Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Physical activity among children and teens is lower than previously thought, and, in another surprise finding, young adults after the age of 20 show the only increases in activity over the lifespan, suggests a study conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. And, the study found, starting at age 35, activity levels declined through midlife and older adulthood.
The study also identified different times throughout the day when activity was highest and lowest, across age groups and between males and females. These patterns, the researchers say, could inform programs aimed at increasing physical activity by targeting not only age groups but times with the least activity, such as during the morning for children and adolescents.
The findings, which were published online June 1 in the journal, Preventive Medicine, come amid heightened concern that exercise deficits are contributing to the growing obesity epidemic, particularly among children and teens.
"Activity levels at the end of adolescence were alarmingly low, and by age 19, they were comparable to 60-year-olds," says the study's senior author, Vadim Zipunnikov, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Biostatistics. "For school-age children, the primary window for activity was the afternoon between two and six P.M. So the big question is how do we modify daily schedules, in schools for example, to be more conducive to increasing physical activity?"
This is what comes from not teaching your kids how to fish.
Re-evaluating the effect of age on physical activity over the lifespan (DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.05.030) (DX)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @04:26AM (3 children)
Make them walk/cycle to school.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @08:27AM (1 child)
Fat kids are better adapted than thin kids. They have a natural defense against being shut inside a locker (ie. not fitting).
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @09:26AM
Solution: bigger lockers!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday August 18 2017, @06:18PM
Here in SoCal, recess is outside most days, and the kids run a lot. Drives me nuts that they put them in front of a movie at the first sign of rain or heat wave, but at least that's the rare exception. Not too many fat kids (only a few badly unhealthy ones, mostly Latinos).
In the cold/wet areas of the country, it's a lot harder to safely provide exercise for a lot of kids indoors, since you can't let them go out in weather conditions their grandfather fondly recall.
I'm sure the easy answer is going to be shortening the school day, because it saves money, and who cares about education or working parents?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @04:27AM
Well there's the proof you old people are going through your second childhood. No wonder you act like whiny babies when people don't vote the way you want.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Friday August 18 2017, @04:32AM (1 child)
When I was a kid/young adult (60's/70's) I rode my bike all over, walked all over, and in general life made me move. As time went on biking got harder to do due to traffic, networking meant I could log into remote machines and work remotely, and in general all the things that made me walk/bike to and fro got overtaken by technology.
Today, parents are afraid to let their kids walk/bike to school, kids don't have to walk around as much, kids can entertain themselves playing baseball on their phone, etc etc etc.
This is not a function of "when I was your age", this is a function of technology making moving around during the day less necessary.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Friday August 18 2017, @05:12AM
The "moving around during the day" is as necessary as ever.
The people don't see it because their wage (the "immediate survival" translation in nowadays terms) is less influenced by the "moving around", but the long term health effects still requires it**.
The social evolution was much faster than what physiological evolution can cover - physiologically, we are still close to our stone-age ancestors.
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** dang! I really need to do something with that belly of mine, it becomes harder by the day to tie those shoelaces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Virindi on Friday August 18 2017, @04:43AM (1 child)
Just because kids tend to be less physically active in the morning, does not necessarily mean it would be advantageous to force physical activity on them during that time.
What matters is the total physical activity, not that it is evenly distributed throughout the day. The latter is a pretty arbitrary goal and smacks of "whip those damn lazy kids into shape!!" moralizing.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday August 18 2017, @05:44AM
Obviously the least physical activity is usually while they are sleeping. We should encourage sleepwalking to fight that nightly lethargy. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday August 18 2017, @05:48AM (3 children)
Used to have to walk a half mile to the deployment site. Now I rlogin and my ass is still firmly in my chair.
I'm more productive when my ass stays in my chair than I am when I walk to the problem. This is why people are fatter nowsays.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by lx on Friday August 18 2017, @06:43AM
I guess if your productivity means more to you than your quality of life then death at 58 must come as a welcome relief.
I know Japanese stuff is cool and all, but importing karoshi [wikipedia.org] seems like a really bad idea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @05:41PM
Under desk ellipticals [ebay.com] are cheap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @06:04PM
Walking is when I have some of my best insights into how best to fix the problem in the first place. That's means for good measures of productivity, I'm more productive if I get up and walk then sit still pounding out the first thing that popped into my head.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday August 18 2017, @08:16AM
As a European "walker" who has spent some time in US... US is built around the car. The infrastructure is completely screwed up compared to Europe.
Most European conurbations are structured with shopping districts distributed about 30 minutes walk from housing. So one can conveniently walk to the shops, buy and then walk home. The shopping districts have cramped multistorey parking, so all the shops can be pretty close. This has a problem; houses tend to be smaller with less parking/yard space.
US seems to have shopping districts distributed at about 60-90 minute walk interval, with lots of low-rise shops with big parking lots. This means that it is a pain to walk to the shops and once you get there, it is a pain to walk around different shops to buy . So everyone drives. They even drive from one shop to another! Worse, the provision of sidewalks is patchy in suburban US towns, so you can't walk without going on the road in a lot of places - and then you get stopped by the cops for jaywalking.
The problems are structural and would take many generations to fix, if they wanted to.
ps: also US is a much bigger land mass, so the climate works against you as well. It is often colder in the winter and warmer in the summer, which tends to deter many from walking. AirCon is nice!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 18 2017, @12:08PM
Maybe we should give kids skateboards instead of laptops when they go to school.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 18 2017, @02:49PM
"This is what comes from not teaching your kids how to fish."
Dad loaded up the kids, and a whole bunch of poles, lines, lures, sinkers, floats, flies, etc, ad nauseum. Dad put line on reels, lures and stuff on the lines, got it all nice and pretty. Dad threw the whole mess out into the water, watched it splash, then leaned back against a nice rock, got comfortable, and went to sleep. Some hours later, reel it all in, toss it in the car, and head home. Some days, we might stop along the way to buy a fish dinner.
(Score: 2, Funny) by slap on Friday August 18 2017, @04:53PM (2 children)
I'm 62. If most 19 year olds were as active as I am there would be no problems. I walk 20-25 miles a week at a brisk pace (Google Fit seems to think I am running), plank for 6 to 7 minutes, do 100 sit-ups, and 35-40 push-ups. And there are plenty of people my age that do far more than that.
(Score: 2) by Zyx Abacab on Saturday August 19 2017, @04:10AM (1 child)
Soylentnews: where leading by example is ridiculed.
Plenty of sexagenarians exercise—and so do lots of those who are older. Why is your comment modded funny?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 19 2017, @08:55AM
Maybe someone doesn't understand what planking is.