“Tennis? No. Football? No. Skateboarding with your friends? No thanks”. The jaded mine, these teenagers answer “no” to all the proposals of their parents to make them move. The video published this Thursday by Santé Publique France, as part of a new campaign to encourage parents to get their teens moving, will no doubt speak to many families. “Getting teenagers moving is not easy. But encouraging them is important”, concludes the film on a humorous note.
This video and the campaign materials will be broadcast for a month on television, radio, social networks and even in the cinema. In October, a second part of the campaign will speak directly to teenagers and invite them to take up one physical activity challenge per day.
Not enough sport and far too many screens, even more since the Covid
The campaign is based on the results of several studies, which confirm that teenagers do not practice enough sport or physical activity. A first study, carried out in 2015, showed that among children aged 6-17, only 50.7% of boys and 33.3% of girls achieved the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO): practice at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day. After the age of 10, a marked decrease in physical activity is observed, more pronounced among girls: in the 11-14 age group, 33.7% of teenage boys and 20.2% of teenage girls achieve this recommendation.
Furthermore, the proportion of young people passing three hours or more in front of a screen each day reaches 45% among 6-10 year olds, 70% among 11-14 year olds, 71% among girls and 87% among 15-17 year old boys. “This observation has certainly been reinforced by the Covid”, estimates with AFP Anne-Juliette Serry, head of the food and physical activity unit at Public Health France.
Parents overestimate their teens’ physical activity
A qualitative study conducted by Public Health France with Kantar public also showed that parents frequently feel that their child’s activity level is sufficient, perception based on non-objective criteria (“he is not overweight”, “he feels good”, “he plays sports at school”).
Sport, an asset for physical and mental health
Public Health France recalls that sports practice among young people improves their cardiorespiratory, muscular, metabolic and bone health, helps them maintain a healthy weight, and also has impact on mental health and stress management.