Parents should 'encourage kids to be active'

Parents should be thinking of ways to get their children off the couch and into the sports field, one asthma expert has advised.

According to Asthma UK, parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children do not slip into a sedentary lifestyle, which could have long-lasting health repercussions.

The comments follow the publication of a study by the University of Glasgow in journal Thorax on March 3rd, which revealed that young children who spend more than two hours per day watching TV are doubling their risk of developing asthma.

Furthermore, according to the study, now six per cent of children aged 11.5 years, who had no asthmatic symptoms aged 3.5 years old, now have the respiratory condition.

Doctor Elaine Vickers is a research relations manager at Asthma UK, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of the UK’s 5.4 million asthma sufferers.

She advised parents that they can help their children get healthier by making small changes to their day-to-day routines.

"I think some of it would just be the day-to-day stuff, so if you have a young child, encourage them to get out of the pushchair and walk,” Dr Vickers explained.

She also noted that although school life provides children with activity, parents should not rely on this.

"It's just building it into the daily life, so that whatever a child is doing, wherever they might be, that the parents are thinking: how can I encourage my child to be active?,” said the expert.

"But it's not being prescriptive about exactly how much activity children should get."

According to information on Asthma UK’s website, one in 11 children has asthma, making it the most common long-term condition.

Furthermore, in the average classroom one in two pupils will have asthma and the UK suffers from the highest prevalence of severe wheeze in children aged between 13 and 14 years old globally.

As well as a health concern, asthma can also be a financial burden on a family, new research has shown.

Doctor Rosana Franco, of the Universidade Federal da Bahia, recently told Reuters Health that for lower income families, the condition places even further strain on their financial situation.

She said: “Family costs of severe asthma consumed over one-fourth of the family income.”

Parents looking to avoid this predicament may be interested to know that Californian researchers have discovered that exposure to high levels of pollen and fungal spores during a children’s first months could increase their risk of being wheezy in later life, Asthma UK reports.