Children playing in New York City. (Credit: Christian Hansen for The New York Times)Anyone who has been around young children knows they often are bundles of energy. But new research shows that all the energy starts to disappear as kids age. Even the most active children experience dramatic declines in physical activity as they hit the teen years.
The data are from a fascinating new study published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Kids in the study wore accelerometers, devices that monitor movement. Nine-year-olds moved a lot — the devices recorded about three hours a day of moderate to vigorous activity. But things changed dramatically when kids hit the teen years. By age 15, teens were only moving an average of 49 minutes daily and 35 minutes on weekends.
To learn more, click here to read my story on the recent findings.
And what about your kids? Have you noticed big changes in your child’s activity levels? Post your comments below.
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From 1 to 25 of 49 Comments
My preteen daughters move a lot - from the couch to the computer to the fridge.
— nateFascinating; my two six year olds are in constant motion and my son moves far more than my daughter. The good news is they now chase each other around the house and no longer wish to rough up dear ole dad. Phew, I never thought I would survive the hundreds of cannon balls to the belly and karate chops to kidneys that they regularly dished out last year.
— Tim SOf course children move more than adults. If they monitored three year olds they would probably move more than 9 year olds.
Have these people ever observed puppies and dogs, or kittens and cats? Cus and bears? Youngsters move more than the adolescents and the adolescents, often, more than adults. This has *always* been true.
FROM TPP — A 15 year old isn’t an adult.
— Gail PerryWell duh.
— VikkiWant to know why? It’s because we have school to focus on, tests to study for, papers to write, and colleges to get into.
Slow news day?
— LaSharonThankfully, my daughter is very active and loves nothing more than to play for hours on end. However, I often worry about how long her current activity level will last. It seems most girls she goes to school with prefer to listen to music, gossip, or play computer games. She’s often bored by these girls and goes off to play with the younger kids who don’t mind to run around and get dirty. Personally, I hope she never slows down!
— RunningSchools eliminate recess in middle school. My child’s jr/sr high school had no playground. Getting on basketball/football/soccer teams required near-professional skill. Basically, around 13, kids are grouped: athletes and others. The athletes get to use the equipment. The others find other things to do. Is it any wonder that the non-athletes move less than they used to?
— AbbyNot really much of a surprise is it?
Little kids play.
They don’t exercise or work out or do yoga or go for a run. They play.
As our kids get older, they stop playing. They have activities or sports.
As they get a little older, being cool is the raison d’etre. Some kids will stick with sports, but no one, repeat no one plays anymore. Playing is NOT cool.
They next thing you know, our kids have become young adults for whom exercise is avoided unless they are trying to lose a few pounds. And forget about playing. Ask an adult if they want to go and play and they will most likely think that you are trying to pick them up. Or that you’re crazy.
And then we gradually slide into middle life, glued to the couch watching tv, downing anti-acid pills and complaining about our bad backs.
How sad.
Our bodies are meant to move. When they don’t, they fall apart.
There is one school of thought that believes that increasing your normal level of exercise will help you live a longer and better life.
Another school of thought believes that our ‘normal’ amount of exercise is the problem and is the reason why our bodies fail us the way they do - diabetes, syndrome x, heart disease, stroke, cancer…
DR
— DRhttp://healthhabits.wordpress.com
It’s not fashionable to say so, but we have a tendency to “park” our children in pre-schools, after-school activities, day-care and — in the home — in front of electronic companions. These may be consequences of social and economic circumstances, but we have for the most part long ago abandoned our role as the principal adults in our children’s lives. Little wonder, then, that kids may think of a parent as “just another adult” acting out a relatively narrow role. When children are largely left to their own devices, and parents are not especially special people in their children’s lives, why should we be surprised when they do the easy thing?
— William McCloskeyMy 15yo does sit at the computer a lot, but he also goes out several times a day to jump around on the trampoline. He is also perfectly willing to be taken to a public playground, or play pick-up field games like capture the flag. The difference is that he hangs out with fellow homeschoolers, who don’t have the same prohibitions against looking uncool.
— KathyKids are marked at an early age of athlete or non-athlete. This is done by coaches and teachers then finally, the kids themselves catch on to it. I would bet that our varsity basket ball coach all ready had his starting 5 picked out for my son’s senior class when they were in 7th grade.
