Australia’s couch-potato lifestyle is putting kids’ future health at risk
‘Quit the sit’ could be the nation’s new motto as families are urged to drop lounge lizard life with a free program, after survey finds one in four parents have never thrown a ball with their kids
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Australian families are being urged to jump off the sofa and “quit the sit” as a new survey finds we’re a population of couch potatoes*.
The Health of the Nation survey, commissioned by News Corp Australia and leading health brand Body+Soul, reveals Aussies are overweight, battling chronic illnesses*, sitting in front of screens for eight hours or more a day, exercising too little and many parents never throw or kick a ball with their kids.
The new Health of the Nation campaign has launched to help Australians kickstart their health journey in 2024 and make better choices to feel stronger and live healthier.
Health of the Nation ambassador* and leading trainer Sam Wood said inactive parents were probably unaware that the price of bad habits would be inherited* by their children.
“Without action, kids are at risk of becoming sitting ducks for poor health,” Wood said.
The survey of 3000 Australians found only 50 per cent of parents play outside with their children for 1-3 hours each week and one in four parents have never thrown or kicked a ball with their kids.
“That statistic really worries me,” Wood said. “We know that overweight, unhealthy kids become overweight, unhealthy adults and it’s really important before they are independent that we lead by example and help by getting outside and getting active with them.”
VicHealth CEO Dr Sandro Demaio said Australia was experiencing a slow-motion epidemic* of chronic disease.
“The average Australian can now expect to experience 13 years of pain and suffering at the end of our lives due to preventable disease,” he said.
He said chronic illness was affecting Australians earlier and earlier, with teenagers now experiencing adult-onset illnesses, but said it was never too late to make improvements.
“Whether you are 80 or eight, it’s never too late to start,” he said. “Health of the Nation is an initiative that is as important for teenagers as it is for grandmas and grandpas.”
Wood said it was not as hard as Aussies thought to turn their health around.
To help, he is offering all Australian families a free eight-week health club so kids and parents can leave the “couch slouch” generation behind and get moving.
“If people can simply eat a little better and move a little more, then one plus one equals three and they can see big differences,” Wood said.
Brothers Mahib, 9, and Arish 6, along with mum Nazia Jamil and dad Nav, were the first family to sign up to the Health Club. They hope to be more active, feel stronger and eating more vegetables after eight weeks on the online workout and nutrition* program.
Two-time All Australian AFLW player and ambassador for Rebel, Libby Birch, said having parents that supported her playing sport was her “saviour as a child” because she didn’t fit in at school.
“But you don’t have to play competitive sport to get the physical and mental benefits,” Birch said. “You can do a gym session, ride your bike or walk to work. Those choices can make you a really healthy person.”
WHAT IS THE HEALTH CLUB?
Sam Wood’s free eight-week health club is an online workout and nutrition program* for Australians of all ages. It will include general, low-impact and advanced fitness workouts, meal plans, motivation and mindfulness tools and videos, and support and encouragement from Sam Wood and his team.
The Health Club starts on February 5, but parents can sign up your whole family today at 28bysamwood.com/health-club
* Terms and conditions apply (includes marketing consent).
To help educate kids on how to make simple changes, Kids News is producing a free Health of the Nation education kit later in Term 1, drawing on the latest science and expert advice to break down simple steps for better kids’ health, in eight parts supporting the workbook created by one of our teachers.
Subscribe to the Kids News weekly newsletter HERE for education kit updates, news and initiatives.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- couch potato: lazy, inactive person who watches too much television
- chronic illness: persistent and long-term in its effects
- inherited: passed on to; an inherited problem is one that was created by someone else that you now have to deal with
- epidemic: an outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many people at once
- nutrition: the substances that you take into your body as food and the way that they influence your health
EXTRA READING
Australia is losing obesity battle
Energy drinks robbing teens of sleep
Video game addiction officially a disease
QUICK QUIZ
How many Australians took part in the Health of the Nation survey?
What percentage of parents play outside with their children 1-3 hours per week?
What proportion of parents have never thrown or kicked a ball with their kids?
The average Australia can now expect how many years of pain due to preventable disease?
What is Sam Wood's health club?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What steps?
What do you think could be some simple steps that kids could take to improve their health and wellbeing? Write a list of at least three. Next to each item, write a reason why it will help.
Time: allow at least 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education
2. Extension
Design a poster. The purpose of your poster is to convince parents to become more active and understand why increasing activity is so important. Use the information in the story to help you.
Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education
VCOP ACTIVITY
Exercise the body and the mind
Exercise is not only important for the body, but it’s a lot of fun as well. Let’s bring more exercise into classroom learning by creating a VCOP PE game.
You can add a VCOP challenge to pretty much any game, and it’s a great way to encourage the teacher to let the class play more games.
Here is an example to get you started, then you create one of your own.
VCOP dodgeball
The normal rules of dodgeball apply. Two teams throw soft balls at each other and if you get hit, you have to sit out. The team that knocks out all the players on the other team, wins.
VCOP challenge: when you get eliminated, collect a mini-whiteboard and a basic clause from the sidelines. Up-level the sentence (make it better) by adding VCOP. When you show the teacher your completed sentence, you can return to the game.
Play for a set amount of time and the team with the most players left on the court wins.
Support: use the “Up-Level It” card set – players have to complete one card from the set instead of completing all VCOP challenges.
What can you come up with?