HHS HealthBeat (April 06, 2009)

Sedentary preschoolers

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

You’d expect small children to be very active in preschool. But a  study of more than 450 kids found 94 percent of preschool activities were sedentary.

Even during recess, 56 percent of the children sat and played or socialized rather than played as in running around. William Brown of the University of South Carolina says the amount of sitting in recess surprised him.

Brown says socializing is good for young kids. He also says:

“We would like to see a little more physical activity with kids because we know that kids are getting heavier sooner and we know that tracks into childhood, adolescents, and adulthood if something’s not  done about that.” (12 seconds)

He suggests that teachers get those kids more active.

The study in the journal Child Development was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April, 07 2009