What is physical activity and sedentary behaviour?

Active families

When working with parents/carers of young children, the whole family should be encouraged to lead an active lifestyle. Therefore, it is important to understand the physical activity guidelines for different age groups.

Click on the tabs below to see some key points from the Chief Medical Officers’ 2019 guidelines:

The key for both adults and children is to try to be active daily, and to find activities they enjoy (including activities they can do together as a family). Any activity is better than none, and more is better still. It’s never too late to start!

Family members can accumulate their daily activity throughout the day, e.g. a 7-year old child might accumulate their daily activity by a brisk walk to school for 10 minutes, playing out at lunchtime for 20 minutes, a brisk walk home for 10 minutes and running around in the park for 20 minutes after school.

Types of Physical Activity

Children under five can be physically active throughout the day at a range of different intensities. Their physical activity should be spread throughout the day in short bursts and mixed with periods of rest. This includes light and energetic activities.

Light activities: include minimal and slow movement of the trunk (chest and abdomen) from one place to another, and do not affect a child’s breathing rate. In infants, light activities include reaching or grasping for objects, as well as pulling, pushing and playing with people, objects and toys. In toddlers and preschool children, light activities include standing up, moving around slowly, and playing in water or playing board games.

Energetic activities: involve rapid movement of the trunk from one place to another, and would make children breathe harder and feel warmer. This includes activities such as riding a bike, dancing or jumping on a trampoline.

Children living with underweight

Findings from a research study done in Blackburn, UK, showed practitioners were less likely to signpost families to local leisure services if their child was living with underweight (compared with children living with overweight). This could be because physical activity is often associated with weight loss.

Unless a child has been advised to restrict their physical activity by a medical professional, children living with underweight should still take part in regular physical activity. Being active can help with sleep, development of foundational movement skills and social/psychological factors such as self-esteem.

What is sedentary behaviour?

Sedentary behaviour refers to behaviours that typically occur while seated, reclined or lying down (excluding sleeping) that require low levels of energy expenditure. Evidence suggests the under 5’s spend a large proportion of their time being sedentary.

Example sedentary behaviours:

• Sitting reading a book
• Watching television
• Spending time being restrained (e.g., push chair, high chair)
• Playing on phone/tablet
• Travelling by car/bus/train

Why is sedentary behaviour important?

Sedentary behaviour is recognised as an independent risk factor for ill-health (which means regardless of someone’s physical activity levels, high levels of sedentary behaviour could increase their health risk). The World Health Organisation 2019 guidelines therefore recommend all ages (children and adults) minimise the amount of time spent being sedentary.

Sedentary behaviour - considerations for young children

Being sedentary goes against a young child’s natural tendencies to be active. Sedentary behaviour patterns tend to be stable over time. For example, toddlers who watch a lot of television are more likely to continue to watch a lot of television throughout their childhood. Therefore, it is important to establish healthy patterns during the early years.

As the risks to health from being sedentary are independent of physical activity, it is important to support families in helping their child become more active and reduce time spent restrained or in sedentary screen time.

World Health Organization guidelines on sedentary behaviour for under 5s

Click on the tabs below to read what the World Health Organisation recommends in relation to babies and children’s sedentary behaviour.