Children are increasingly sedentary. A British report indicates that 75% of 5-12 year olds go out less than prisoners. In France, they would be 50%.
Sedentary lifestyle has become a major problem for young Westerners. A British report on the access of young people to the outside world is revealing. Three quarters of the children of our neighbors across the Channel come out less than prisoners! However, they only go out for an hour a day. Young English people are even 20% to regularly spend days without pointing the nose outside.
In France, less than half of children respect the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by health authorities. Television, tablets, computers and smartphones act on them like a glue that holds them firmly on their sofa. According to the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA), 4 to 10 year olds spend about two hours a day in front of a screen.
“In 1971, a child ran an 800m in 3 minutes. In 2013, for this same distance, he needs 4 ”, warns Professor François Carré, cardiologist at the CHRU in Rennes and member of the French Federation of Cardiology (FFC). These disturbing results come from a study carried out on Australian children, published in Circulation, and are recalled by the FFC on the occasion of the launch of School Heart Course.
“In 40 years, our college students have lost about 25% of their physical capacity,” he explains. When we know that endurance is one of the best markers of good cardiovascular health, it’s time to start moving again! “
Physical activity versus sport at all costs
To reject full responsibility for new technologies would, however, be going a bit fast. The entourage plays an important role, in particular in the substitute of education which it carries on the screens.
Adults are also often absent when it comes to setting an example. Use your feet rather than the car to go to school or run errands when possible, take the stairs rather than the elevator, favor outdoor family activities… There are many solutions.
On the other hand, we must be careful with sport at all costs, and not communicate our own concerns. “It’s very good to promote sport, but let’s not do adult morphism, that is to say apply to the child what we think to be effective in adults”, explained this morning su RMC Dr Patrick Tounian, head of the pediatric department at Trousseau hospital. “You shouldn’t talk to children about health, they don’t care. What interests them is sharing, it’s friends, fun, conviviality, but not health. It won’t motivate them. “
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