Half of Britain’s parents are so exhausted most of the time that they don’t have the energy to play with their children, according to a new report by Cannons Health Clubs.

The Cannons Health Club Energy Report found that there is correlation between family playtime and family happiness, and that the parents who find time to engage in physical activity with their kids are less likely to feel stressed, more inclined to sleep better and have better behaved children.

As a result of the study, Cannons Health Clubs has designed new exercise class for parents and children called Playground Pump, which involves the use of space hoppers.

According to a Cannons spokesperson, “for children, the class feels like a game, and for parents, it allows them to return to the playground and feel like a kid again”.

According to the study, almost half (47%) of the parents questioned for the study say that the daily trials of life leave them too exhausted to play actively with their children. On average, two thirds (64%) of UK parents spend less than an hour each day engaged in energetic activity with their child.

Cannons Health Clubs carried out the research after an increasing number of members told them they didn’t have enough energy to keep up with their kids.

Of the parents interviewed, over a quarter (26%) admitted to spending less than 20 minutes exercising with their children each day. Furthermore, half (51%) of parents exercising for less than 20 minutes described their home life as ‘unhappy’.

In contrast, the report found that of the 36% of parents who spend over an hour every day exercising with their children, over three quarters (79%) described their home life as ‘happy’.

Playground Pump classes are being rolled out in Cannons Health Clubs throughout the country.