Dr Medhat Abu Shaaban, medical director and paediatrician at myPediaclinic, Dubai, lists the most common causes for inactivity among teenagers:
1. Having fun used to involve physical activity. Now most children and teenagers spend their fun time on their tablets and video games.
2. Children are becoming more overweight and obese due to the quality and quantity of food intake, and are finding it more difficult to do physical exercise.
3. Parents are becoming increasingly busy, and thus are less frequently scheduling their children for extra-curricular activities.
4. Some schools focus more on education at the expense of physical exercise, meaning students may not exercise daily.
5. Children are motivated by the actions of their parents, and so due to their busy schedules and inactive lifestyles, parents are not being active role models.
6. There are fewer sports competitions in this region for children to compete in, compared to other countries such as the US.”
7. Long summer months and the intense heat in this region make it difficult to indulge in outdoor activities.
Ahmad Khalid is an intern at Gulf News.
