Tips to keep children healthy

Don't wait for your children to tell you they're thirsty before giving them a drink, experts say. Instead, offer them water and other hydrating foods and drinks throughout the day, particularly in the summer when more liquids are needed to stay hydrated. By the time children are thirsty, they're already at least three per cent dehydrated, according to Holly Benjamin, associate professor of pediatrics and orthopaedic surgery at the University of Chicago.

The World Health Organisation recommends that youths participate in a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. In a study to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers confirm that time spent outdoors after school was positively associated with exercise. Lee Schaefer and Jonathan McGavock, at the University of Alberta, studied 306 youths (nine to 17 years of age).

The results showed that those who reported they did not spend time outdoors after school (17 per cent) achieved 21 fewer minutes of physical activity daily, with an additional 70 minutes per day of sedentary behaviour, compared with those who reported spending most of their after-school time outdoors (39 per cent). The latter group were three times more likely to meet guidelines for daily physical activity, and had higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels than those who did not spend time outdoors.