Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Children cannot run as fast as their parents did, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.
These findings are not country specific, but a trend found across the world. About 15 percent of kids are less fit than their parents were at the same age, and this declining physical fitness could indicate worse health in adulthood.
“If a young person is generally unfit now, then they are more likely to develop conditions like heart disease later in life,” said Grant Tomkinson, lead author of the study.
Researchers analyzed 50 studies on running conducted on kids aged 9 to 17 between 1964 and 2010, across 28 countries. The tests measured the physical endurance of a child, who had to run a fixed distance in a fixed time. Researchers found that cardiovascular endurance had dropped significantly in the last 46 years.
The study also found that endurance dropped 5 percent each decade and that kids today are a minute and a half slower running a mile than their peers 30 years ago.
Declines in cardiovascular endurance performance are probably caused by social, behavioral, physical, psychosocial and physiological factors, Tomkinson said
“In fact, about 30 percent to 60 percent of the declines in endurance running performance can be explained by increases in fat mass,” Tomkinson said.
