The promise to reopen soon the sports clubs for minors will make it possible to move teenagers and children who sink into a sedentary lifestyle, a real “time bomb”, but also to cultivate a social bond outside the classroom and family.
“We know that a child’s level of physical activity determines his health at time T but also his level of physical activity and his health in the future.“, explains to AFP David Thivel, researcher in physiology at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, and member of the scientific council of Onaps.
Therefore, “restricting physical activity in children also endangers their future health a little, if this continues over time“, summarizes David Thivel.
30% decrease in licenses among young people
“A child who does not move will be an adult who does not move“, rebounds François Carré, cardiologist and sports doctor at Rennes University Hospital, who also insists on”regularity“physical activity, comparing it to brushing teeth:”If I brush my teeth seven times on Sunday, is that enough? No, you have to wash them every day!“.
Car “sedentary lifestyle is a time bomb“, explains this doctor, who evokes the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in teenagers of 15 years, a pathology which before did not appear before the 40 years.
At the start of September, sports clubs reopened but despite health protocols, gymnasiums, dojos and fields did not fill up. “There is a 30% decrease in licenses among young people“said Frédéric Sanaur, director of the National Sports Agency (ANS) this week. Half of the 16 million licensees are under 19 years old.
The re-containment has once again brought the clubs to a standstill. Only the EPS and Unss (National Union of School Sport) lessons, badminton or handball on Wednesday afternoon, continue. Second federation in France, Unss is also affected by disaffection, with a 31% drop in registrations.
Loss of physical capacity of college students
For years, however, many doctors have warned of the dangers to health of a growing sedentary lifestyle, due to our lifestyles. College students have thus lost 25% of their physical capacity in 40 years, recalls Mr. Carré.
The consequences of long hours spent sitting are indeed well known: overweight, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes but also more stress, anxiety and even depression. Another phenomenon, sitting in front of your screen “changes nutritional control“, says Mr. Thivel. Hence the snacking, and the devastating association of sedentary lifestyle and junk food.
While the public authorities have gradually become aware of this public health issue, particularly among children, it is difficult to change (bad) habits, which are often those of parents.
“Sports clubs are the third place for socializing after school and the family“, also notes Brigitte Henriques, vice-president of the French Football Federation (FFF), underlining in passing the importance”intergenerational link“existing in clubs.
.
