Olomouc, North Moravia, March 15 (CTK) – Some 80 percent of Czech children do not have enough physical activities and they spend much time with computers or watching TV, and this is why more and more of them suffer from overweight and obesity, shows an international study, Alena Steflova told reporters yesterday.
Steflova, from the Czech branch of the World Health Organisation (WHO), presented results of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study.
Moreover, Czech children lead the international standings in alcohol consumption and smoking cigarettes and marijuana.
The HBSC focused on 220,000 school-children from 42 countries.
In the Czech Republic, experts looked into the behaviour and lifestyle of 1500 children.
Though most of them assess their health and lifestyle positively, the Czech Republic is at the bottom in both categories in the international study, Steflova said.
“We have long fared badly in international comparisons in a high number of indicators that we have been monitoring in the HBSC study. Yet the early adolescence is a crucial period in terms of the individual lifestyle in adulthood,” said Michal Kalman, from the Faculty of Physical education of Palacky University in Olomouc, who participated in the study.
The study also shows that 20 percent of 15-year-old boys and 14 percent of 15-year-old girls drink alcohol in the Czech Republic, while 30 percent of them admitted being drunk repeatedly. These figures are considerably higher than the international average in the HBSC study.
Eleven percent of 15-year-old boys and 16 percent of 15-year-old girls smoke cigarettes, but the share of smokers has decreased since 2012. Despite it, it is still above the international average.
Besides, 23 percent of Czech 15-year-old youths have ever smoked marijuana. The Czech Republic is thereby the sixth worst country in marijuana consumption among children.
Experts have found out that physical activities of Czech children have considerably decreased in the past 15 years, while the trend in the world is exactly the opposite, Kalman added.
“However, only 16 percent of 15-year-old children in the world follow the recommendations of having one hour of physical activities a day, at least. It is very alarming,” Kalman said.
In the Czech Republic, 13 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls follow this recommendation.
The number of 15-year-old Czech boys suffering from overweight or obesity has more than doubled in the past 15 years due to the lack of sport activities an bad diet.
In 1998, 9 percent boys were overweight or obese, while now it is 23 percent, and the share of obese girls is about 50 percent lower.
The incidence of overweight and obesity among Czech children does not differ from the international average.
Computer games and social media have had a negative influence on children’s sport and outdoor activities in the past few years.
“There is a generation of children who do not go out to play football like we did, they stay at home in their world of social media without direct contacts with friends,” Jarmila Razova, from the Health Ministry, said, adding that such children might have problems with direct communication when they grow up.
Experts point out that the number of physical education lessons should be raised and “active breaks” introduced at schools and that parents should not drive their children to schools, but they should prefer walking or cycling there.
