Exploring... Sedentary behaviour in the early years

Sedentary behaviour includes all activities that usually happen when sitting or lying down which require a very low energy expenditure (excluding sleep).

For children under five sedentary behaviour can include activities like:

• time spent strapped into car seats, pushchairs, high chairs and other baby equipment
• sitting watching television
• other forms of screen time, eg, using the computer, tablet, phone or video games
• playing games while sitting down
• travelling by using the car, bus or train.

This one-page fact sheet looks at why minimising sedentary behaviour is so important for young children's health and offers simple solutions for reducing it.

Download: Exploring... Sedentary behaviour in the early years