This country gets a bad report card when it came to most active
children in the World. You won't be able to guess which one!
Research said that this country is raising a generation of 'Couch Potatoes"
A couch potato is a person who spends much time sitting or lying down, usually watching television
Which country is it?
Australia.
Australian children are among the least active in the world, ranking behind those in Britain and New Zealand. What is strange is that Australians love their sports! Researchers even said that Australia was raising a "generation of couch potatoes".
A research study showed that more than 80 percent of Australian children aged 5 to 17 failed to get the recommended 60 minutes of moderate physical activity a day, despite most playing a sport.
Inspite of a nation loving their sports, Australian children still rank poorly for overall physical activity levels.
The study compared children from 14 countries and found that the most active youngsters overall were in Mozambique and New Zealand followed by Mexico.
Next came Kenya, Nigeria, England, Colombia, Ghana, Finland and South Africa while Australia was grouped with Canada, Ireland and the United States just above bottom-placed Scotland.
Now, The Whiz Times team thinks that the title of 'least active children in the world'- is a bit of an exaggeration. There are only 14 countries measured in this research from 196 countries in the World. However, this report highlights the need for children to be active and healthy.
From a survey of secondary school students, it was found that more than 70 percent of children were spending more than 2 hours of their daily time on screen based activities. Screen based activities could be spending time on phones, tablets, TVs or video gaming.
Researchers said many youngsters were spending so much time being sedentary, that they were likely to hurt their health, growth and development.
Trevor Shilton, from Australia's Heart Foundation, said the result was a "wake-up call".
"We're raising a generation of couch potatoes," he said. "Far too many kids are being driven to school and spend most of their time sitting when they get there.
"What we're facing is a potential future health crisis where heart disease, diabetes and obesity rates will rise," he added.
How many minutes or hours in a day do you spend doing any physical activity? How much time do you spend playing on the tablet or phone and watching TV? Write down in the comments below.
Story: AFP; Featured Image: www.unisa.edu.au/
