Denise Lewis Wants Parents to Find Ways to Tackle Child Obesity

Denise Lewis is a UK Olympic Gold medallist and a full time mother. Her household is extremely active (as you may have guessed!) but she understands they are not the norm.

Just 23 per cent of boys and 20 per cent of girls meet the national recommended level of activity, according to a survey by Public Health England (PHE). And the number of children meeting the recommended amount of physical activity, which is 60 minutes a day, drops by 40 per cent as they move through primary school.

“One in five kids is overweight or obese when they start primary school – that’s worrying in this day and age,” says Lewis. “I think parents as well as schools need to find ways to change that. If you start with good intentions and get them out and about from an early age, it can make a big difference.

Denise has joined forces with Change4Life and Disney, which are along with Sport England and schools around the country encouraging children to get active with the 10 Minute Shake Ups programme. It offers fun, 10-minute activities for kids, featuring their favourite Disney characters as inspiration.

The PHE survey revealed that more than half of children (57 per cent) said that they were more likely to be active if their parents were. But with another recent study suggesting that middle-age people don’t even squeeze in one 10-minute brisk walk a month, it’s perhaps no wonder that their children are inactive too.

This all ties in perfectly with our aim to get children spending less time in a chair during lesson time and using our EIGER Junior Standing Desks as an alternative. We're not suggesting all of the time, just mix it up.

To have a new generation leaving education and not be a habitual chair user would have a positive impact on long term health and wellbeing.