Scheduling is one way to make sure teens get their exercise
The finding of a recent study that one in three American teenagers is out of shape is not likely to shock many people.
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The reason so many teens are out of shape is not because they’re inherently lazy or because they don’t know better. “It’s ’cause of, like, homework and study and midterms,” she says. “There’s so much of it.”
“A lot of kids feel like they should exercise,” agrees her friend Maryanne Brown, 14, who lives in Bethpage. “But with school and tests it’s so hard to fit in.”
Oh, please. I was an honor student at one of the nation’s highest rated prep schools, and managed to letter in three sports. C’mon.
The teen fitness study, which appeared in the Dec. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, measured fitness levels of 3,110 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19. It found that 33.6 percent had cardiorespiratory fitness levels low enough to make even routine physical chores strenuous. If such poor fitness levels persist, the researchers warned, the overweight teens of today could turn into the diabetes and cardiac care patients of tomorrow – and the declines in heart disease seen in their parent’s generation may be reversed.
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Suggesting to your 16-year-old that you go for a walk or bike ride together may be greeted with the same enthusiasm as a suggestion to spend Friday night doing math homework. But just because they may not want to be seen with mom or dad at this age doesn’t mean you can’t work together. “This is a great opportunity to sit down and talk with your child about goals, for yourself and for them,” Jones says. For example, “healthy eating begins in the supermarket. So you can start to by talking about shopping … then cooking … then eating.”
find out more about teen obesity and overweight
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