Australia’s
youth is becoming increasingly unfit according to a UniSA study, which
shows that levels of fitness for children between 12 and 15 are
declining by about five per cent a decade.
Today’s
kids are likely to be 15 to 20 per cent less fit than their parents were
at the same age.
And
while this is a trend worldwide in affluent nations, the fitness slide
for Australia is at the higher end of the spectrum.
UniSA
senior lecturer in physical education, exercise and sports studies, Dr
Tim Olds, said the Australian decline is quite severe.
“We
have examined data on about 18,000 12 to 15 year old South Australian
school children from 1995 through to 2000 which tested aerobic fitness
as part of the Australian Sports Commission’s Talent Search
program,” Dr Olds said.
“What
that revealed were significant declines in aerobic fitness across all
age/gender slices by about 0.4 to 0.8 per cent of mean values per year.
“And
compared to children of similar ages across 11 other countries,
Australians show poor to average aerobic fitness levels, well behind
countries like the UK and South Africa and on a par with Estonia, Poland
Slovakia and Hungary.”
The
report shows a decline in fitness for New Zealand children from 10 to 14
years of about 0.2 per cent a year, Japan’s 12 to 17 year olds were
declining in fitness by about 0.4 per cent a year, in the United Sates
children between 6 and 17 were declining in fitness by between 0.7 and
1.9 per cent a year. Belgiun children were declining at similar rates to
Australian kids and in Poland the decline in performance ranged from 0.3
to 1.1 per cent.
Dr
Olds said it was interesting to compare results of different types of
activities tested.
“Our
research looks specifically at the evolution of aerobic fitness
associated with running, cycling and similar activities. What we also
found was that there were no changes in ability to complete tests such
as the vertical jump or other activities requiring explosive power or
strength and there were smaller or no declines in various anaerobic
ability.
“Investigating
the reasons for the decline in fitness we considered many physical
factors such as the increases in weight for children and the earlier
onset of puberty for both girls and boys, but at the end of the day the
factors that appear to be most significant are associated with
environment and lifestyle.
“Our
changing social and built environment have had an steady impact on
aerobic fitness for Australian children and adults.
“The
impact and uptake of technology in Australia has been significant with
most people leading increasingly sedentary lives. Between the 1960s and
1990s television ownership per head of population doubled. Kids now
watch an average of more than three hours of television per day and
spend another 45 minutes on the computer. By 1994 more than 80 per cent
of Australian households had a VCR and more recently the uptake of
home-based computers has grown at rapid rates. This coupled with new
video games such as Nintendo and Playstation makes for a wide range of
entertainments that require no aerobic activity at all.
“Australia
has also had a rapid increase in car ownership
- in the 1940s there were 12.5 Australians per privately owned
car, by 1992 the ratio was two people per car, so instead of walking or
riding bikes to school, children are increasingly driven to school, to
visit friends and other outings. People are also much more likely to
drive to today’s large supermarkets and shopping centres, as the days
of the local shops and corner store disappear.
“These
factors conspire so that there is far less incidental aerobic exercise
as a part of everyday life.”
Dr
Olds said actual changes in the structure of families had also had an
impact on children’s exercise.
“The
increasingly proportion of families with both parents working, single
parent households and factors such as underemployment, where parents
have limited resources, make up a large pool of people without the
resources or time to actively engage with their children in recreational
activities," he said.
“The
rapid decline in the fitness of Australian children and the trend
towards an increasing erosion of fitness are serious concerns that need
to be addressed at a political, educational and socio-economic level.
“In
the meantime a good start at this time of year might be to exchange the
latest video game for a tennis racket or a backyard cricket set under
the Christmas tree and spend some time outside over the Christmas
break.”
News Editors please
note – Dr Olds will be in NSW over the Christmas break but he is
contactable on 02 48613835 from December 23 to January 1 2002.
Media
contact: Michèle Nardelli (08) 8302 0966 or 041 8823673
email: michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au
