How to stop our children dying from OBESITY
Bringing PE in as a Leaving Certificate subject is a good first step but it’s not going to help us win the war against obesity in Ireland, says Dr Niall Moyna
WE ALL know the statistics by now — the World Health Organisation says that by 2030, Ireland is predicted to be the most obese nation in Europe if we continue to ignore our expanding waistlines.
And with this comes a great cost to our health services as the HSE creaks under the strain of illnesses caused at least in part by the obesity epidemic.
Statistics also show that our children are leading more sedentary lifestyles as technology and changes to the way children play mean the generations coming after us are even more in danger of lifestylerelated illness in their later years.
So how can we, as a society, make things better?
Professor Niall Moyna believes parents, schools and the Government need to act now to protect the health of the next generation.
Together with Irish Life, he created the Schools Fitness Challenge in an effort to show teenagers how much their health improves when they take part in even just six weeks of physical activity.
We spend 70% to 80% of our healthcare budget treating chronic diseases, yet we know that people who have high levels of cardiovascular fitness have reduced risk for all of these cardiac diseases we spend our money on,’ he says.
‘Children are digital natives who are growing up in an era where technology is pervasive. From fitness watches to sensors, they will be the first generation to be wearing these.
THEY are going to be very familiar with all these indices of health but the problem is there is a disconnect — they have no idea what they all mean.’
The fitness challenge is just six weeks long but it helps teenagers understand in real terms how your fitness levels can improve in a short amount of time.
‘There are two reasons for doing this,’ Professor Moyna says. ‘Firstly children become aware of their current levels of fitness and secondly it shows them what this very simple six-week intervention can do. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete but you can improve your fitness level to such an extent that it can have a positive impact on your overall health.
‘During this year’s challenge we saw a huge improvement and a higher participation among girls, which was important.’
The subject of PE is being brought in for the Leaving Certificate but Professor Moyna says this is only one of a number of subjects that should be in the curriculum if schools are to be tasked with safeguarding the health of future generations.
‘I look at this in two ways,’ he explains. ‘I have been advocating for PE to become a Leaving Cert subject for years but not on the basis of the impact that it might have on health.
‘If a child is good at woodwork or mathematics, they get rewarded. When a child is good at sport, it is another form of intelligence that should be recognised in our Leaving Cert curriculum.
‘But globally there is no evidence at all that PE has a positive impact on the health of kids as there has hardly ever been any data collected.’
Unless more action is taken, Professor Moyna says our children will be paying the price in years to come. ‘If you look at all the health surveys in Ireland over the last decade, things are only going in one direction,’ he says. ’Our fitness levels are going down while obesity levels are going up — and there is something wrong there.’
Professor Moyna believes that to safeguard the health of our children, a multi-faceted approach needs to be taken both in school and at home, not simply in relation to obesity but in all aspects of future health.
‘I have been saying for years that I could never understand why there isn’t a mandatory assessment of height, weight, fitness and blood pressure for children in secondary school in Ireland,’ he says. ‘Continuous surveillance of fitness in children should be mandatory in primary and secondary schools.
‘The 20-metre shuttle-run test has been conducted across 50 countries in six continents and is endorsed by the National Academy of Medicine in the US as an indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness.
‘We need to take this seriously at