No, the way from the sofa to the fridge is not enough to improve the overall picture: four out of five young people worldwide are not doing enough. The World Health Organization (WHO) comes to this conclusion in a report in which it first examined the lack of movement of adolescents worldwide. In particular, girls are not sufficiently physically active, warns the organization.
The report, published in the journal Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, is based on survey data from the years 2001 to 2016, with 1.6 million students aged between eleven and 17 interviewed in 146 countries.
Accordingly, 81 percent of respondents do not meet the WHO recommendation to exercise physically for at least one hour a day. There are hardly any differences between the individual regions and countries. "In many, many countries, between 80 and 90 percent of adolescents fail to comply with the recommendations for physical activity," said lead author Regina Guthold. The quota ranges from 66 percent in Bangladesh to 94 percent in South Korea.
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According to the study, girls are less likely to move: only 15 percent achieve the recommended level of physical activity, and 22 percent for boys. In some countries, according to the experts, this seems to be due to the cultural pressure that girls are under. They are expected to stay at home and avoid exercise. In addition, safety concerns in outdoor activities play a role.
The reasons for the lack of exercise of youth were not examined in the report. However, Leanne Riley, co-author of the study, said the digital revolution "seems to have changed the way teenagers move." Today's young people "sit more and are less active". "We absolutely must do more," she demanded. Otherwise, threaten a "very bleak health picture" of the youth.
