Active school: Moving well

Health and physical activity are topics that are becoming increasingly elusive to young people. The findings are worrying and the epidemiological risks are to be taken seriously. It is urgent to find practical ways to raise young people's awareness of these issues, in order to fight sedentary lifestyles and involve as many young people as possible in building their health. The benefits of physical activity in awareness campaigns are under-exploited and young people's representations of health and physical activity are poorly known. Despite a significant offer of sports activities (extracurricular and associative), the results of health surveys show that less than half of young French people reach the level of physical activity defined by the World Health Organisation, i.e. at least one hour per day at moderate intensity. It is essential to implement activities and programs that promote their benefits for young people.

In France, among 11-14 year olds, 12% of children comply with the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by the health authorities. The current trend is to spend leisure time in front of the television, the tablet or video games. However, moving from childhood allows you to build up a "health capital", which will later prevent overweight, increased blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. And cardiovascular gains are made until the age of 18 or 20. This regular decrease in physical activity among youth aged 9 to 16 years may have serious consequences for the cardiovascular health of younger generations: there is an increase in physical inactivity and sitting time in the current lifestyle of children and adolescents. This is a major contributor to the worrying increase in overweight and obesity among young people. This overweight combined with sedentary lifestyles also explains the reduction in their physical capacities. This evolution also has an impact on social and psychological behaviour.