Does your teen prefer to sit in their bedroom playing computer games? Maybe it’s time you encouraged them to go for a run with you or do a Healthy Mummy workout.
Alarmingly, a new study has found that the majority of teenagers aren’t getting enough physical exercise each day. Three out of every four teens isn’t active enough.
In fact, the number is as high as 75% of teenagers not getting the daily recommended amount of movement.
It’s not easy being a teen, especially nowadays. They have lots of school work to contend with, especially ahead of exams, plus they also have a social life and some even have a part-time job.
That doesn’t always leave a lot of time in the day for them to get moving, but it’s important that they do. And if they can get into this healthy habit as a teen, they’re more likely to maintain it into adulthood.
Maybe technology is to blame?
Experts at the University of Georgia found that when it comes to lack of exercise, females are worse than males.
Researchers surveyed more than 360,000 high school students in Georgia. They asked each of them about their physical activity levels and their school environment.
The results found that a measly 35% of female students were active while 57% of male students were physically active.
Interestingly, researchers found that females were more likely to be physically active if they were bullied, while for males, the opposite was true.
Schools should be doing more to encourage exercise
It seems schools can do more to help increase physical activity.
“The length of recess, physical facilities and social environments at schools have been found to affect physical activity among students,” said Thapa, the study co-author.
“We do not know much about the role of school climate on physical activity. There must have been barriers that were faced by certain groups of students. Hence, we wanted to investigate the difference by gender.”
“For example, female students who are active in sports and physically active may not fit the gender norm and hence may face bullying.”
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