Sure! The research suggests that when kids don’t move around and are very inactive during their childhood, it might lead to a higher chance of having heart problems when they grow up. This is because their hearts might grow bigger in a way that’s not healthy, especially for girls. This information was shared at a conference about heart health in Amsterdam.
Dr. Andrew Agbaje, who led the study, explained that when the heart gets bigger, it’s a sign that it’s working really hard, possibly because of a stressful situation.
The information for this study came from a big research project called the “Children of the 90s” study. They followed 766 kids from when they were 11 years old until they were 24. These kids wore special devices to measure how active they were for one week at different times during the study.
When the kids were 11 years old, they spent about six hours a day not being very active. As they got older, this increased to almost eight hours a day in their teenage years, and then almost nine hours a day by the end of the study. This means they spent a lot of time sitting or not moving much.
It’s important to know that this increase in sitting time took away from the time they spent doing light activities. In childhood, they did light activities for about 6 hours a day, but this dropped to 3 hours a day in young adulthood.
The study found that in girls, more time spent being inactive was linked to their heart’s left ventricle getting bigger. A bigger left ventricle can be a sign of possible heart problems later in life.
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, who was not part of the study, pointed out that this research shows how sitting too much can be really bad for our heart health.
The things we still don’t know
Dr. Andrew Freeman, who is an expert on heart health, mentioned that the new study has only been shown in a poster form and has not been completely released yet. This means that the full details and results of the research are not available at the moment. Dr. Freeman was not a part of this study.
Dr. Andrew Freeman, who specializes in heart health, pointed out that even though the data shows a connection between sitting too much and a predictor for heart problems, it’s not clear exactly how this leads to issues.
He mentioned that it’s hard to say for sure if there’s a specific level of heart enlargement that directly relates to a certain health problem. He thinks it would be helpful to keep following these kids for another 13 years to see if they develop high blood pressure, which he suspects might happen.
Even though this study is still in the early stages and looked at a relatively small group of people, it’s a good reminder to encourage healthy habits in childhood, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, who wasn’t involved in the study.
What your family can do to move more
The good news is that additional data from these researchers found that light-intensity physical activity has the potential to reverse the enlargement of the heart from sedentary time, Agbaje said.
“I would appeal to doctors and parents to encourage their children, patients, and clients to engage in light-intensity physical activity for at least 3 to 4 hours daily for a better heart condition,” he added in an email. “An example of such light physical activity is taking a long walk.”
Children ages 6 to 17 need about an hour of physical activity a day, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a 2020 survey found that less than a quarter of students reached that metric.
When it comes to getting kids moving, focus on activities they enjoy, because that is what sticks, Goldberg said.
“If you’re somebody who has a fear of deep water, swimming may not be for you, right?” she said. “But walking, cycling, jogging, dancing, swimming — all of these things are great aerobic exercises and great exercises to bring about health benefits.”
If we want children to live not only long, but well — and without major health concerns — it is important to prioritize health now, Freeman said.
“The habits we form earlier in life and the way we live earlier in life have a lasting effect,” he said. “If we can figure out how to weave those habits into our lives earlier, the results will be amazing.”
SOURCE:CNN