At an early age it’s easy to put kids in swim lessons, soccer camps, and other activities, but my 7th or 8th grade, there is no where to put the kid who may have fun playing a sport but has no future of being “a star,” or at least a minimally competent player on the field. Coaches do not want the kid who “isn’t serious” about the game. Kid’s sports these days are over organized. They are put there to feed the ego of the parents and coaches of the best players. There is no room for the ‘casual’ player (even in middle school) in high school sports. The coach’s attitude is that we are not here to have fun…we are here to win. A kid can barely try to succeed at a new sport in middle school because the kids who are all ready best at that sport have been doing it since they were 4 years old.
This goes back to Kathy’s comments (#10). If the cool jocks see the non-athletes playing a sport, those kids get ridiculed and labeled as uncool.
This comment includes much generalization, but you get the idea. It’s sad out there.
These comments do not come from bitterness. My kids are embracing the ‘hip to be square’ identity and are excelling in academics, music and individual sports where they have found supportive coaches who just want them to keep improving against their own records. I wish all kids could find this.
— VThe same can be said of other primates. As I recall from my college antropology course, adolescent baboons drive the adults nuts with all of their energy.
Golly, I wish I had the engery my kids seemed to have when they were young…
— BrucePersonally, I could have come up with thise results.
— JonahSpending time in front of the computer, studying(!!!) which should take up a decent amount of time and exercizing can all coexist.
What I would focus on though is a proper diet, because lack of exercize plus poor nutrition leads to overweight teenagers who are more likely to experience health problems, don’t you think?
Once school sports become competitive, schools should be offering parallel programs under names such as “sports for fun” and motivate the less physically able to participate in these. Not all sports would have to be included. Some parents might be willing to coach as volunteers, if their time allows.
Where I live, kids with a passion for soccer never look uncool at any age. And it doesn’t require much equipment.
— Barbara”
Of course children move more than adults. If they monitored three year olds they would probably move more than 9 year olds.
Have these people ever observed puppies and dogs, or kittens and cats? Cus and bears? Youngsters move more than the adolescents and the adolescents, often, more than adults. This has *always* been true.
FROM TPP — A 15 year old isn’t an adult.
— Posted by Gail Perry
”
Sorry, TPP — did you miss the word “adolescent” in there?
And, one of the reasons kids are inside more is that we simply don’t give our children as much freedom as they got when, for example, I was young. I’m 62, and when I was a child everyone had a bike, everyone rode them, and the rule was “be home by dinner.” We rode all over town.
My sister and I were approached by a child predator. My sister, being 8, was old enough to ge t me away from the lure of a piece of candy for a car ride. The predators have always been out there but we’re more aware of the risk. We didn’t just ’send our children outside to play,’ and neither did the parents of any of their friends.
I also just spent the day with three of my great-nieces — aged 5, 6 and 7. We were at a child-friendly aquarium and they were constantly moving and climbing. Small children can do that in the house. Teens have different interests and climbing on the furniture simply doesn’t hold the same appeal. All that activity is about exploring the world, and teens have done that. They’re moving on to exploring the social and cognitive worlds.
How we love to point the fingers at parents for every thing that comes along, but it’s biological nature — the older you get, the less active you are.
I agree with Barbara that soccer is “cool” and has been for a very long time. The result is that only the best soccer players get to play. Not all children are natural athletes, nor should they have to be. There’s been a fundamental switch in how we raise our children. They no longer walk to their friends’ houses, they don’t take off on their bikes for a day of exploration, and they don’t just go down to the park to see who is there to play with. We see the children’s world as more dangerous and this is one price of it.
— Gail PerryMaybe the teens are using up most of their energy arguing with us all the time? ;-)
When I worked as a therapist in a child development center, one of my top-3 recommendations for my clients- especially for the boys with ADD and PDD - was to get more exercise. These boys are growing up in religious families, and they spend hours in schools that have little or no phys. ed program because they place a high value on studying while severely undervaluing sports.
In other words, I think cultural expecations and the education system have a lot to do with it… Growing up in California, I had P.E. class five days a week and in high school we could choose from about 15 competetive sports, including all the regulars, plus swim team and water polo (our school had an Olympic-size pool), and a dance troupe.
Also, I think it would help if more of us adults were to set a better example.
