South Australian health experts alarmed by ABS study of children's busy lives GROWING FAMILY: Julie and Grant Warnes with children Annabel and Alastair in their vegie patch. Picture: NICK CLAYTON Source: The Advertiser TELL US: How do you keep your kids happy and healthy? SOUTH Australian school children are missing out in much-needed breakfast and sleep, while spending more time playing sports and helping around the home, a major study shows. The 2013 CensusAtSchool survey, was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has alarmed health experts. It found one in five children have no breakfast and only seven in 100 children say they ate fruit in the morning. But UniSA health Professor Tim Olds said those children who did eat breakfast ate well. "Those who do eat breakfast eat pretty good food: cereal, eggs, bread etc,"" he said. Of all the meals of the day, breakfast is the one where we habitually eat pretty good food. "There is increasing evidence that breakfast - any breakfast, but particularly cereal - is protective against cardiovascular risk factors and later heart disease."" The survey, which was launched in 2006, questioned 23,000 children from years 4 and 12 nationally. It showed 14 out of every 100 children get 7 hours or less sleep on a school night. Professor Olds said the results were concerning. "There's growing evidence that sleep - and particularly late bedtime - have very bad consequences for the happiness, physical and mental health of kids like greater risk of obesity, lower heath-related quality of life, poorer school performance, later psychological problems,"" he said. Royston Park parents Julie and Grant Warnes, 42, struggle to keep their two children, Annabel, 8, and Alastair, 6, in a good routine, except for their love of sports which led them to exercise a lot. "We don't lay down the law but we have guidelines, but they both love their sport and he often have to tell them to put the football down or stop dancing around ,"" Mrs Warnes said. Alastair has two bowls of cereal for breakfast, but Annabel always says she is too busy so she has a piece of toast on the way. Bed time is an issue and this week we are having a TV-free week to cope with that. "It is a struggle to fit everything in with school, sport, homework, friends and everything else."" The survey has also revealed some of the causes behind the child obesity epidemic. Only 14 in every 100 children recorded that their favourite fast foods were healthy options including rolls and sandwiches while 78 in every 100 opted for fast food such as pies and pasties, fries and hamburgers. The 2013 results showed an alarming reduction in health food eating. Nine in every 100 students named their favourite fast food as fruit seven years ago, compared with none this year. Up to 17 students said their favourite fast food was a roll or sandwich in 2006 - only 3 in 2013. And 15 students said their favourite fast food was a salad in 2006 - none this year. But today's school children help far more around the home than seven years ago. Up to 47 in every 100 children said they did less than one hour of housework in 2006 - this dropped to 21 seven years later. And only three students in every 100 did more than 7 hours housework in 2006, compared with 16 this year. Professor Olds said children also spent more time travelling to school. "This is largely driven by increasing distance from home to school - more "superschools," more kids going to private schools,"" he said.