Summary According to the research, physical activity amongst teens is lower than previously thought.
(Web Desk) - A recent study conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates an alarming situation present in the youth of today. What many parents have feared since the rise of smart phones, has indeed come out to be true.
The study concluded that 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.
The study further revealed that although physical activity must be at its peak during the teenage years, it is highest amongst men in ages ranging from 25 to 34 considering their overworked routines. The study also concluded that starting at age 35, activity levels declined through midlife and older adulthood.
In order to conduct efficient study, the researchers used different sets of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 survey cycles. The research was conducted on a fairly large scale consisting of 12,529 participants that volunteered by wearing tracking devices for seven day straight. The devices measured how much time participants were sedentary or engaged in light or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
The researchers broke down findings into five age groups: children (ages six to 11); adolescents (ages 12 to 19); young adults (ages 20 to 29); adults at midlife (ages 31 to 59); and older adults (age 60 through age 84). Forty-nine percent were male, the rest female.
The category consisting of people ranging from ages 20 to 29 was the only category that saw an increase in the level of physical activity throughout the day and so to further investigate the group, the activity was spread throughout the day. The results showed that the increase in physical activity amongst the young adults was mainly because of their full-time work and various other factors.
Finally, the study confirmed that recommended guidelines were not being met. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a day for children ages five to 17 years. The study found that more than 25 percent of boys and 50 percent of girls ages six to 11 and more than 50 percent of male and 75 percent of female adolescents ages 12 to 19 had not met the WHO recommendation.
