Study Shows Teenage Malaysian Girls Not Exercising Enough

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PETALING JAYA: Malaysian teenagers are just not doing enough exercise
A global study found a “prevalence of insufficient physical activity” in nine out of 10 Malaysian teenage girls
Published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health last week, the study noted no improvement between female teens in 2016 compared to those 15 years ago
In fact, about 0.3% of those teens in 2001 exercised more
Teenage Malaysian boys were not any better – with about eight out of 10 not getting enough exercise
On the positive side, more of these boys were getting physical activity, with the statistic dropping from 82.5% to 80.6% over the same period
The study was conducted by researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) based on a survey of 1.6 million schoolgoing adolescents across 146 countries to assess insufficient physical activity in 2001 and 2016
WHO’s recommendation on physical activity for those between the ages of five and 17 is exercising for least an hour of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity daily
It should be noted that the trend in Malaysia is consistent with global trends
The study found that more than 80% of schoolgoing adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17 did not meet current recommendations for daily physical activity in 2016
The study also found that globally, girls were less active than boys, with significant differences recorded between sexes in seven out of nine regions
The regions categorised in the survey were listed as central and eastern Europe, central Asia, Middle East and north Africa, East and South-East Asia, high-income Asia Pacific, high-income western countries, Latin America and Caribbean, Oceania, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa
The study noted that if the trend continues, the global target of a 15% relative reduction in insufficient physical activity to a global prevalence of less than 70% will not be met by 2030
“Urgent action is needed now, particularly through targeted interventions to promote and retain girls’ participation in physical activity
“Policy action aimed at increasing physical activity should be prioritised, and stronger government and stakeholder leadership is needed to support the scaling of responses across multiple sectors, ” the study noted
In the Asean region, only Thailand and Singapore recorded a decrease of insufficient physical activity in both sexes
The study noted that South Korea was the country in the world with the highest prevalence of insufficient activity among adolescentsof both sexes with a combined average of 94.2%, follow by the Philippines at 93.4% and Cambodia at 91.6%.- Star

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