Physical exercise provides multiple benefits to the health of children and adolescents, and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that between five and 17 years of age “they should do at least an average of 60 minutes per day of physical activity.” of moderate to vigorous intensity, mainly aerobic, during the week.” However, the majority of young people do not do enough physical activity, so it is important to determine the causes and, above all, adopt strategies that encourage the child and youth population to remain as active as possible to avoid the dangers associated with a sedentary lifestyle. .
A new investigation in which 4,092 children and adolescents aged eight to 16 years old, from 245 primary and secondary schools in 121 towns in the 17 Spanish autonomous communities, have participated, has found that those who live in less walkable neighborhoods – for example, with narrow sidewalks, slopes, high population density or poor urban planning – they walk less and practice less physical activity on weekends compared to those who reside in more walkable areas and with a higher socioeconomic level. The findings have been published in PLOS ONE and show how the zip code influences the health of minors.
This work is included in the PASOS study and its objective was to evaluate whether the ease of walking in the neighborhood or socioeconomic status could influence the practice of walking, playing outdoors and practicing sports in a representative sample of Spanish children and adolescents. Its authors have presented the results in an informative session organized by SMC Spain.
“The levels of physical activity right now are very low in the Spanish child and adolescent population and are alarming data that are closely related to health,” highlighted during the presentation Susana Aznar, co-author of the study, professor in Physical Activity and Health at the University from Castilla-La Mancha and director of the PAFS group (Promotion of Physical Activity for Health). “The key message would be that that ZIP code is almost as important as the genetic code for health,” she added.
Improve or reuse spaces to encourage physical activity
The Walk Score was used to assess neighborhood walkability and family income as an indicator of socioeconomic status. A self-reported and validated seven-item questionnaire was used to measure physical activity levels. In a subsample of 10% of participants, randomly selected from the total sample, physical activity was measured objectively with accelerometers.
Youth from more walkable areas reported more minutes of daily walking compared to those from less walkable neighborhoods (51.4 versus 48.8 minutes, respectively). The lowest average minutes spent playing outdoors was found among participants from neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status and poor walkability. Neighborhood socioeconomic status influenced weekend team sports participation, with participation being higher in high socioeconomic status neighborhoods.
“The walkability of the environment is something we can change.” “It is a key component to compensate for these social inequalities, especially in urban areas with low socioeconomic levels”
“The results that emerge from this study can be extrapolated to the entire child and adolescent population aged eight to 16 years in Spain,” said Santi F. Gómez, co-author of the research, global director of Research and Programs at the Gasol Foundation and member from the CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health. “In these environments, apart from making interventions that try to promote physical activity among families, it is advisable to implement structural improvements or reuse spaces that already exist within those neighborhoods,” explained the researcher.
“The walkability of the environment is something that we can change,” Aznar stressed. “It is a key component to be able to compensate for these social inequalities, especially in urban areas with low socioeconomic levels,” he added. Regarding the results of the work, the researcher has highlighted that they must be evaluated taking into account that they accumulate over weeks, months and years. That is to say, a difference of walking three minutes less per day in less walkable neighborhoods means that these minors walk 90 minutes less per month compared to other children.
The authors conclude in their article that providing environments with high walkability appears to be a good strategy to promote physical activity, regardless of socioeconomic levels, and that improving walking accessibility is a key component to partially overcome socioeconomic status inequalities. , since environments with high socioeconomic levels can offer better sports facilities and more organized physical activities than those with low socioeconomic status.
