Active Kids Becoming Couch Potato Teens

(CBS/AP)  One of the largest studies of its kind shows just how sluggish American children become once they hit the teen years: While 90 percent of 9-year-olds get a couple of hours of exercise most days, fewer than 3 percent of 15-year-olds do.

What's more, the study suggests that fewer than a third of teens that age get even the minimum recommended by the government - an hour of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, like cycling, brisk walking, swimming or jogging.

The sharp drop raises concerns about inactivity continuing into adulthood, which could endanger kids' health throughout their lives, the study authors said.

"People don't recognize this as the crisis that it is," said lead author Dr. Philip Nader, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of California at San Diego.

Inactivity is linked with greater risks for many health problems, including heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The new findings come just a week after an influential pediatricians group recommended that more children have their cholesterol checked and that some as young as 8 should be given cholesterol-lowering drugs. That advice was partly out of concern over future levels of heart disease and other ailments linked to rising rates of childhood obesity.

The latest study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, tracked about 1,000 U.S. children at various ages, from 2000 until 2006.

Special gadgets were used to record their activity. Average levels of moderate-to-vigorous activity fell from three hours a day at age 9 to less than an hour at age 15.

"We expected a drop-off, but we were even amazed by how steep it was," said Dr. James Griffin, deputy branch chief of the National Institutes of Health on CBS News' The Early Show, "and what we really think is going on is competing demands for their time."

Nader also said he was "surprised by how dramatic the decline was," and cited schools dropping recess and gym classes and kids' increasing use of video games and computers as possible reasons.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded the research, calling it one of the largest, most comprehensive studies of its kind to date.

Griffin, who was the science officer for the study, said that as children mature, "You would expect somewhat of a decline (in activity), but nothing of this magnitude."

He noted that the study coincided with the rise in popularity of video games, DVDs and Internet use - "all of the types of things that take children from outside and put them on a couch or in front of a computer."

"Get them in a habit early," Griffin suggested. "They may not want to do as much with you when they are a teenager, but really encourage some balance."

Study participants were children involved in agency research on youth development, recruited from 10 hospitals around the country. Family income, race and ethnic background closely matched the U.S. population.

The researchers tracked the children's activity levels starting at age 9, using an accelerometer - a device about the size of a small belt buckle that attached to a belt around the waist and recorded movement. Activity levels were counted at ages 9, 11, 12 and 15 during the school week and on weekends.

That method isn't foolproof because the device isn't worn during swimming and contact sports. But the researchers said it's unlikely that such activity happened often enough among the children studied to skew the results.

Through age 12, well over half the children got at least the government-recommended amount of activity every day. By age 15, less than one-third were that active on weekdays, and only about 17 percent were on weekends.

Boys were more active than girls at every age. But by age 15, even boys' average activity levels fell short of recommendations, particularly on weekends.

Dr. Samuel Klein, director of Washington University School of Medicine's human nutrition center in St. Louis, said the research provides a more powerful snapshot than previous studies.

The rapid drop-off in exercise by age 15 shows that the preceding years are "really an area we should target," said Klein, who was not involved in the study.

Mary Lee, 13, said the results ring true.

The suburban Cleveland teen said she spends more time on the computer now than she did a few years ago, particularly with online social networking sites. She also didn't have physical education class every day last year, and will only have it for half the upcoming school year in eighth grade.

Lee recently took part in a health program at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland. The classes promote exercise and healthy eating.

She said she stays pretty active with volleyball and track, and has been able to avoid gaining weight with help from the program at the Cleveland hospital.

Making exercise fun is important, "because if you do, you won't even realize if you're exercising," she said.

"It really helps and it makes you feel better about yourself," she said.

[sociald63]

nssherlock1 - lol ... how about letting these l*il fatsos run with bulls in spain ??

[lilbeards1]

PARENTS....WAKE UP!!! Take some responsibility for your kids! Why do kids spend so much time in front of the tv, internet and computers? Because of parents who can''''t say NO!! There is no reason for anyone under driving age to have a cell phone! There is no reason for any teenager to have a facebook account! And teenagers should never be allowed to use the internet without supervision.

[scottyusa]

I think the parents and their communities are at fault. Physical education is as important as mental and we lost that along the way. Now, financially struggeling schools in my state are starting to drop sports programs as well. I guess we are lucky in my town. Growing up we had 5 baseball fields in various locations, 3 movie theaters, a drive-in theater and in school we definitely needed a shower after PE. We had dances in the gym every other weekend. I still live here 58 years later and we have all that still (even the drive-in with 3 screens now)and soccer fields to boot. The park at the river is still going too. Communities need to provide the means while parents provide the motivation.

[nssherlock1]

That is simple to fix. All you need to lure 15 year olds outside is to setup outdoor eating disorders and outdoor internet porn. Next problem.....

[sandy19731]

Our society emphasizes sports over exercise. We are too competitive - children soon learn that if they don''t excel at some sport they might as well not even try. Then later when the excellent sports people age they turn into couch potatoes, too.
Get the emphasis off of sports (competitive) and on running, walking, having fun, and at most intermural sports. We don''t have the gas for schools to be shipping their athletes around to other schools, anyway.

[jbright9]

The best thing we could do for our kids is retire all those big yellow buses and put controls on high school kids driving to school. This would help the environment, reduce the cost to school districts and help keep our kids physically fit. We also need to require daily PE and make sure our schools serve nutritionally good food. We can''t control what every family does but schools have kids a big part of the day. Don''t tell me kids can''t walk. I walked almost two miles in Des Moines, Iowa (severe winters) from Kindergarten on. There were safety patrols then to help kids cross the street. Those things can be put in place. Also don''t tell me there are too many sexual predators out there. They were there then but everyone looked out for everyone''s elses children. There is no reason we can''t do that again, infact we may be forced to.

[credibility2]

Many things are contributing to this, including no recess time at the majority of public schools, no parental supervision for various reasons, over-indulgence to kids through too many tech gadgets which rob kids of creative mental time which used to lead to physical activity, prepared "food", etc. Ultimately, it is the fault of the parent/parents/guardian for a laxity in taking their responsibility as the adult seriously. Kids aren''t apart-time job. If kids are left to figure things out on their own, they''ll grow up to be slovenly, over-weight ignorant adults.

[rf35]

Here''s an idea: lower the legal age for seks to 15. It''s an aerobic activity! You couldn''t wear the belt thing since it is a contact sport, but at least the teens are getting exercise away from the computer and TV.

Seriously, 20 years ago, PE in school was a joke. I can only imagine how poor it is today. Along with the rest of the subjects taught in the public education system, American kids are falling behind here, too. I have given up hope that the majority of parents will ever be willing to become engaged in their childrens'' lives, so what''s the answer? According to the quack pediatricians group, they should be drugged up. What!? If a pediatrician wants to prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs to an 8-year-old, he/she should be stripped of all medical credentials and prosecuted for child endangerment. These drugs are not very good for adults...imagine what they could do to a kid! Forget saving for college; now you need to save for a liver transplant! Get out, do something fun and active, and drag your teen, kicking and screaming, with you!

[carlylaine]

Everything is a crisis...OMG the sky is falling!!!!

[talkingham]

Yeah, now the kids become their parents sooner than ever before. After all, most parents are so physically active and dedicated to good eating habits.

And, parents are perfectly happy to fill their kids bellies with corn syrup, trans fats, colas with high acid levels to "unsweeten" a bit the 12 spoons of corn syrup per cola serving and whatever other slop comes in the boxes they buy off the shelf and at fast "food" joints. Lazy bunch of whiners.

Enjoy!