Are German children sporty muffle?

80 percent of young people do not do enough sports

12/03/2013

Sports activities are part of the everyday program of children and young people - actually. As researchers of the University of Bielefeld have now found out, only 20 percent of boys and girls aged 11 to 15 move sufficiently. In a European comparison, Germany occupies one of the rear seats. Are German children therefore movement mustache?

An hour of exercise a day - even for sporty muffle
Children and adolescents have a natural urge to move. Sitting still for hours in school is difficult for many. Nevertheless, most German children do not seem to spend their free time on football pitches, fitness centers, sports clubs or ballet classes. More than 80 percent of children do not move enough according to the new study. This affects especially children from the eleventh to the 15th Age as the scientists could prove.

Only one in four boys and one in five girls is therefore doing enough sports. The numbers are even lower for the 15-year-olds: In this age group, only 13.6 percent of the boys and 8.6 percent of the girls move in a reasonable degree. According to international recommendations, adolescents should exercise for one hour a day, so that their pulse rate increases and they begin to sweat. „Only a small proportion of German adolescents reach this threshold, "reports Bielefeld health scientist Petra Kolip to the news agency „AFP“.

Girls do less sport than boys
The study shows significant differences between the sexes. While at least 20 of the boys in all age groups move sufficiently, this is the case for only 14 percent of girls. This makes Germany one of the laggards in European comparison.

38 percent of eleven to 15-year-old boys practice at least four hours of sport per week. For the girls there are only 25 percent in this age group. Nevertheless, the movement behavior has improved in the last twelve years, the researchers said. However, differences in gender are still evident. Therefore, a gender-specific promotion of physical activity is necessary „the different movement motives and preferences of girls and boys“.

The study by the Bielefeld researchers is part of a comprehensive study by the World Health Organization (WHO), which analyzes the health behavior of children from 40 different countries.

Why do German children move too little??
The social pedagogue Gritli Bertram from Hanover sees a cause in the appointment calendars, which are partly more than full of even the youngest: „If we assume that adolescents are often away from school after 15, then have to do homework and maybe have tutoring, it is obvious why our children do not do enough sport.“ Even in elementary school, it often happens that the children have no time for appointments or the sports club during the week. „Especially children from better-off households often have additional appointments such as singing and music lessons outside the school. For children from financially weaker families, on the other hand, there is often no money left for the sports club“, explains Bertram. It was also the task of the schools and not least the Minister of Education to provide for a corresponding sports offer in the context of teaching. (Sb)

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Image: Dieter Schütz