https://www.dpa-international.com/trends-and-features/urn:newsml:dpa.com:20090101:261105-99-181558/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/global-survey-shows-25-teens-060327260.html
Be it down to the allure of video games and streaming apps or the demands of school and homework, many adolescents around the world are shunning exercise and outdoor rough-and-tumble, with one in four admitting to not getting “at least 60 minutes of physical activity on any day in the previous week.”
Overall, only 14% of the 11-17 age group surveyed reported “being active” each day of the previous week, according to researchers at U.K. universities and the World Health Organization, who delved into data for 3.2 million children and teenagers across 140 countries.
Finnish and Canadian teens were among the least lazy, with around 30% in both reporting engaging in daily physical activity over the previous week. British and Scandinavian adolescents were slightly above the global average with 17%, while Germans, French and Italians came in at the lower end at 13%, 11% and 9%, respectively.
Warning of “stark differences between countries,” the WHO pointed out that while in some locations, 3-4% of adolescents reported no active days, the percentage topped 40 in places.
“Physical activity during adolescence improves current and future physical and mental health and contributes to preventing non-communicable diseases,” the researchers said in a paper published by The Lancet, a British medical journal.
“Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers,” the WHO warned.
The data show further disparities depending on sex and age, with 21% of British boys active for 60 minutes every day but only 13% of the country’s girls, according to the University of Oxford, while 11-year-olds were more likely to report being more active than 17-year-olds.
“We need to make being active the easy and enjoyable choice,” said Tessa Strain of the University of Edinburgh, calling for adolescents to provided with “ safe routes to walk, cycle, wheel or scoot to school”
“They need green spaces to explore. They need opportunities to be active throughout the school day, not just in PE [physical education],” Strain added.
