The importance of Intervention of Sedentary Behaviors in Adolescence

 The Importance of Intervention on the Sedentary Behaviors in Adolescence

The general trend of the public is to set aside healthy behaviors and activities. While the active lifestyle does seem prevalent, most people do not actually meet the recommended standard for daily healthy activities. A great deal could be done early in the educational system to integrate the knowledge required for a person to live healthier and build enthusiasm for being active and maintaining healthy diets. As it stands, very few educational institutions in America support the necessary amount of physical activity and proper dietary options to produce these enthusiastic active individuals. If changes were to be made early on childhood education, there could be a solid impact on sedentary behaviors as well as the health determinants affecting the young population.

In 2011-2012, 31.8% of the youth in America was measured as overweight or obese, and 16.9% of the youth were obese. The obesity epidemic no longer applies to only the adult population, the behaviors build up in adolescence and stick with the individuals unless intervened upon. Across the nation, each state has unique mandates regarding the requirements and recommendations for physical education. Although there are national guidelines and goals regarding health and physical education, many states do not require this branch of education in elementary, middle, and high schools. The bulk of state physical education mandates require or recommend physical education courses ranging anywhere from 60 minutes per week to 400 minutes per week. The amount per week is generally divided up into sections of grade levels, with some states requiring physical fitness assessments after each level. Clearly the results of these requirements are not what they should be if roughly a third of the adolescent population is overweight or obese. This notion only applies however to those educational facilities that adhere to the minimum standards for what is being offered to their children. As there are still a fair number of young people at a good fitness level, somewhere something is being done correctly.

The amount of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity(MVPA) for adolescents that is recommended by international health advocates is not widely being met. There has yet to be an exact number put on what the physical activity needs are for youth, but the positive effects of MVPA and the negative effects of being sedentary are becoming widely recognized. This still has yet to make an impact on the majority of people, as cardiometabolic problems remain the leading causes of death. These chronic illnesses may have roots in genetics and in diet, but a lack of physical activity starting at an early age can set a course for definite problems. Research done on the association between moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time with cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents showed that children and adolescents spending more time in MVPA showed less risk of cardiometabolic issues regardless of their time spent sedentary. So long as a healthy amount of physical activity is met, time spent sedentary will have little negative effect on the health of the child and adolescent population.

For positive changes to be made in the behaviors of children, and to make it stick over the years, more thought must be put into the avenues by which children are engaging and learning about physical activity and education. Children are generally active individuals when given the chance to participate in sports or games. Due to the lack of appropriate requirements on physical activity in the majority of schools, and an unhealthy dosage of foods that don't provide adequate energy, the inactive tendencies begin to develop. The blame cannot be solely rested upon the educational system. There are a great many factors that come into play when considering the issue of unfitness plaguing the adolescent population. Be it education, poor nutrition, economic factors, or location, each has a positive change that could, and should, be made.

There is no quick fix when it comes to changing the lifestyles and behaviors of an entire population of people. Little changes need to be put into action where they can to allow for each progressive step to follow. What first could be done, is to boost the amount of physical activity and education within schools, this will begin the process of building enthusiasm for sport and exercise in the young population. Following that could come the snowballing effect of the newly interested in exercise population going on to educate others and create their own impacts on the world of exercise. If people gain the knowledge regarding their own health, they can move forth to act upon it however they see fit, by instilling this information earlier on, they are more likely to not cast it aside being already comfortable in their sedentary lifestyles.

Author

R. Andrew Paxton, B.S., M.S. Kinesiology

Head Coach & Trainer, Coeur Ninja

e: robertpaxton11@gmail.com

p: (615) 424-3239

Citations

1. Ogden, C., Carroll, M., Kit, B., & Flegal, K. (2014). Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 311(8). Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1832542#Results

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006). State-Level School Health Policies and Practices.

3. Healthy Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from http://www.nasbe.org/healthy_schools/hs/bytopics.php?topicid=1110

4. Ekelund, U., Luan, J., Sherar, L., Esliger, D., Griew, P., & Cooper, A. (2012). Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity and Sedentary Time and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Children and Adolescents. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 704-712. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3793121/