Introduction:

the promotion of healthy lifestyles for health care is a priority in the European Union, and the acquisition of these habits begins during childhood.

Objectives:

to know the eating, sleep, physical activity and sedentary leisure habits, body image, and body mass index percentile among children and adolescents in Castile-La Mancha, Spain. To explore potential differences between children and adolescents in the measured variables.

Method:

this was a descriptive, cross-sectional study with 293 subjects (n = 197 children and n = 96 adolescents). Instruments: scale and stadimeter for anthropometric measurements, and items chosen from the Cantabrian Network of Health Promoting Schools and Schools for Health in Europe.

Results:

a high percentage of children and adolescents report having inadequate eating habits, with significant differences in the omission of breakfast (f = 6.820; p = 0.009; η2 = 0.023) and in the consumption of fish (f = 8.901; p = 0.003; η2 = 0.030); this was worse among adolescents, where 35.4 % say they do not eat breakfast compared to 21.4 % of children, and 57.3 % say they never eat fish or only do so once a week, compared to 41.1 % of children. Regarding sleep, there are significant differences between children and adolescents (f = 69.70; p = 0.000; η2 = 0.193), with the latter also having the worst results since 28.1 % of adolescents report sleeping less than 7 hours a day, compared with 8.6 % of children. It is worth mentioning the short amount of time devoted to intense physical activity and the declaration of lack of time as perceived barrier to physical activity, reported by 49 % of adolescents and 27.5 % of children. Lastly, sedentary leisure at both stages stands out, with 78.2 % of adolescents and 44.6 % of children spending more than three hours a day watching television, and 74 % of adolescents and 28 % of children playing more than three hours with different technologies.

Conclusions:

this study shows that adolescents have poorer healthy habits than children in rural areas. The need to increase programs for the deve­lopment and promotion of healthy lifestyles devoted to younger children and developed by the various agencies responsible for health care is highlighted.

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