editorial-Warn

Hey, kids: Drop the pie. Get moving.

   Now that the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers are being finished off and attention has turned toward Christmas and its own form of holiday gluttony, let’s pause for a moment to consider our physical fitness, or specifically our children’s physical fitness.    Our kids might be able to do many things we could never do as a child, and they definitely have entertainment options we couldn’t imagine back in the day, but one thing they probably can’t do is run a mile faster than we could run one when we were their age. On average, our increasingly sedentary little angels are much less fit than we were.    That’s the troubling word out of the American Heart Association’s annual conference, held in Dallas last week. An analysis of 50 studies conducted over 46 years found that it takes today’s kids 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts 30 years ago.    It’s not surprising to hear that American children are less fit than American kids once were, given the rise in childhood obesity rates in the United States. It is harder to run when one is overweight or to do another endurance-building, aerobic exercise like cycling or swimming. Researchers who conducted the analysis said kids’ increased weight and body fat explains up to 60 percent or more of the declines seen in children’s fitness over the past few decades.    The new analysis was led by Grant Tomkinson, an exercise physiologist at the University of South Australia. He and his team looked at data collected from 1964 to 2010 on 25 million children ages 9 to 17 in 28 countries. The studies focused on children’s running times and endurance, which are good measures of cardiovascular health. It’s no comfort knowing that it’s not just the fitness of American kids that has declined over the decades, but the fitness of kids worldwide: 20 million of the 25 million children in the studies were from Asia, and particularly sharp drops in fitness were noted in China.    In addition to rising obesity rates, the reasons that explain why children worldwide are slower and less fit than an earlier generation of children are familiar to Americans. Too much time is spent watching television, using electronic devices and playing video games. Suburbanization encourages the use of cars rather than encouraging people to walk or bike. And schools are placing less emphasis on physical education.    In the United States, health experts say children 6 and older should get 60 minutes of moderately vigorous exercise or active play a day, something only about a third of American kids currently get. Children used to get a good chunk of their much-needed exercise time at school, but not so much anymore. The Austin school district, for example, requires its students to take physical education, but the requirement is not a daily one.    Children who are aerobically fit are more likely to score higher on standardized tests, studies show, and to be fit as adults. Being unfit as an adult leads to serious health problems like heart attacks or diabetes and contributes to rising health care costs for everyone.    How much more schools could do to encourage fitness is limited by budget cuts and an always tightening focus on testing and academic achievement. The fact is, there is no more sedentary a role model for kids than their parents. Children may have been more fit 30 years ago, but many of those children have grown up to be physically unfit adults.    Granted, the modern world demands sedentary people who sit for eight to 10 hours a day staring at a computer screen. Several studies have pointed out the health risks associated with sitting for hours at a time, even for the very fit.    These studies offer no solution, only a conundrum: Sit and endanger your health; don’t sit and endanger your job and bank account.    There are societal and educational solutions to be found for achieving a more fit world, but the simplest solution always will be an individual one. There is more time to exercise than many of us think. Turn off the electronics and television. Lace up the shoes. And encourage the kids to do the same.

Participants in the Marathon Kids physical fitness program in 2012 celebrate the final mile at the Burger Center. Today’s children are substantially less fit than their counterparts were 30 years ago, according to a major new study of 25 million children in 28 countries. 

statement of evidence:50 studies conducted over 46 years found that it takes today’s kids 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts 30 years ago.

i agree with this statement. kids should get some exercise instead of sitting around all day.
sheltering yourself can lead to psycological damage as well