I thank the Chairman. I welcome my dear friend and former competitor, Mr. John Treacy, to the committee meeting. I also welcome Ms Coyne. The Chairman made reference to tackling childhood obesity. The committee is now on a journey to identify how it might be able to go about this. Last November when I was an Independent Senator, along with my Independent colleagues I presented a motion in the Seanad on the Points for Life programme. One of my short-term objectives was to try to get cross-departmental co-operation and I am pleased to say that we have this with the Departments of Health; Transport, Tourism and Sport; Education and Skills; Children and Youth Affairs; and Agriculture, the Marine and Food.
The presentation I will make today is the same one I made to the Departments recently. I am pleased to say that in the coming weeks we hope to be ready to roll out the physical activity programme, as opposed to tackling obesity. Physical activity is a very important strand of tackling obesity, particularly among young children, with regard to teaching them health literacy as opposed to numeracy and literacy. I understand committee members have a copy of the PowerPoint presentation I will give because the distance from the screen will mean they will not see it too clearly.
Studies and reports on obesity have been conducted in recent years. These include Growing Up in Ireland, the National Longitudinal Study of Children by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and the Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study commissioned by the Irish Sports Council which indicated 85% of the youth of Ireland do not meet the daily recommended level of physical activity. The Irish Sports Council is tackling this itself. There was also the Get Ireland Active report which made a number of recommendations. Following these reports a number of positive steps have been taken in communities and Mr. Treacy will speak about these. The Points for Life initiative I launched in the Seanad is about taking action.
All of the reports show the shocking result that few adults and children take part in regular physical activity. The percentage of children who do not get the recommended level of physical activity of 60 minutes a day is quite alarming. Of children aged 11 years, some 49% of boys and 62% of girls do not get the recommended level. The number of 13 year olds who do not get enough physical activity is 61% of boys and 71% of girls and the number of 15 year olds is 73% of boys and 87% of girls.
The national guidelines on physical activity have seven strands from childhood through to adolescence. The Points for Life programme on which I am working focuses on one strand which is children and youth. My focus is on children and youth because a school research programme on health behaviour indicated half of primary school children do not achieve the recommended level of physical activity. By the age of 15 nine out of ten girls and seven out of ten boys do not get enough physical activity, which is quite alarming. As I indicated, I am aiming the programme at primary school children. I am also aiming it at parents to educate them through the children. Teachers are also targeted as they are on the front line from Monday to Friday. We are also aiming the programme at various sports partnerships through the auspices of the Irish Sports Council and Mr. Treacy will speak more about this. We are also targeting various community programmes through the national governing bodies which are working well in the area of activity. The children receiving support from these bodies are already involved in sports because their parents take a keen interest in after-school activities and Mr. Treacy will speak about this in more detail. The most vulnerable children are those whose parents do not have the wherewithal to take them to activities.
A US report indicated that for every $1 spent on physical activity a saving of $3.20 is made in medical costs. According to data from the World Health Organisation in 2003, inactivity and obesity represented 9.4% of national health expenditure in 1995. One can imagine what the cost to the health budget is all these years later. Two recent European studies indicated that physical inactivity costs between €150 and €300 per citizen in terms of the national health budget. A report, entitled "The National Guidelines on Physical Activity for Ireland", discusses the important objectives with which we are all familiar, for example, better cardio-respiratory and muscular fitness, stronger bones, better cardiovascular and metabolic health, healthier body fat composition, less weight gain, lower risk of type 2 diabetes and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. What are we doing about these?
The guidelines recommend 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, but what is moderate activity? It is where one's heartbeat increases from the norm. Is golf regarded as a physical exercise? From my perspective and that of Mr. Treacy, it is not. Vigorous activity helps one's health, as one's heart beats more quickly and one's breathing is much harder than normal.
Is this distinction understood? It is a question of reaching sub-max. This is calculated by taking one's maximum heart rate, for example, 220 beats per minute, and subtracting one's age, for example, 20 years. One's heart rate should reach 150 bpm, or 75% of the calculated figure of 200, for 20 minutes three times per week. This is the norm for physical activity, as exercising at this level has a benefit.
We are discussing cardiovascular exercise, flexibility, muscle strength and bone strength. Cardiovascular exercise includes running, walking, cycling, swimming and skipping. Flexibility relates to exercising our backs, hamstrings, quads and calves. Children can improve their muscle strength through tug-o'-wars, push-ups, pull-ups, resistance training, weights, climbing and curls. They can improve their bone strength by hopping, skipping and jumping. Do children understand what the vibrations they feel when they hop on the ground are about?
