Promoting certain activities from childhood helps our children have good habits in their adult lives and can avoid the presence of health problems in the future. One of them is physical activity, and although it has increased in recent years, there is still much to do.
A recent report found that 80% of Spanish girls do not practice the amount of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). We share the information of this investigation, as well as some tips to help reduce this figure.
Titled "Health and sport in women. The importance of staying active since childhood"and presented at the Higher Sports Council of Madrid, the 11th FAROS report of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, He analyzed the reasons why girls do less physical activity than boys.
According to information in the report, WHO recommends that all children between 5 and 17 years of age should perform 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous aerobic physical activity every day, in addition to doing vigorous activities three times a week to strengthen your muscles and bones.
Moderate or vigorous aerobic physical activity is understood as walking, running, dancing or cycling, while strenuous activities to strengthen muscles and bones would be a bit more intense, such as climbing, jumping rope, or using park equipment. of game.
Using data collected between 2006 and 2015, the report found that In the case of Spanish girls, 80% of them do not meet these levels of physical activity.
The report found that there are two key moments in which the differentiation of physical activity between boys and girls occurs: access to sports practice, which may be affected by socio-cultural differences, and the transition from primary to secondary education, which is a stage in which many girls leave sports.
Why does this happen?
Mainly, due to stereotypes and gender prejudices. Many sports are still aimed exclusively at children, which limits the supply of sports so that they can freely choose in which to participate. Similarly, the lack of female referents means that there is not much interest for girls in participating in sports.
What can be done to reduce this figure?
The report proposes various tips and initiatives for both schools and families. In the case of schools, the authors of this research consider that the design of school playgrounds should be modified, the gymnasium should be opened during recess and the physical education subject must be transformed, something we talked about a long time ago when we mentioned increasing hours of this subject in schools.
For families, they propose that activities be carried out where everyone participates, they are encouraged to participate and also be helped to decide, as well as to show interest in the physical activities they perform and help in the logistic tasks of the sports club or school.
What can we do as parents?
In addition to the recommendations of the authors of the report, there are other things we can do to encourage exercise in girls (and boys too):
- Seek more physical activities for children and less screen time, so that from a young age they start fighting sedentary lifestyle.
- Teach them the benefits it has for them and for us to keep fit. Of course, this point can be reinforced by setting the example and exercising ourselves too.
- Give him the opportunity to choose what physical activity do you want to do, in this way you will feel heard and more motivated.
- Remind them that in addition to being an activity to stay healthy and fit, it should be something fun. Let's not make it a competition or an obligation, the only thing we will achieve will be to obtain the opposite effect and that they do not like to perform any sport or physical activity.
Let's not forget that good habits begin to be encouraged from childhood and at home. Let us do our best to instill the habit of doing physical activity in children, as this will bring great benefits for their health.
Photos | iStock
More information | FAROS report
In Babies and more | Five ways that children do physical activity (almost) without realizing it, Ten tips to motivate your children to do physical activity, The Complutense University points out that girls do less sports, especially in the most disadvantaged families
