesis, including studies that saw time spent in front of the television increase by 60 minutes per day on weekends.
Particularly revealing is data indicating that 52 per cent of the 15,000 European children polled spent more than two hours a day in front of a TV or computer screen on weekends, while only 20 per cent spent that amount of time in front of screens during the week.
As for bedtimes, studies reveal they routinely were pushed back by 45 to 60 minutes on weekends.
Dietary patterns also changed on weekends, with fruit and vegetable consumption decreasing and children being more likely to consume a greater percentage of their calories from fat and food with little nutritional content.
And while some kids go from school to camp or other organized summer activities, there are plenty of families that can’t afford or don’t have access to programs that add structure to the summer months. Instead, children from these families spend their time at home, where they are more likely to be sedentary.
The study should be a wake-up call for parents to provide their children with more opportunities to participate in structured and unstructured play for the recommended 60 minutes a day during the summer break, and to be more vigilant about stocking the fridge with healthy choices year-round.
Kids don’t grow out of a sedentary lifestyle. Rather, they grow up to be sedentary adults, with extra weight, an increased risk for chronic disease and a shorter lifespan.
The answer is the realization that kids need structure to their summer, along with a renewed commitment by communities to provide affordable, accessible recreational opportunities for children of all ages.