Time to ditch the desk

RECALCITRANT teens have been arguing it for years, but now there is evidence to back up their claims that sitting down to do hours of homework is bad for their health.

Experts from Australia’s world-leading Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition say teachers should be setting high school students less sedentary homework to help improve their academic performance and wellbeing.

The world-first research shows teenage students sit for 75 per cent of the time at school and 73 per cent of time after school.

While too much screen time is partly to blame, so, too, is homework, the study found.