Young people are starting to develop heart strain by the time they reach adolescence due to low levels of physical activity.
An eight-year study of 153 young people in Finland tracked the health and habits of young people from childhood into their teenage years.
The researchers from the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Eastern Finland found a strong association between lack of physical activity and the “workload” of the heart.
“Youth (typically) spend nine to ten hours a day being sedentary,” Dr Eero Haapala from the University of Jyväskylä Faculty of Sport said.
“Only one in ten adolescents accumulated 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity. These are worrying figures.”
“High levels of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity should be a normal part of childhood and adolescence as it improves heart health, but also general well-being.”
The study showed that adolescents “accumulating high levels of sedentary behaviour and low levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity from childhood onwards” were showing heart strain in adolescence.
“Cardiac workload was particularly high in adolescents accumulating low levels of vigorous physical activity,” the study found.
“In addition, high levels of sedentary behaviour and low levels of physical activity were associated with a higher total body fat percentage. Body fat percentage partly explained the associations between sedentary behaviour, physical activity, and cardiac workload.”
“The results emphasise the importance of increasing physical activity, especially moderate and vigorous activity, reducing sedentary behaviour, and preventing overweight from childhood to prevent heart diseases.”
The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
