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Children are the heart and future of our societies. Unfortunately during this obesity epidemic our children are just as susceptible to this effect as adults. Children adopting sedentary lifestyles have numerous effects and dangers for their health and future.

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What are the dangers?

  • High blood pressure- One would normally not expect a child to undergo high blood pressure, but with the increase of sedentary behaviors and little physical activity children are at high risk of developing HBP. Regular physical activity should be promoted and sedentary behavior should be discouraged in children to prevent high blood pressure and its consequences in adulthood. (De Morales et al., 2015) 

  • Childhood obesity- Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior have been independently associated with a wide range of negative health indicators including obesity. (LeBlanc et al., 2016) Children around the world are increasing the amount of sedentary time in their daily lives, this is not normal for young children. The longer this continues to happen more children are going to be susceptible to childhood obesity and negative health defects.    

  • Low motor competence & Low efficacy- Physical self-perception is crucial to understand how children perceive their movement skills (D’Anna et al., 2021). Children who actively play sports are more likely to have higher self confidence and motor competence. On the contrary, children who adopt sedentary behaviors have lower motor competence and self-efficacy, which can affect a child’s confidence and mental health.  

  • Diabetes & CVD-  Physical activity plays an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, especially in children. (Velde et al., 2021) Without consistent physical activity children are at a higher risk for developing cardiovascular diseases due to excess sedentary behaviors.

What Can We Do To Help?

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Technology

Less/limited screen time- As our technology exponentially increases, we need to pay close attention to how long our young ones are spending behind screens. Children averaged 8.6 hours of daily sedentary time, and 54.2% of children failed to meet screen time guidelines. (LeBlanc et al., 2021) The majority of said time was behind a TV or video game screen. This can be easily fixed with a few lifestyle changes, like removing the TV or video games from the child’s bedroom.

References

D'anna, C., Mucci, M., & Vastola, R. (2021). Perceived motor competence and self-efficacy in children: Competitive sports vs sedentary lifestyle. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 16(4), 1-13. doi:10.14198/jhse.2021.164.12

 

De Moraes, Augusto César Ferreira, Carvalho, H. B., Siani, A., Barba, G., Veidebaum, T., Tornaritis, M., . . . Moreno, L. A. (2015). Incidence of high blood pressure in children - effects of physical activity and sedentary behaviors: The IDEFICS study: High blood pressure, lifestyle and children. International Journal of Cardiology, 180, 165-170. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2014.11.175

 

LeBlanc, A. (2016). Why are children sedentary: An examination using the international study of childhood obesity, lifestyle and the environment. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 41(7), 790. doi:10.1139/apnm-2015-0555

 

Natale, R. A., Messiah, S. E., Asfour, L., Uhlhorn, S. B., Delamater, A., & Arheart, K. L. (2014). Role modeling as an early childhood obesity prevention strategy: Effect of parents and teachers on preschool children's healthy lifestyle habits. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 35(6), 378-387. doi:10.1097/DBP.0000000000000074

Vilchis-Gil, J., Galvan-Portillo, M., Kluender-Kluender, M., Cruz, M., & Flores-Huerta, S. (2015). Food habits, physical activities and sedentary lifestyles of eutrophic and obese school children: A case-control study. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 124. doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1491-1

 

Velde, G. T., Plasqui, G., Willeboordse, M., Winkens, B., & Vreugdenhil, A. (2021). Associations between physical activity, sedentary time and cardiovascular risk factors among dutch children. PloS One, 16(8), e0256448. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256448

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