Activity, phone and children: only one child in ten moves enough, sleeps normally and does not spend the whole day with a smartphone in their hands, the study showed.
In the course of it, scientists discovered that only 10% of children in the world are quite active, follow a sleep schedule and use a smartphone moderately. Results of this study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Scientists from the University of Wollongong (UOW) and the University of Stirling examined more than 7 thousand children from 3 to 4 years old in 33 countries of the world, writes MedicalXpress. At this age, the World Health Organization recommends, children should: within 24 hours:
- engage in physical activity for at least 180 minutes, of which 60 are of moderate to vigorous intensity;
- spend less than an hour in front of a smartphone or TV screen;
- sleep at least 10-13 hours.
Dr Kar Hau Chong, lead author of the study, is concerned about the findings. He notes:
“Early childhood, up to age 5, is a critical age for developing lifelong habits. However, most children do not have enough physical activity and spend too much time in front of screens. This highlights a public health problem and can impact future health and well-being unless we take action to solve this problem.”
Chong emphasized that being active and getting quality sleep is extremely important not only for a child's overall development, but also physical, mental, emotional and social.
During the study, scientists discovered a pattern: in low- and middle-income countries, 16.6% of children are sufficiently active to meet WHO recommendations. At the same time, in high-income countries the proportion of such children is only 14.4%.
For example, in Africa, 23.9% of children have quality sleep, sufficient physical activity and spend little time with gadgets. This is the highest rate in the world, while the lowest in the United States is only 7.7%.
Dr Chong notes that the results should be used to inform policies that encourage children's physical activity:
“We need to understand the factors influencing this behavior in children from different sociocultural backgrounds. It is important to create a holistic approach so that parents, educators, politicians and citizens work together to create an environment. After all, the health of future generations depends on solving global problems.”
Let us recall that earlier scientists studied the “obsession” of parents with phones and came to the conclusion that this negatively affects the health of their children.
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