A latest study states that children are not as they fit their parents were 30 years ago.
The research presented at the American Heart Association in Dallas, analyzed 50 studies on running fitness between 1964 and 2010 from 28 countries. They studied over 25 million children aged between nine and 17.
The study observations showed that the children took one and half more minutes to run a mile than their parents 30 years ago. "It makes sense. We have kids that are less active than before," said Dr. Stephen Daniels, a University of Colorado pediatrician and spokesman for the heart association, according to USA Today.
Health experts advise children to indulge in 60 minutes of moderately vigorous activity every day. "Kids aren't getting enough opportunities to build up that activity over the course of the day," Daniels said. "Many schools, for economic reasons, don't have any physical education at all. Some rely on recess to provide exercise."
"If you took the average child from 1975, transported them to today, put them against the current average child, they would beat them by almost a lap," lead study author Grant Tomkinson of the University of South Australia in Adelaide, said. He stated that around 30 percent to 60 percent of the decline in endurance running performance is due to increase in fat mass among kids.
According to Sam Kass, a White House chef and head of first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move program, it is essential to involve the children in regular physical activities in order to keep them fit. "We are currently facing the most sedentary generation of children in our history," Kass said, according to USA Today.
