High screen time, low physical activity, two thirds of French teens at risk
Among adolescents between 11 and 17 years old, two thirds of them (66%) are particularly exposed to health risks.
AFP - NICOLAS TUCAT
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
3 min
The time spent in front of the screens and too little physical activity are harmful to the health of two thirds of adolescents according to an opinion from the National Health Security Agency (Anses) made public this Monday, November 23.
The data was collected even before the confinements
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"
To be in good health, it is essential to practice physical activities - sport, walking, games, etc. - and to limit the time spent inactive in front of the screens
", writes ANSES in an opinion which alerts the public authorities to the dangers sedentary lifestyle among adolescents.
Risks of obesity, cardiovascular disease or diabetes
Even before the confinements, the extent of the time spent in front of the screens and without physical activity already caused health risks for two thirds of young people today in France.
Among these dangers are overweight and obesity, cardiovascular risks or diabetes, but also poor quality sleep, lists ANSES.
ANSES is now alerting the public authorities to the need to promote and strengthen physical activity from adolescence.
"
What worries us, and that is why we are launching an alert to the public authorities, is that among adolescents between 11 and 17 years old, two thirds of them (66%) are particularly exposed to health risks, simply because they have more than two hours of screen per day and because they are less than one hour of physical activity per day, these are danger thresholds
”, explains to the Agence France Presse the head of the health agency's nutritional risk assessment unit, Irène Margaritis.
Seventeen percent of this age group are classified in an even more at-risk category, which accumulates less than 20 minutes of physical activity per day and more than 4.5 hours of sedentary lifestyle, underlines ANSES, which is based on data from a study she carried out in 2017, called Inca3.
Adolescents from low-income families most affected
“
At that age, we know that these behaviors lay the foundation for pathologies that we will encounter in adulthood.
And these lifestyle habits, in terms of sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity, we know that we will find them again in adulthood,
”explains Irène Margaritis.
In its opinion, ANSES stresses that "
children and adolescents from families with low income or with a low level of education appear to be the most affected by high levels of sedentary lifestyle
".
Will the “sport pass” wanted by the President of the Republic
Emmanuel Macron
, set up by the State in 2021, and in particular intended for the most disadvantaged, be able to reverse the trend?
ANSES is sounding the alert as the spring and fall confinements fuel even more concern about physical inactivity and the time that adolescents spend in front of screens.
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