The zip code influences children's physical activity: the poorer they are, the worse the streets and the less they walk

Children and adolescents should do one hour of physical exercise every day to grow healthy and not develop overweight problems, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

However, complying with this maxim depends on the zip code: children and adolescents who live in neighborhoods with a lower socioeconomic level and are less walkable have a more difficult time achieving those 60 daily minutes of “moderate” or “intense” sports.

This is the main conclusion that emerges from a study published this afternoon by the Gasol Foundation in the journal

PLOS ONE

, which evaluates how the walkability of the environment—understood as the ease of pedestrian mobility—affects the practice of sport at older ages. early.

The data analyzed is extracted from the first edition of the Pasos Study (for the acronym in English of Physical Activity, Sedentary Lifestyle and Obesity in Spanish Youth) carried out in 2019 and 2020 and promoted by the same foundation.

More than 3,000 adolescents between eight and 16 years old from all autonomous communities participated in the research.

The new work starts from those surveys and goes further: it measures spontaneous walkability, such as playing in the park or outdoors, and regulated walkability, in reference to already organized sports.

The result is that minors who live in neighborhoods that offer more facilities for pedestrian mobility walk an average of 51.4 minutes a day, while those who live in areas with fewer enabled spaces do so an average of 48.8.

Playing time on weekends is also different: the former spend 47.9 minutes a day and the latter, 44.3.

Thus, there is a direct relationship between the possibilities of doing physical activity offered by street furniture and its practice.

The report recalls that only one in three children between eight and 16 years old meets the WHO recommendations of one hour of physical activity per day.

The differences between sexes widen when adolescents enter high school, since they become more sedentary, according to the report

Physical and sports activities for adolescent girls: need, barriers and recommendations

, recently published by the Psychosocial Research Group in Sports of the INEF of the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

Susana Aznar, lead author of the study, considers that the walkability of neighborhoods is key to compensating for social inequalities.

“In areas with a better socioeconomic situation there are more opportunities and more regulated sports facilities, so walkability in areas with fewer resources is essential to compensate for this imbalance,” she argues in an informative session by Science Media Center Spain.

The space dedicated to cars in public spaces in Spain is 68%, while the remaining 32% is for pedestrians, who must share it with street furniture, trees and poorly parked vehicles, according to research by the Network of Cities that Walk published at the end of October 2023. In addition, half of the streets do not reach the 2.4 meters that it is considered that a sidewalk should have at least to be accessible, according to the same work.

Open school playgrounds

One of the measures proposed in the National Strategic Plan to reduce childhood obesity is to open school playgrounds during non-school hours.

An option that Aznar considers necessary especially in less favored neighborhoods.

“Having the patios open will allow us to reduce a little that inequality in the practice of physical activity that we are identifying in the study,” summarizes Aznar, who is a professor of Physical Activity and Health at the University of Castilla-La Mancha and a researcher in the group. Promotion of Physical Activity for Health.

Another of the initiatives launched by the Health Promotion and Prevention area of ​​the Ministry of Health is to encourage going to and from school on foot or by bicycle.

They are the guides Pedalea y Anda al Cole and Pedalea y Anda a Casa (PACO and PACA).

Aznar believes that these activities must be promoted from childhood.

“The younger they are, the easier it is for them to consolidate habits because they remember the activities as a moment of enjoyment shared with their parents,” comments the co-author of the study.

In that sense, Aznar positively values ​​that parents are involved in the physical activities of minors, because "their motivation changes radically and they become much more excited."

Although she also clarifies that in neighborhoods with less purchasing power it is more common for parents to have a physically harder job and, therefore, cannot make it compatible.

“We must be careful not to stigmatize these families,” she explains.

Beyond the benefits provided by physical activity, having large pedestrian areas allows for the generation of more interpersonal ties and with the neighborhood, Aznar argues.

“Walking to school, for example, opens the doors to saying hello to your neighbor, to making the journey accompanied by other parents, and that creates a greater community,” he summarizes.

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