New research suggests that outdoor play during preschool age lowers children’s risk of developing childhood obesity.
The study included children born in Japan during two weeks between January and July 2001. Of the 53,575 children, 42,812 had data at age 2.5 years.
In a survey, parents were asked to answer the question: “Where do your children usually play (excluding homes and daycare centers attended)?” Available response options included ‘in my garden or on the grounds of the apartment complex’, ‘in parks’, ‘in natural areas such as fields, forests and beaches’, ‘on the street’, ‘in temples’, ‘in places malls and supermarkets’, ‘elsewhere’ and ‘doesn’t play anywhere but inside my house’.
If one or more of the first five places were chosen, it was considered to be outdoor games, which was true for 91% of the children.
Outdoor play, potential cure for obesity
In the follow-up surveys, when the children were 7 years old, 31,743 of 42,812 (74%) had height and weight data, and 10% were classified as .
Compared to children who did not play outdoors, those who did so were 15 percent less likely to become overweight or obese, after adjusting for other influencing factors.
“We suggest that parents and caregivers encourage outdoor play habits in their children from an early age, as this may help prevent obesity later in life,” said lead author Takahiro Tsuge of Kurashiki Medical Center (Japan).
The study was published in the journal
