Healthy body, healthy mind: The importance of active lifestyles for youngsters

In England, children and young people’s overall activity levels recovered well from the pandemic during the 2022-23 academic year – but the umbrella figures only tell part of the story.

According to Sport England, some 47% of children were taking part in an average of 60 minutes or more of sport and physical activity per day.

The figures were published as part of the non-departmental public body’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey Report, which was released in December. It demonstrated that participation was in line with the 2018-19 academic year, the last full year before the pandemic, and was even higher than in 2017-18, when the survey was first launched.

Significant inequalities remained however, with activity across Black (40%) and Asian (40%) children and young people, as well as those from the least affluent families (44%), still below the average for all ethnicities and groups. Girls are also less likely to be active than boys.

Over in the US, some 50.7% of children and young people aged between six and 17 belonged to a sports team or took sports lesson after school and on weekends.

Project Play was launched in 2013 by the Aspen Institute, a non-profit headquartered in Washington D.C.

It published its State of Play 2023 report in November, and featured data from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association between 2019 and 2022. Data revealed that the percentage of children between the ages of six and 12 taking part in team sport at least once a day had increased by 3.3% from 60.6% in 2019 to 62.6% in 2022.

However, data also revealed that this fell between the ages of 13 and 17, with 57.3% participating in team sport at least once a day in 2022. This figure decreased from 61.5% in 2019.

Again, those from lower-economic backgrounds were less likely to participate in sports regularly (25.8% compared to 42.7%). Additionally, those from Black (35.4%), Asian/Pacific Islander (37.4%) and Hispanic (34.3%) backgrounds were less likely to participate than White young people (40.3%).

In Europe, some 65% of young people aged between 15 and 24 said they participated in physical activity at least once a week in 2019.

Inside and outside school

In the UK, the government advises that children and young people should be active for 60 minutes or more every day.

Just under half of children and young people are achieving this, according to Sport England data.

The National Child Measurement Programme for the 2022-23 school year demonstrated that school children in year six (aged 10 and 11) living with obesity dropped to 22.7% from 23.4% in 2021-22 and 25.5% in 2020-21, but this is still higher than the 2019-20 pre-pandemic level of 21%.

“Physical activity is very important for children and young people for a variety of reasons, including their physical and mental health, as well as social wellbeing,” a spokesperson for the Youth Sport Trust, a government-funded trust that supports and promotes the provision of youth sport across the UK, explains to Global Sustainable Sport.

“Not only can increasing activity levels develop children who are happier, healthier and ready to learn, but in doing so we can help address challenges in education around persistent absence, attainment and behaviour whilst also providing opportunities to develop key skills for life including communication, teamwork and leadership.”

The importance of physical activity for mental health is key, as demonstrated by the rise of children and young people experiencing poor mental wellbeing.

The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2023 report, published by NHS England, found that 20.3% of eight to 16-year-olds had a probable mental disorder in 2023. Additionally, among 17 to 19-year-olds the percentage stood at 23.3%, while in the 20 to 25-year-old category it was 21.7%.

The UK Government recommends a minimum of two hours of PE (physical education) in school each week, which means that children and young people need to reach their target of 60 minutes daily through extracurricular activities.

“We believe that physical activity and movement shouldn’t be limited to PE lessons, but built into and around the school day, with active lessons, active travel to school encouraged, and building movement into pre and after-school activities,” adds the Youth Sport Trust spokesperson.

Related to this, the Youth Sport Trust is involved in the Well Schools Movement, which places emphasis on health and wellbeing to enhance academic performance. It’s not just about providing a happy environment for children and young people either – according to the Well Schools Movement, some 80% of teachers have considered leaving the profession, further impacting pupils and young people.

Widespread benefits

Sport and activity can provide a number of benefits, from health through to establishing and maintaining connection with others.

A study from the University of Sydney in Australia found that continued participation in solo and team sport improved academic performance.

The team of researchers followed sports participation of more than 4,000 children aged between four and 13-years-old, comparing their activities to academic trajectories up to the age of 21.

The research found links between continued sports participation and lower absenteeism, better attention and memory, and higher end-of-school scores. Sports participants were also more likely to study at university.

In Australia, children from kindergarten (pre-school in the UK) to year 10, which consists of 15 and 16-year-olds, are required to undertake a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity across the school week.

However, schools are only encouraged – and not obliged – to provide year 11 and 12 senior secondary school students with weekly access to the same amount of exercise. Following the publication of the study, the team of researchers called on the government to consider extending this obligation of physical activity to young adults still in education.

However, while calling for increased physical activity in schools is a step forward, children and young people still need to move during their own time to hit active targets.

Back in the UK, the Youth Sport Trust agrees that sporting organisations and events should promote activity for children and young people as much as possible.

The Trust sees the importance of supporting organisations in facilitating this, and is a partner in the Opening Schools Facilities Programme, a three-year scheme launched in early 2023 that provides funding for schools to open up their facilities outside the school day. This gives pupils and local residents the opportunity to be more active.

Between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 the programme helped a total of 1,467 schools deliver more than 90,000 sport and physical activity sessions for pupils and members of the local community.

During its second year, the programme has already reached more than 168,000 children and over 50,000 local residents according to the Youth Sport Trust.

Elsewhere, the Youth Sport Trust has partnered with SailGP’s Impact League, to launch the ‘Youth Sport Trust and SailGP Impact League Schools Award’. The accolade will recognise schools, school games organisers, active partnerships, national governing bodies of sport, and national disability sports organisation that embrace sustainable school sport.

Beginning with the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, the partnership is hoping to expand into schools in the additional nine national teams’ countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the US.

“Through sport and physical activity, young people can learn all kinds of skills that are invaluable throughout life such as teamwork, leadership and improved communication skills,” the Youth Sport Trust spokesperson says. “Additionally playing sport or taking part in physical activity can help with building connections and a sense of belonging, both with others and in the wider community.”

Images: Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay/Sylwia Aptacy from Pixabay/Federico Ghedini from Pixabay/RoboMichalec from Pixabay