According to researchers, schoolchildren in England are less fit than their counterparts 10-years ago, with fitness levels of British children falling far faster than anywhere else in the world, falling
4% a year on average worldwide, plummeting by 8% in the UK. The figures come from fitness tests done by hundreds of Essex schoolchildren.

It is often said Great Britain is facing an obesity crisis, with government figures released this month showing about 23 in 100-children to be overweight or obese.

The massive drop, it is believed is mainly caused by children exercising less and spending more time watching TV or browsing the internet.

However, the study says increasing weight gain offers no explanation for the ‘large and worrying’ falls in the cardio-respiratory fitness levels of British children over the past decade.

The authors of the study published in Archives of Disease in Childhood warn, routine weighing of children at school to monitor their health may, therefore, not be enough to prevent the decline.

Dr Gavin Sandercock from the Centre for Sports and Exercise Science, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex said: ‘If, they are the same weight but can’t run as fast or as far, it’s because they are less fit, and the reason is they are less active. Children are not doing as much physical activities as before. They are using their spare time to play more computer games, more time watching TV, or more time online. They don’t climb trees any more, they don’t use their bikes any more. They are just getting inactive.’

According to Sandercock, Britain is highly up-to-date with technology and has more computers-per-household than other countries in Europe, meaning British children are spending more ‘screen time’ on computers. On average, children are spending between 2 to 4-hours every day on them, leaving them little time to do anything else.

Cardio-respiratory fitness levels are also falling significantly for both boys (7%) and girls (9%), equivalent to a 0.8% average rate of decline per year.

Backing up previous research, their findings suggest cardio-respiratory fitness of British children has been falling at twice the predicted global average rate.

According to the authors of the study, cardio-respiratory fitness is more important for the children’s health than BMI, as fitness reduces the chances of serious health problems and death associated with obesity.

A minimum of 60-minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day is recommended by health guidelines, including participation in sports, brisk walking and running.