The Danish campaign Get moving
From 2005 to 2009, the Danish National Board of Health implemented a nationwide information campaign on physical activity for children and young people, the principle message being:
- All children and young people must be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day, preferably longer.
Why Get moving?
The Board launched its 'Get moving' campaign because children and young people in Denmark are not being physically active enough, and are becoming even less so. The focus of the campaign was, among other things, on encouraging children and young people to be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day and on ideas for incorporating physical activity into their daily lives. The idea was that being physically active should be fun.
On the website for the 'Get moving' campaign (only Danish), you can read more about the campaign, see the campaign film, download campaign material and find information on physical activity.
Each year, the campaign has comprised central as well as local efforts.
Far too many children and young people do not follow the recommendation of doing at least 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical exercise a day. One in four children is physically active for less than one hour a day, and the trend has unfortunately been taking a turn for the worse in recent years. There is a particularly sharp drop in activity levels from when children reach the age of 12. It is therefore especially important to focus on this age group.
Health benefits of physical activity
It has been documented that young people who comply with the recommendations concerning physical activity are happier, have more energy, lead more satisfying social lives, are more self-confident and develop better action competence.
Moreover, physical activity has a positive impact on their ability to concentrate, memory, classroom behaviour and cognitive learning capacity. Researchers have documented that children and young people who comply with the recommendations concerning physical activity can prevent a number of lifestyle diseases which they would otherwise be at an increased risk of acquiring later in life. These include cardiovascular diseases, muscular and skeletal illnesses, stress, certain types of cancer, mental illnesses and osteoporosis. There is thus every reason to get children and young people to be more active.