2023-07-15 04:00:54
The health of Murcian minors has worsened after the pandemic coronavirussince in the last three years the state of health of the child and adolescent population has been reduced by six points compared to the situation in 2019. These are some of the data provided by the ‘Pasos’ study of the Gasol Foundation about lifestyles and health status of children and adolescents 2022-2023 released this week, an investigation in which more than a dozen schools in the Region of Murcia have participated.
In the community, the work has been directed by the professor of Sports Physical Education at UCAM and director of the High Performance Sports Research Center, Pedro Emilio Alcarazwho indicates that the students who have participated are between the ages of 8 and 16.
One of the most worrying data that appears among the results of the study indicates that 32.2% of children and adolescents declare having problems in relation to emotional well-being, a percentage has grown substantially since 2019, when it stood at 19.8%.
In this case, they have been asked if theye feel worried, sad or unhappya situation that 32% of them have experienced.
Besides, This growth is much more accentuated among girls, reaching up to 40% between 2022 and 2023), in the adolescent population (42.4%) and in cases of greater child poverty (30.1%).
The 3 childhood pandemics: obesity, technology and lack of rest
At the same time, as mentioned above, in the last three years children’s perception of their own state of health has deteriorated considerably, decreasing by more than 6 points (on a scale of 0 to 100). This decrease reaches almost 9 points for the population with a lower socioeconomic level, both according to the level of average income per year and according to the level of child poverty.
The study carried out by the Gasol brothers’ foundation, which seeks to prevent childhood obesity, shows that while the level of obesity and overweight remains in the population between 8 and 16 years of age in Spainthe variables of quality of life, use of screens, hours of sleep, diet and physical activity worsen rcompared to the first edition of the study, which was presented in 2019.
“We are facing an extremely worrying situation.with serious consequences in the short, medium and long term”, according to Cristina Ribes, executive director of the Gasol Foundation.
“We are living a accelerated deterioration of the life habits of boys and girls, especially among those who live in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability”, he insists.
Mental health and bullying problems are growing among youth in the Region
Social inequalities are reflected in the results of the different variables studied in the Fundación Gasol ‘Steps’ project. This worrying trend can also be seen in the case of severe obesity, which grows slightly in settings with a higher percentage of child poverty, while in those areas with less child poverty, it decreases. Thus, it is confirmed that in the short period evaluated there is a tendency to increase social inequalities in relation to the most extreme conditions of childhood obesity. Dr. Santi F. Gómez, principal investigator of the ‘Pasos’ study, says that “reducing childhood obesity means providing opportunities for children”.
Use of screens
He study ‘Steps’ It also analyzes the use of screens, with “very high” average results both during the week (193.9 minutes on average per day) and on weekends (288.4 minutes), figures that exceed the data from 2019-2020, where the situation was already worrying.
A similar situation occurs when hours of sleep are analyzed, since almost half of children and adolescents do not meet the recommendations for hours of sleep per day both during the week and on the weekend.
This means that the recommended use, set at less than 120 minutes a day, is exceeded by 60% of minors during the week and by 80% on the weekend.
Besides, boys continue to use more screens than girls, although non-compliance with the recommendation has grown more among them.
As for food, the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet falls back compared to 2019 to 6.48 points on a scale of 4 to 12 points. Only 37% of the child and adolescent population reaches a high level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet, a reduction of more than three points compared to 2019-2020; while 12% already present a low level, an increase of almost 2 points compared to 2019-2020.
In the case of physical activity, the average number of minutes dedicated to the practice of moderate or vigorous physical activity has decreased by 7.4 minutes for the female gender and by 7.1 for the male gender compared to 2019-2020, which means a reduction of about 50 minutes per week.
People with nocturnal habits are more likely to be obese
Alcaraz: “It is necessary to spend two to three hours a week of physical activity in schools”
Having an increasingly sedentary young population, with children and adolescents who show no interest in physical activity and exerciseis also having an impact on the rates of overweight and obesity in the Region of Murcia.
“The study found that 33.2% of children and young people are obese or overweight (21.6% overweight and 11.6% obese), which shows us that three out of ten are overweight that they should be”, says Pedro Emilio Alcaraz, principal investigator of the ‘Pasos’ study of the Gasol Foundation in the Region of Murcia, who directs one of the fourteen groups in Spain, that of the Levante area. Alcaraz, who is a professor of Sports Physical Education at UCAM and director of the High Performance Sports Research Center, explains to La Opinión that Spain is at the bottom of Europe in childhood obesity and overweight and Murcia is at the bottom of Spain, for what «we have the worst data in Europe».
Given this reality, he considers that «It is necessary to work more in schools to change these habits, also increasing physical exercise in the Infant and Primary curriculum. The director of the investigation in the Region of Murcia is in favor of following in the footsteps of the Community of Madrid, which has increased the hours of physical education. “It is necessary that we spend two to three hours a week of physical activity in schools,” he insists. The authors of the study acknowledge that most of the results “are quite bad”, since all the figures related to quality of life, use of screens, hours of sleep, diet and physical activity worsen compared to the ‘Steps’ 2019 edition. Pedro Emilio Alcaraz is clear that “screens are stealing hours of sleep from children and adolescents”, since the time they spend on them increases to the detriment of the recommended rest.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends between nine and eleven sleep days for the population between 6 and 13 years of age; and between eight and ten hours from 14 to 17 years of age. However, almost half of children and adolescents sleep less than recommended and non-compliance with the recommendation during the week has risen by 4.8% compared to the previous ‘Steps’. The difference between the sexes also stands out, since girls rest less than boys during the week.
Regarding the use of screens, the authors point out that the WHO (World Health Organization) recommends that you not exceed 120 minutes a day, a figure that is far exceeded by young people from Murcia, reaching an average use of 193 minutes a day during the week and an average of 288 minutes on weekends. 37.2% fail to meet the WHO criteria from Monday to Friday, while 62.8% do so on weekends.
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