Do young people take enough exercise?
| There are some people I know whose only exercise seems to be walking up and down the stairs to their lessons! |
Young people don't get enough exercise. They should but they don't. It is proven that boys get more exercise then girls because they play football or other very physical sports. If you live in the city you can get the bus or train anywhere. The most exercise I've done this week is walking to the bus stop or walking up and down my school stairs.
Jenny Roe-Stanton, 15
I think that the physical education in school is generally quite poor. Year seven, eight and nine pupils are quite enthusiastic. However, in year ten and eleven, with the added pressure of GCSEs pupils can't be bothered to do this compulsory activity.
Sometimes this is due to using time more effectively; sometimes because young people feel embarrassed due to their size or physical fitness or don't feel that the activities hold anything they would like to do.
Schools and colleges need to have a wider range of activities for young people to try and entice them into doing more physical activities. These things could include regular visits to the leisure centre to have the option of swimming, badminton, tennis, etc.
Juliana Lisk, 16
I think that some young people get enough exercise but others don't. They get driven to school, they get driven home, they hate sports and they eat chips and cakes and fizzy drinks everyday. I walk to school. It's about a mile-and-a-half each way and I think that I do get enough exercise. There are some people I know whose only exercise seems to be walking up and down the stairs to their lessons!
Maija Marsh, 12
I have enough exercise running for the bus, rushing to classes and playing sports. I think this is the same for most children. I think the reason that the number of obese children is rising is because they eat too much fast food. Perhaps they're not disciplined by their parents about overeating. Some children might eat too much because they may be depressed or bored.
Chidi Emmanuel Izamoje, 11
I think that generally we are getting slack at keeping fit and I would blame it on the new game consoles, TV channels and computers becoming available to us. We are getting addicted to them and instead of spending time in the local park playing football, riding our bikes, or skateboarding we're doing it on our Playstation, Dreamcast, or Nintendo instead.
Roy Onome Edgeworth, 12
I don't think young people do take enough exercise. Technology such as telephone, TV and computer games mean that young people don't need to go out to have fun or socialize. In my school we have only 1 hour a week of PE - in that time it takes about 10 minutes for registration and 10 minutes to get changed. By the time we start actually doing any exercise we have about 30 - 40 minutes left of the lesson.
It costs too much money to take part in regular physical activities, like football or swimming, outside of school. Also young people don't always have enough time to exercise because of all the homework and exam revision we have to do nowadays.
Annabel McLeod, 15
About the team
The Answer the question panel are members of Children's Express London bureau. This column was published as part of Teen Talk, the Children's Express page in the New Nation.