My Points for Life programme is important because it focuses on health literacy and nipping bad practices in the bud before it is too late. Goal oriented and evidence based, it concentrates on physical fitness development and well-being. It focuses on specific performances, objectives and results. It builds self-esteem and confidence and improves academic performance. It complements the physical education curriculum in schools and encourages parents' involvement and understanding. It provides fitness skills to children for sports and community activities. Most children who do not participate in sport inside or outside school feel inadequate. If we can implement the Points for Life programme at a young age, we can teach kids the motor skills and give them the confidence to participate in sports later in life.
The programme will be monitored and will target interventions. The most effective way to evaluate improvements in health is to monitor. We want feedback, which can then be used to encourage and motivate children, teachers and parents. The results will convince the Government to roll out the programme in all schools. The long-term objective is to reduce the health budget and increase children's physical fitness and well-being.
Points for Life involves five simple physical fitness exercise programmes or tests, which are designed to measure the overall fitness levels of the country's youth. They are simple curl-ups, shuttle runs, endurance walks and runs, pull-ups and right-angle curls, to name a few. We must keep the programme as simple as possible. KISS in that slide stands for "keep it simple, stupid". We want to set goals for children, parents and teachers and to identify and explain the key cardiovascular, strength and flexibility exercises. We wish to incorporate the programme into the wonderful Active School Flag programme, which has been implemented in many schools. However, the latter programme focuses on increasing activity as opposed to increasing physical fitness levels, which is what we are trying to achieve. We want to incorporate our programme into a daily class routine. Physical education in primary schools amounts to 60 minutes per week, but we want that figure to be 60 minutes per day. Currently, physical education is recommended, not required. In secondary school, it amounts to 120 minutes per week and is not a requirement. One does not need to do physical education in secondary school if that is one's wish. As well as incorporating the programme into a class routine, participation should be a requirement and not a recommendation. Points for Life could also play a role in terms of literacy and numeracy skills.
I propose to prove my programme to the Department of Education and Skills by taking a focus group of 24 schools, comprising four city schools, four town schools and four rural schools in each of two categories, those being, an open curriculum and a focused curriculum. We would test the schools following the focused approach at the start of the academic year. They would implement the various cardiovascular and flexibility programmes on an ongoing basis and be tested every two months. The open curriculum schools would be tested at the beginning of the year in September, but they would continue to maintain their regular physical education programmes. At the end of the 12-month period, we would be able to compare the results of the focused approach with the results of the open approach. I believe that this would prove our point. Consequently, I hope that Points for Life can be rolled out in all primary schools.
We would love all primary school students from first class to sixth class to participate in the programme, but that must be decided with the Department of Education and Skills. The programme will eventually transfer into secondary school. At the outset, though, the primary school teacher is the best person to implement the physical education programme. If a teacher felt inadequate, we could upskill him or her through simple tasks. The pilot would start in September 2012, continue until June 2013 and be monitored every two months via assessment sheets and guidelines on what children should be able to achieve on average. The important aspect is a fitness diary. Mr. Treacy and I have maintained training diaries all of our lives. As motivational tools, they helped us to identify how well or poorly we were doing and whether we were injured. A fitness diary will be a record of children's activities inside and outside school. At the end of each week and month, they will be able to see how they are improving. Plenty of information on skills will be made available to children to take home so that their parents can identify these simple tasks.
Children will not be compared with other children. The programme is about self-improvement and will outline personalised information on each child's fitness and good health. A child will in no way be made to feel too fat or too skinny. Children will be encouraged and motivated and parents and students will be educated to understand the benefits of physical fitness. There will be a report card for each child. How else can one know the results? Unlike Irish, English, maths and so on, the current physical education programme is not discussed at parent-teacher meetings. We want it to be included in those meetings. The results will be used to encourage.
We want to combine physical education with nutrition. The Food Dudes programme in schools would be linked with our pilot programme. The Irish Heart Foundation's Bizzy Break is a fantastic programme and could form part of Points for Life. Some 97% of schools pursue healthy eating policies, a figure that we want to grow.
Points for Life's goal is to promote consistent and constructive physical fitness programmes rather than physical activity. It will improve, monitor and maintain physical fitness levels and educate children to understand. If a child can understand that his or her parents should wear their seat belts in cars or should not smoke, that child should be able to come home and tell his or her parents about the importance of physical fitness. Vulnerable parents can have fun with their children and educate them for the rest of their lives.
As former athletes, we have gained experience and simple skills. The skills we implement in our coaching of young children can be implemented in primary schools to nip this in the bud. This is all about going back to basics, the ABCs, namely, agility, balance and co-ordination and, more important, cardiovascular skills. A strong heart is a brave heart. We will have a healthier society, not next year or even in five years but in ten or 15 years when these children become adults and can then teach their children.
