Executive Summary

There is a decline in physical activity and a drift to more sedentary lifestyles. This is resulting in an alarmingly rapid rise of disease and a growing crisis in healthcare. The World Health Organization rates inadequate physical activity as the second leading threat to modern health (behind tobacco). It also impacts three of the other top ten risks (high blood pressure, obesity and high cholesterol). Inactivity may contribute too many non-communicable diseases such as Diabetes Type 2 (150 million people worldwide affected) coronary artery disease, certain cancers etc.

A person’s inactivity is driven by an enormous number of convergent factors, from the pressures of work and the dynamics of an information based society to the way we raise our children and the personal priorities we set. Without intervention to increase physical activity in daily living, this situation is leading to and will continue to result in, a global health crisis.

It will have a negative impact on both developed and developing countries. Moreover, it has the potential to cripple health care systems around the world and seriously limit the productivity of every nation’s workforce. Another way of stating the problem is:

What can be done? Certainly siphoning more of the worldwide GNP into medical treatment is not only unaffordable but impractical. The focus must be prevention and the logical answer is to attack the core issue – inactivity.

The answer seems self-evident. Find ways to change behaviour at the point where habitual patterns are most readily formed so that individuals willing decide at an early age to be active throughout their lives. Obviously, this means creating an effective intervention prior to adolescence before bad habits are hard wired.

The obvious benefit of a more active population is greater levels of health. However, it should also translate to a broader social dividend. More physical active children are more engaged, less prone to truancy and criminal behaviour, more positively motivated and are less of a burden on social services. The longer term windfall of an active population is more economically competitive workforce, a more content society and a non-overburdened medical system.

The logic is impeccable. Unfortunately the supposition has not as yet been proven scientifically.

The LOOK project is a vital step in providing scientific data to establish the impact of special movement education amongst primary school aged children. This Commonwealth Institute project, is a landmark longitudinal study which will run initially over four years to monitor the impact of lifestyle on a cohort of 850 primary school students in Canberra, Australia.

It is a multi-disciplinary research project that monitors multiple aspects, including incidence of risk factors, associated cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, body composition, bone density and strength, immune system competence, psychological health including self-esteem and self-confidence, as well as postural competence, coordination, team-work, social skills and academic achievement.

Half of the respondents will receive a physical activity intervention. The Bluearth Discovery Program, chosen as most appropriate after a world review of available programs will provide in-school movement education to the test group. Developed by a not for profit organization in Australia, Bluearth goes beyond the development of the physical skills and enhanced movement/flexibility to instilling greater self esteem and social confidence.

The LOOK project is a uniquely collaborative undertaking bringing world class academic expertise from the 8 Australian Universities, Cambridge University (UK), Umea University (Sweden), together with medical authorities from Canberra & Royal Alfred Hospital, The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Sports Commission, The Cooper Institute (USA) and the International Diabetes Institute.

The four year project will provide invaluable insights into the impact of physical activity and nutrition on the health of children. The conclusion of the research will have application to all Commonwealth countries and the Bluearth program represents a scaleable intervention for primary school children everywhere.

Further, it is hoped that the research will be extended beyond the initial cycle and will follow the respondents into adulthood. The benchmarks being established at the outset of LOOK will be markers for assessing the impact of lifestyle and activity of the health and well being of humans throughout their lives.