(Think I’ll get up from the computer now…)
— Rachel J.My 13 year old will not ride her bike because I enforce the helmet rule whereas many other parents do not so it is not “cool”. It is frustrating to me because the bike would not only provide exercise but could provide her with alot more freedom at her age!
FROM TPP –Yes but don’t back down. You’d never forgive yourself if she suffered a head injury.
— JayMy kids are 12 now, and although they’ve always been hugely active, this year it’s like herding cats to get them to go outside for more than 10 minutes at a time (unless we’re heading to the mall).
It’s frustrating- they used to love playing outside and doing physical activity, but now they just have no interest at all. I make them do it, but they just really don’t want to.
— JenAs noted by many others, schools offer sports to the most competitive and talented students,. Should we ration mathematics the same way?
Charlie
— Charles J. Farrell, MD.Why do they think this has to do with school or society? We get less energetic as we get older. Isn’t that something we all know? My 4 yo is less energetic than when he was 3. He’ll be less energetic when he’s 9, and even less energetic when he’s 15. I had more energy when I was in my early 20s than I do now. It’s an unfortunate fact of mammalian physiology. An INTERESTING study would be to measure this decline over different cultures, including non-industrialized ones. If they found LESS of a decline in the non-industrialized ones, that would be newsworthy.
— JunieMy first reaction to this story was “here we go again,” looking for the explanation for the obesity epidemic when the true culprit is staring us straight in the face and for some incomprehensible reason, the medical establishment and media ignore it! I thought back to my own childhood and adolescence in the 50s and 60s. I played outside, rode bikes to the swimming pool in the summer, etc. through Jr. High. However, by high school, my only activity was “gym class” (which involved alot of sitting on a bench) and going out occasionally to shoot a few basketballs. If I went to the pool, it was to “lay out” and go in the water only to cool off. There were no women’s sports at my school, and the jogging craze had not taken hold yet. So, the diminishing activity level with age is nothing new.
— PeggyI am very active as an adult, and both of my 20-something kids jog and work-out at fitness centers. We also have modified our diet - addressing the real culprit in the obesity epidemic. We all avoid processed, refined foods and follow very low carbyhdrate diets. Hey, everyone - it’s the flour,starch, sugar, and HFCS that cause obesity and the “diseases of civilization.”
Until that is the consistent message in the “health” community, the obesity and diabetes epidemic will continue to skyrocket. All the exercise in the world will not counteract the horrible consequences of the high-grain, high-sugar diet promoted by the low-fat gurus. I am sad for their victims, especially our children.
Of course.
- B/c “cool” means not having any interest in anything. Whereas in my mom’s generation, caring WAS cool, my and later generations are probably some of the most narcissistic, materialistic, electronically connected naturally disconnected people to ever walk this earth.
- Gym class is a joke. No one has to run around or move or try to become more fit. Oh yeah, that’s another thing. Trying hard isn’t cool either. You’re supposed to pretend you never study, never train for athletics, never practice your instrument, etc. ‘Like, oops, I just happen to be smart, musically gifted, artistic, and athletic. I didn’t actually do something as bourgeois as TRY.’
- Organized sports have become so hypercompetitive, there’s no room for fun. Either you be A-Rod or get a college scholarship or get out.
- No one has any inner resources. Everyone’s been plugged in, tuned out, and televised for so long, no one knows HOW to play anymore. There needs to be an external voice telling us where to go, how to get there, how hard to try, when to run, when to jump, etc.
How many people of any age do any of us knows these days who can sit quietly without an iPod, radio, computer, etc. and just think on a regular basis without someone telling them how?
— M.I’ve got two girls entering this transition. I’m becoming concerned at the time they spend reading! We have no TV so that’s not an option but it is getting much harder to get them out the door to the local pool or playground. Once we get there, they have fun. But they’ve turned up their nose at athletics (youngest has decided she’s not even good at playing badminton in the backyard). So I’ve got these wonderful, intellectually-engaging little nerds but I’m not sure either has any physical stamina anymore! What’s a Mom to do?
— anneWhy is this study fascinating. Any parent will likely say, duh!
— Susan72You don’t need to go to the gym to exercise! You don’t need to go to PE class to exercise!
— SusannaWhy can’t the kids play ball in somebody’s backyard? Or mow the lawn or do other chores? Or bicycle to school? You can get exercise at other places than at “official” sports!