One of the biggest problems with the health of children in the UK, and an underlying cause of child obesity, is the fact that many children today just don’t seem to be that active anymore. Whereas in days gone by (and we don’t mean this to sound like a rant on how things were better in our day) children would go out to play in the street, ride bikes, play in the park and generally run around from morning ‘til dusk, children today are more intent on playing ‘virtual’ games via their games consoles.

The games consoles are, sadly, a big contributor to child obesity. Before the 1980s, and the Nintendo and Sega revolutions, homes didn’t feature games consoles and children didn’t know what a video game was. If you wanted to play games like these you would have to go, outside, and walk or ride a bike down to an arcade where you would have stand and play on an arcade machine.

Today of course children can sit and play video games from the comfort of their own bedrooms and they need never leave – meaning they get progressively larger and their health deteriorates.

With children not going outside as much as they used to it falls to parents to try to coax their children into exercise routines in order for them to become fitter. One such option for staying fit and losing weight is pilates, a form of yoga invented by Joseph Pilates.

Pilates classes can be undertaken by people of any age or experience and, as pilates is an impact free exercise, even the elderly or those expecting can enjoy its benefits.

Of course, technology being what it is today you can even take pilates classes on your Nintendo Wii – which may serve as a gentle introduction to pilates. At least it’s a start.