When we think about inactive individuals the first people to come to our minds are senior citizens. But what if we told you that people can start becoming inactive at a rather young age? A study has now found that an inactive lifestyle can begin as early as age 7. Yes, so even kids that young can be rather inactive. 27 studies published between 2004 and 2018 in different countries were reviewed and it was found that there was a very high rate of decline in physical activity among kids and teens.
For teens, overall inactivity usually begins in their early school years and by the time they grow a little older they even drop out of sports. A doctoral student in sport and health science said that these students might even have been really active as kids. So, "being physically active in childhood and adolescence may be of high importance since it can postpone the time of becoming inactive later on," she said.
And while most people become more inactive as they grow older, there are still certain groups who tend to become more active with age. "In the future, special attention should be paid to these individuals who increase their physical activity, because it is important to understand how potential lifelong inactivity could be turned into activity," she added. For teens, it was noticed that reduced time spent in front of the TV helped them become more active, for kids it was help from their parents that encouraged them to be more active, and for senior citizens factors such as good health and lower death rates played an important role in how active they were.
"Since physical activity behavior stabilizes with age and inactivity is more persistent behavior than activity, interventions should be targeted at children early in life before their habits become stable," she said. "Building publicly available sport facilities and safe bicycling and walkways might help in increasing opportunities for being active regardless of age, nationality, gender or educational level," she added.
She also said that parents can help provide more support by being more encouraging of extracurricular activities both inside the school and outside of it. Stay tuned for more updates.
