"Study: When kids become teens, they get sluggish" by LINDSEY TANNER
CHICAGO — One of the largest studies of its kind shows just how sluggish American children become once they hit the teen years: While 90 percent of 9-year-olds get a couple of hours of exercise most days, fewer than 3 percent of 15-year-olds do.
What's more, the study suggests that fewer than a third of teens that age get even the minimum recommended by the government -- an hour of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, like cycling, brisk walking, swimming or jogging.
How about SEX?! Where does that factor in for activity?
The sharp drop raises concerns about inactivity continuing into adulthood, which could endanger kids' health throughout their lives, the study authors said.
The new findings come just a week after an influential pediatricians group recommended that more children have their cholesterol checked and that some as young as 8 should be given cholesterol-lowering drugs. That advice was partly out of concern over future levels of heart disease and other ailments linked to rising rates of childhood obesity.
Oh, what a COINCIDENCE, huh?
Dr. Philip Nader, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of California at San Diego and lead author, said he was "surprised by how dramatic the decline was," and cited schools dropping recess and gym classes and kids' increasing use of video games and computers as possible reasons.
James Griffin, science officer for the study, noted that the study coincided with the rise in popularity of video games, DVDs and Internet use -- "all of the types of things that take children from outside and put them on a couch or in front of a computer."
Study participants were children involved in agency research on youth development, recruited from 10 hospitals around the country. Family income, race and ethnic background closely matched the U.S. population.
The researchers tracked the children's activity levels starting at age 9, using an accelerometer -- a device about the size of a small belt buckle that attached to a belt around the waist and recorded movement. Activity levels were counted at ages 9, 11, 12 and 15 during the school week and on weekends.
Through age 12, well over half the children got at least the government-recommended amount of activity every day. By age 15, less than one-third were that active on weekdays, and only about 17 percent were on weekends. Boys were more active than girls at every age. But by age 15, even boys' average activity levels fell short of recommendations, particularly on weekends.
Mary Lee, 13, said the results ring true. The suburban Cleveland teen said she spends more time on the computer now than she did a few years ago, particularly with online social networking sites. She also didn't have physical education class every day last year, and will only have it for half the upcoming school year in eighth grade.
Lee recently took part in a health program at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. The classes promote exercise and healthy eating.
--MORE--"
All that computer work, and none the smarter?
A majority of state residents ages 25 to 39 - seen as holding the key to the state's economic competitiveness - feel upwardly mobile and believe the future looks bright for their children in Massachusetts, despite current strains on their pocketbooks, a new survey suggests.
Eighty percent of those polled said they expect to be earning higher incomes in five years. And 65 percent of young parents said they expect their children to be better off economically than themselves.
Ya gotta love the starry-eyed innocence, don't you?
But if the state wants to improve its odds of keeping them from moving to other states, it may have to work on changing some perceptions. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents also said they are skeptical about local and state governments' ability to fix things, placing greater confidence in their employers and private industry.
--MORE--"
Well, I guess they aren't that stoo-pid, huh?
