Our responsibility in social sedentarism

By Dr. Stephanie Crozzolo

An educational challenge that involves everyone

Why are we getting fatter?

Guilt of the lifestyle, which in the last 50 years has completely changed. The population, in fact, has become increasingly sedentary (worrying figures are those of the ISTAT which reports an increase in the sedentary population from 37.5% in 1995

at 41% in 2006) due to the marked urbanization and widespread use of transport vehicles; at the same time as a type of inadequate diet, both in terms of quantity and quality .

Technology and well-being have led to an increase in life expectancy on the one hand ( centenarians are no longer an exception ) and on the other have created a lifestyle that gradually decreases the moments of physical activity ( technology makes more comfortable life ), creating collateral damage that over time has been expressed, affecting both children and adults and the elderly indifferently, in a syndrome that is a mix of hypertension, overweight, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.

We understand how MOTOR PREVENTION is becoming, in these years, a topic of primary importance in the world of fitness !!

Who should promote a healthy lifestyle?

Institutions must engage on this front, through targeted policies and strategies. The goal is to reduce the impact of chronic diseases. Governments are responsible for coordinating public health policies by removing those social determinants that favor the development of chronic diseases. The food industry and the mass media should transmit to the population the culture of movement and healthy eating. The school with health education programs but also and above all the parents themselves should be the first promoters of a healthy lifestyle.

Even today the school is late in recognizing the extraordinary educational and social value of sport. If we think that in Italian primary schools, motor education is not a curricular subject (not compulsory) this, in my opinion, is a serious reality and that differentiates us from many European countries.

I work as a gym teacher in several primary schools in my province and in these years I realized how today's children are profoundly different from yesterday's children, among which I must consider myself even though twenty-five years old. In the playgrounds of schools in recreation I see children who almost no longer know the games of the past like the flag steal, guards and thieves etc .; it is inevitable that the games change but it is shocking to observe that they almost prefer solitude, isolation through the use of video games rather than being with others running, jumping rope, playing hide-and-seek etc. In the hours of physical activity we see the difference between the child who does sport with the child who does not have this kind of experience but what I do not find normal, but worrying, is the absence of motor fantasy that characterizes the majority of cases.

I believe that the work of motor literacy must be done first of all at school, starting from primary school, with qualified and competent personnel and not from the math teacher who improvises it. The work of knowledge and motor experience must then absolutely continue in middle and upper secondary schools, with some programs that I believe should be re-evaluated, because unfortunately it often happens (in high schools) that the gymnastics lessons are entirely managed by the students in a way self.

Physical activity represents a fundamental element of pscico-physical growth of the youngest, as well as a primary tool for protecting the health of the young and not so young; therefore physical exercise understood as a weapon to combat the risk of obesity and overweight that is common to many Italian children.

On the other hand, if we think about it: the child gets up, we take him to school by car, at school he sits, at lunch he sits, after lunch he watches TV or plays on the computer, in the afternoon they are often accompanied to endless activities planned by adults like English, music, theater then if he is lucky he will do an hour of sport (he can finally express himself !!), then back home in the car, having dinner again, before going to bed on the sofa in front of the TV and finally under the blankets. So if we multiply this typical day for the following days of life it is not difficult to understand how there are so many overweight children. But the typical day of a child today can

easily transform into an adult day, which is often the case: we wake up, go to work by public transport or by car, in this case we always look for the nearest parking, maybe we have an office job, we have lunch, we resume the our work, we go home, by car, we accompany our children from one place to another, we have dinner and we finish our day lying on the sofa.

It is easy to understand how, in recent years, overweight has become one of the main problems affecting children and school-age children. Childhood obesity is on the increase in populations with a high socio-economic level. This data should make us think, because A YOUNG OBESO ALMOST CERTAINLY WILL BE A WILD ADULT .

It is clear that the lifestyle should be totally changed, but we will see that it is not as simple as it may seem, over time a vicious circle is established ( see diagram below ) different for psychological reaction between a sedentary family than a sports family or in any case with a correct lifestyle, where naturally motor activity is present; the consequence is that two different approaches will have to be adopted.

IT IS DIFFICULT THAT A CHILD HAS HABITS OF LIFE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF THE OTHER COMPONENTS OF THE HOUSE . An interesting fact is that if the parents themselves are overweight, the obesity of the children is not often considered by them as a problem. (see chart) *

* In these cases a multidisciplinary intervention is necessary

The obese child, due to his condition, has the tendency to exclude himself from normal recreational and motor activities. This causes a situation of hypokinesia thus establishing a vicious circle of inactivity : a reduction in motor skills that lead to a very high degree of inactivity determine a consequent increase in obesity. The vicious circle is fed and supported by bad eating habits (snacks, chips and snacks outside the room) and life (television, computers, videogames, etc.).