Children need to be free.

Byline: Jane Kirby

CHILDREN whose parents allow them freedom to visit friends and go shopping are more active, researchers said today.

Experts at the University of Bristol tracked the movements of 1307 children using GPS technology.

They also asked the pupils, aged 10 and 11 from 23 schools, to complete a questionnaire about how much freedom they were given to travel without their parents.

The study found that boys and girls who were given greater freedoms were much more active on weekdays than those closely watched by adults.

But only girls who were allowed more freedom at weekends were actually more active.

The study, funded by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the National Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI), was published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Research has shown the numbers of 10 to 11-year-olds travelling to school alone had fallen from 40 per cent for those born between 1932 and 1941 to nine per cent for those born in 1990 or 1991.

Dr Ashley Cooper, senior investigator on the study, said: "This is the first study to show that freedom to move unsupervised is directly related to how physically active children are.

"These findings suggest that giving children more independence to move outside is related to greater levels of physical activity, which is important for health.

"But we also know parents restrict how much independence they give their children for safety reasons. More work now needs to be done so we can discover how to get that balance right." Dr Panagiota Mitrou, science programme manager for WCRF, said: "This is an interesting study because it seems to give parents a practical way of encouraging their children to be more active but this, of course, is likely to depend on the parents' perception of their local and wider neighbourhood.

"We know the more active a child is, the less likely they are to become overweight, which increases risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

"And as well as helping maintain a healthy weight, research shows that being physically active itself can help prevent cancer.

"However, it is important to emphasise that this is only one study from a single city.

"Although it includes a wide range of participants, the findings should be confirmed in other areas."

Jane Kirby

CAPTION(S):

HEALTHY: Kids need space