Is Sedentary Life Risking Our Kids’ Lives?
Seven in ten Irish children are driven to school everyday despite living less
than a mile away from their school, according to a survey by Irish Universities Nutritional Alliance (IUNA).
The study has also found out 80% of our kids watch
more than one hour of television each day during the school week. Less than 1% of
Irish children cycle to school. Over 300,000 children are overweight in the country.
One out of 5 Irish kids is overweight or obese, compared to one out of 6 kids in the
rest of Europe. A major health problem, obesity kills around 2,000 people in Ireland
every year. NUI Galway fitness expert James O’Toole, head of the national Outreach
Programme for Inactivity in Children, has already warned that Ireland is currently in
the same situation the US was in five years ago in relation to obesity.
