LACK OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES IN YOUTH

                                                          Regular physical activity provides important health benefits for children and adolescents, including beneficial effects on cardiovascular, metabolic, and musculoskeletal health, and on academic performance as well. Physical activity patterns in youth are likely to extend into adulthood, and therefore, the establishment of a physically active lifestyle in early life is essential for the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases during the life course. A physically active lifestyle may include different kinds of physical activities such as participation in organized sports or active commuting to and from school. Nowadays, it should also include the avoidance of excessive sitting, which has recently been suggested to be a health hazard, independently of participation in physical activities.


                                                          Social Networking websites are the main cause of lack of physical activities among youth. Smart phones, Laptops, Tablets and Ipads are making our lives hell. They are marking our lives too much busy that we are not paying attention towards our parents. We are less physically active from  these  hectic things. We spent our whole day sitting in front of screens and playing video games, even we do not have time to eat a healthy food . Sitting still in front of TV or computer screens for hours is relatively common among young people. Also those children who participate in organized sports may, after training sessions, sit hours in front of screens. Internet and TV provide entertainment for 24 hours per day. Time spent with entertainment media late at night may steel time from sleeping and may also dilute the quality of sleep, leading to daytime tiredness and lack of motivation to physical activity.

                                                         The current physical activity recommendations for school-aged children state that all young people should be involved in physical activity of at least moderate intensity for at least 1 hour per day.1 However, many young people fail to meet these recommendations; the proportion of sufficiently active young people is estimated at one third, with wide variations between age groups, genders, and countries. However, alongside with these questionnaire-based surveys, we would also need objective monitoring of physical activity. Studies using direct measures of activity, such as accelerometers, have suggested higher estimates for the proportion of adequately active youths.


                                                            The recent increase of obesity among young people has been attributed to too much time spent in front of TV and computer screens. According to the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, TV viewing in young people should be restricted to 2 hours per day to avoid negative effects on body weight and other health outcomes. Some national recommendations of physical activity for school-aged children have also mentioned guidelines for sedentary time. In Finland, national recommendations for young people state that "continued periods of sitting for more than 2 hours at a time should be avoided. Screen time with entertainment media should be limited to 2 hours per day." The expert panel who created these physical activity guidelines also wanted to give recommendations of screen time and thereby encourage parents and other important people in young people's life to discuss about excessive screen time and to restrict it if necessary. For pediatrics, it would be important to pay attention to both children's participation in physical activities and their screen time. However, further research is needed about the dose-response association between sedentary behaviors and health outcomes to more accurately define the safety level for different sedentary pursuits.