3-year olds not exercising enough
This is the first large scale study of pre-school children. Scientists found that rather than spending at least an hour a day doing exercise or moving about, the average 3-year-old is physically active for a mere 20 minutes a day.
In this study (published in the Lancet), 78 children wore an 'accelerometer'. This monitor (match box sized) gives minute-by-minute readings of the child's physical activity and calorie consumption. The children wore the monitor for a week.
The children wore the monitor while they were awake. The toddlers were burning (on average) 1,300 calories a day (rather than the normally recommended 1,500).
The experts believe that the problem is not so much one of bad eating habits (which we all talk about), but rather not getting enough exercise. They did not say that eating habits were not a factor, but that exercise seemed to be a larger factor affecting the child's present and future health.
In fact, they said that very young children are eating less (teenagers are eating more).
They said that a three-year-old twenty-five years ago was eating 25% more than a three-year-old today. Physical activity, however, has dropped even more.
In the study, the children were spending between 9 and 10 hours of their waking day hardly moving at all.
Even though they may have been chatting to parents and friends, even though they may have been fidgeting a bit, the calories burned during this time was no more than if they had been resting or sleeping.
The children spent 20 minutes a day in moderate to vigorous activity - the type of activity that would get them feeling slightly warm and slightly out of breath, such as running around, walking to keep up with an adult and most types of outdoor play.
Dr. Reilly (team leader) said that he believes round-the-clock TV and videos are to blame. However, he noticed that even outside the house toddlers are much less active than they used to be.
"Many more journeys are made by car and among the 3-year-olds, a fair number of them are being taken around in strollers (push chairs) when they could arguably have been walking," Reilly said.
Another element is recent concerns over safety. Some local authorities in Britain have banned children from bringing balls into playgrounds while others prohibit tree-climbing.
"There needs to be a balance. Perhaps we've taken the health and safety agenda a bit far," Reilly said.
The dangers of a sedentary childhood go beyond obesity, experts said. More active children tend to be better behaved and scientists suspect that more active children learn more effectively, perhaps because physical activity is a stimulus to brain development.
"The increasingly sedentary nature of U.K. children is not unique and is being seen in most countries around the world," said James Hill of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado.
Small changes in behavior are all that is needed, said Hill, who was not connected with the study.
In the days before videos and TV, young children didn't sit for hours staring at the wall, Reilly said. "They were perfectly capable of finding other ways to amuse themselves. They had imaginations. They still have imaginations," he said.
De 3 ani nu exercitã suficientã - 3-year olds not exercising enough - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate