According to a recent study published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the lack of physical activity among adolescents is a major problem. In fact, globally, four out of five teenagers do not move enough. However, this could have harmful consequences on their future health.
New global trends regarding the lack of physical activity among adolescents have fallen. These were published in the journal The Lancet Child &Adolescent Health on November 21, 2019. According to the results, on average 80% of adolescents attending school do less than one hour of physical activity per day. In other words, these young people are not meeting the current recommendation. Data from 1.6 million students aged 11-17 living in 146 countries and covering the period 2001-2016 were used for the study.
You should know that this lack of activity affects 85% of girls and 78% of boys. In only four countries were boys less active than girls, namely Afghanistan, Samoa, Tonga and Zambia. The gap between the activity of girls and boys is more than 10% in almost one in three countries . Let us mention in passing the most alarming cases, that is to say the United States and Ireland where this gap exceeds 15%!
The lack of activity among adolescents is concerning, regardless of gender. However, the WHO seems very worried about girls based on the data collected. Researcher Leanne Riley working for the organization believes it is necessary to find ways to encourage them to start physical activity. It is a question of knowing their interests and proposing solutions to them. In general, states must develop policies or update existing policies.
For WHO, the goal is to increase the level of physical activity through physical education, active play and recreational activities. It is also a question of setting up secure areas for walking or cycling without the need to set up surveillance.
The actors affected by the situation are also very numerous. These include families, schools as well as providers of sports and recreational activities. There are also urban planners and municipal and community leaders who could take action for this cause.
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