School closures and too much screen time pose a big risk of children gaining too much weight. Photo / Getty Images
School closures and too much screen time pose a big risk of children gaining too much weight. Photo / Getty Images
The schools are closed and the playgrounds deserted. Saturday morning football is cancelled, along with after-school gymnastics and ballet.
This week marks the seventh week (six in New Zealand) of school closures, for all children except those of key workers. Seven weeks is longer than a typical summer break, and experts are now questioning how the weight gain and fitness loss typically seen among schoolchildren - known as the "summer spread" - will play out during lockdown.
It's long been known that the six-week summer break has a negative impact on children's overall health, as they swap the structure of playtime, PE and after-school activities like football and swimming lessons, for lie-ins, extra snacks and screen time.
A 2019 UK study that monitored schoolchildren over a 13-month period found the number of overweight and obese children fell steadily between September - the start of the school year - and July, when schools break up for summer.
However, by the time they returned to classrooms, the average BMI of the whole group had increased, and the children suffered an 80 per cent loss in fitness.
School closures will undoubtedly continue throughout May, the weeks spent at home creeping into double digits, and with lockdown rules stating families should only leave for essential reasons, or to exercise, what are the health consequences for children?
"Social distancing and school closures are absolutely the right things to do to stop the spread of Covid-19, but the lingering effects of the lockdown will likely lead to increasing levels of childhood obesity," says Dr Andrew Rundle, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and the lead author of a new report on school closures and childhood weight gain in the journal Obesity.
"What my co-authors and I are trying to do is predict the possible consequences and discuss ways to minimise them.
"We know schoolchildren gain weight during summer breaks, but not during the school year. This is especially true for children who are already overweight. The lockdown, however, means children are going to be housebound for at least twice the length of their summer break, if not longer. They can't access playgrounds or play team sports, while at the same time households are increasingly stocking up on high energy foods."
Rundle says the evidence also shows that children - like adults - are more likely to snack on high sugar and high salt foods when they're bored or stressed, and new reports show that screen and gaming time among children in lockdown is soaring.
Before the pandemic, the UK was already in the grip of a childhood obesity crisis, with the latest data showing that nearly a third of children aged 2 to 15 are already overweight or obese.
"You can control what food you have in the house. If you don't want them to snack on or eat certain foods, don't buy them." Photo / Getty Images
Research also shows that kids are gaining excess weight at even younger ages, which can have an impact on the rest of their lives.
Rundle says: "Our data shows that a higher weight aged 5 is associated with a higher weight gain throughout their life, even up to the age of 50."
It's the perfect, or rather imperfect, storm.
Something Laura*, who has two sons aged 7 and 9, knows only too well: "My 9-year-old plays football for the village football team twice a week and has swimming lessons every Sunday morning. He loves PE at school and is always selected for the school cross country, competing and often winning against local schools.
"Since all this happened, he barely moves. He wears a Fitbit and his steps have dropped to the hundreds. My husband and I both work from home, so we're glued to our laptops most of the day, as are the boys. Sometimes I send them out in the garden at 4pm, but after a bit of half-hearted football, they end up arguing and coming back into the house to ask for a screen or a snack. I know there are bigger things to get upset about at the moment, but their health is adding to my stress levels, which are already quite high due to home-schooling and work."
Mother of two Lucy* says: "I have two daughters, aged 13 and 15. My oldest is as thin as a rail, but my youngest has a slightly bigger frame and is naturally more sedentary. By week two of lockdown, she was waking up at 9am and eating two or three slices of toast before beginning her schoolwork.
"All their schoolwork is done online, so she slumps on her bed with her laptop for hours at a time. She usually does Junior Park Run every week, which is a 2k fun run, and she walks to the park with her friends. But since lockdown started she won't even come for a family dog walk. She just stays home, eating, and barely moving. I can see the effects in her face, which is filling out. My husband gets really cross and calls her lazy when she refuses to come on walks with us, but I don't say anything because I don't want to trigger an eating disorder."
"Don't mention weight to your children during lockdown, even if they're gaining it," advises Professor Jane Ogden, a professor of health psychology at the University of Surrey and author of The Good Parenting Food Guide: Managing What Children Eat Without Making Food a Problem. "Don't talk about fat or body size, particularly with teenagers, because this can often set them on a path of low self-esteem, body criticism and dieting."
Instead, Ogden recommends you try to change their behaviour through action rather than words [see tips below]. "Remember, everything they've ever known and loved - their friends, routine, after-school clubs, all that natural social contract - has been stripped away suddenly. Children are naturally more active around other children. So think about how hard this must be for them."
Ogden also suggests using lockdown as a time to make changes: "Lockdown can be a time for making meals from scratch and sitting down as a family to eat, or working out together. Behavioural studies show that big life changes - like house moves - can be a good time to introduce a healthy new habit. Lockdown can be an opportunity for reinvention."
Rundle, however, says that lockdown weight gain can be a particular problem for teenagers because activity diminishes in teens, and studies have shown that kids gain weight during puberty: "Teenagers have more school work, socialise on screens, and they don't chaotically charge around like younger children.
"So something to think about is the balance of energy in, energy out. If your child is moving less, they need fewer calories. A really good place to start is by cutting 'stealth calories', found in sugary drinks and high-sugar snacks. I'm downloading recipes and cooking from scratch more than ever, but I have a flexible schedule and no children. My friends with children are exhausted at the end of the day. Lockdown health looks different for everybody."
Ogden says her take on parenting has always been to aim high and then when you slither down, you've got leeway. "The question is, how low will you let your children slither during lockdown? Children don't self-care or police themselves, so sometimes you'll have to step in. At the same time, forgive them because it's a difficult time. Right now, just about good enough, is good enough."
1. Be a good role model: "If you want your children to be more active, to stop snacking so much, and to stare at screens less, start by role-modelling this behaviour," says Ogden.
2. Manage their environment: "A lot of things are uncontrollable right now," says Ogden, "but you can control what food you have in the house. If you don't want them to snack on or eat certain foods, don't buy them."
3. Don't be too hard on computers: "Not all screens are bad. Some computer dance games, especially the Wii, can encourage activity."
4. Find what motivates them: "I have two teenagers so I know the challenges," says personal trainer Matt Roberts. "But a few weeks ago there was a charity 5k challenge going around social media and lots of teenagers were taking part and tagging each other. Perhaps they don't want to do a YouTube workout, but find out if their gym or football coach is offering personalised Zoom sessions. Look for what motivates them."
5. Put them to work: "Now is a good time to divide up the household chores, like emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming or tidying the garden," says Roberts. "Pay them pocket money to do age-appropriate chores, which will keep them off the sofa."
6. Routine is everything: The structure of the school day, with scheduled exercise time and designated snack and meal times, helps limit childhood weight gain. Where possible, says Ogden, recreate this at home and have some kind of routine.
