Australia's pre-teens move too little and snack too much, but they are mostly healthy and getting enough sleep despite what their parents think, according to new research.
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Ballarat children were among 1800 Australian children aged 11 to 12 years who took part in a novel study designed to provide a snapshot of their health, and to help experts devise strategies to keep Australians healthy in the future.
The Child Health CheckPoint study, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, assessed the health of 1800 children and at least one of their parents through 20 different health tests. "Most of the 11-12 year olds tested were healthy, however there were wide variations in their results," said research lead Professor Melissa Wake from MCRI.
"We noticed key differences in health measurements such as their weight, blood cholesterol and lung function. Come middle age and many Australians have heart and lung disease and diabetes."
Comparing health data from parents and children can provide an insight in to whether health issues are hereditary or the result of environmental factors.
Professor Wake said while most children were healthy, there was room for improvement when it came to physical activity, sleep, snacking, weight and early signs of chronic kidney disease.
Children only had 32 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and were sedentary for more than 11 hours a day, with researchers having to ask some children whether they were asleep during the day - they weren't, they were watching television or other screen time.
"There is mounting evidence that while not all types of sedentary time are equally harmful, television is especially linked to unfavourable health outcomes. It may be that the makeup of sedentary time is as important as the overall duration," said Professor Timothy Olds in the research, published Friday in BMJ Open.
Most children were getting the recommended nine to 11 hours of sleep per night, but more than half of children were getting "less than optimal" soundness and continuity of sleep.
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"It depends on when we go to sleep, how long we sleep, how well we sleep and the regularity of sleep and wake times. Early to bed, early to rise is the healthiest pattern and if a family can introduce that as a whole, then it's healthy for everyone," Prof Olds said.
One in four of the children and two thirds of parents studied were overweight, but researchers said it was not inevitable that children would inherit the body shape or weight of their parents. And parents who snack more could be influencing their children to eat more.
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