Covid impacting young people’s lack of exercise

Ōtepoti - Covid has impacted on young people’s lack of physical activity new research has found and experts are concerned the pandemic could increase children’s sedentary habits.

Research in Canada, America, China and Italy show a causal link between covid restrictions and decreased activity levels in children.

Covid restrictions have aimed to limit the spread of cases but they have affected how inactive people were. Children became significantly more sedentary.

There is a risk that short term changes in children’s physical activity in reaction to covid may end up extending beyond the duration of the pandemic.

It is quite easy for habits to become established, and for a more sedentary and less physically active lifestyle to become normal and ingrained in young people.

However, there are ways children can be encouraged to be more active. These include getting a whole family involved in physical activity and building exercise into a routine.

Canadian researchers carried out an online survey of the parents of 1472 young people during covid restrictions.

They found that only 4.8 percent of children aged five to 11 were meeting the Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines, which include an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. For young people aged 12 to 17, the number meeting the guidelines was just 0.6 percent.

Another study surveyed 211 parents of US children aged five to 13. It found that children spent about 90 minutes a day sitting down for school-related activities, and a further eight hours daily sitting down for leisure purposes during the pandemic.

There are numerous benefits to children increasing their physical activity, both mentally and physically.

A study in Shanghai, China compared the activity levels of 2426 young people aged from six to 17 before and during the pandemic. It found that, overall, the amount of time the young people spent being physically active decreased drastically, from around nine hours a week to less than two hours a week. Screen time was up by approximately 30 hours a week on average.

The story was similar in Italy. Researchers compared the behaviour of a group of 41 children with obesity both before the pandemic and three weeks into Italy’s national lockdown. The time the children spent taking part in sports activities decreased during the pandemic, while sleep and screen time increased.

It is so important for children to be physically active and to stop a more sedentary lifestyle continuing into adulthood.