Putting clocks back could mean children getting fatter, say scientists

CHILD obesity could be reduced if clocks do not go back in winter, according to a study. Researchers said children are at their most physically active on longer days.

They said their findings adds evidence in favour of a Daylight Saving Bill which could bring the UK into line with Central European Time (CET) for a three-year trial period.

Scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said children aged eight to 11 were most active between 5pm and 8pm during lighter evenings.

They measured the body movements of 325 children in Hertfordshire in their daily routine for 817 days over the four seasons and found children were most active on days with 14 or more hours of daylight.

Authors of the study, published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, said that the trend remained constant, regardless of the weather.

On long days, the children spent 22 per cent of their time taking part in “out-of-home play” in afternoons and early evenings, while the figure decreased to 13 per cent when the day became shorter.

Researcher Dr Anna Goodman said: “The fact that kids spend more time playing outdoors and are more physically active overall on these longer days could be important at a population level for promoting their fitness and in preventing child obesity.

“This strengthens the public health argument for the Daylight Saving Bill currently under consideration by the House of Commons, which proposes putting the clocks forward by an extra hour all year round.”

The Westminster government is currently considering giving the country an extra hour’s daylight in winter afternoons after Rebecca Harris, Conservative MP for Castle Point in Essex, tabled a Daylight Saving Bill calling for a review of the potential costs and benefits of a move to CET.

Moving to CET would mean lighter winter evenings, which supporters claim would cut road deaths, boost tourism and reduce energy use.

Despite the issue being a reserved one, the UK government said it would only go ahead with the backing of the devolved administrations.

Last month the Scottish Government said it saw “no case for a change”.

Professor Annie Anderson, director of the centre for public nutrition research at Dundee University, said increasing the number of daylight hours in Scotland to encourage children to be more active was worth exploring but would need to balanced against the risks. She said: “We need to find ways to get both children and adults more active. However, we would need to have a proper harms-benefits analysis examining what risks there could be to children if we had longer hours of darkness in the mornings.

“Encouraging children in Scotland to cycle to school would mean them cycling in the dark, but coming home when it was light. We can’t have it both ways … we need to look at it from a Scottish perspective.”

From 1968 to 1971, the government moved clocks forward an hour, but it was forced to abandon the move after complaints from Scotland and northern England.