Children with more friends at school are said to be more
physically active, according to a new study. For each additional
friend a child has, they spend an extra 10 minutes being
physically active at the weekend, research funded by World
Cancer Research Fund and The National Prevention Research
Initiative found. They say the discovery is good news for
childhood health as the majoirty of young people do not meet
physical activity guidelines and activity levels tend to decline
through childhood. The researcher from the University of
Bristol, who are studying children's physical activity in the
transitional years between primary and secondary school, also
found an extra friend was associated with almost four minutes of
moderate to vigotous physical activity after school. However,
the link was only noticed in girls, not boys, suggesting
stronger friendship associations for girls than boys. Dr Russel
Jago, of the University of Bristol's Centre for Exercise
Nutrition and Health Sciences, said: "The research shows t