Alarming findings: Lack of exercise as a child increases risk of heart attack
More screen time, less exercise: A large-scale study shows how this negative trend affects heart health in children. Regardless of body weight and blood pressure.
Hand on heart. Have your children already exercised for 60 minutes today? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), this is how long children should be active at moderate to high intensity every day. However, very few do: according to WHO statistics, 80 per cent of children and young people today do not get enough exercise.
It is obvious that this is not conducive to good health. A study, which was presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress at the end of August, now shows this in black and white: The risk of a heart attack or stroke increases significantly due to a lack of exercise at an early age - regardless of whether the person suffers from obesity or high blood pressure.
Screen time leads to a heavy heart
Thickening of the heart is responsible for this. The more time the test subjects spent sitting, the more the heart muscle mass in the left ventricle increased. This in turn worsens the performance of the heart. "All those hours that young people spend in front of a screen lead to a heavy heart. And as we know from studies with adults, this increases the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke," said study author Dr Andrew Agbaje from the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio.
766 children took part in the study, which started back in the 1990s. 55 per cent were girls, 45 per cent boys. They were each fitted with an activity tracker for seven days - for the first time at the age of eleven, then again at 15 and 24. In addition, the heart muscle mass in the left ventricle was measured at the ages of 17 and 24.
The inactive time increased over the years: while the participants spent an average of 362 minutes (around six hours) a day sitting at the age of eleven, by the age of 15 it was already 474 minutes (just under eight hours) and at the age of 24 it was even 531 minutes (just under nine hours). The time spent sitting between childhood and adulthood increased by an average of 169 minutes (2.8 hours) per day.
At the same time, the ultrasound measurement revealed an increase in left ventricular heart mass. An earlier study with adults had once shown that a similarly large increase in mass over a period of seven years was associated with a two-fold increased risk of heart disease, stroke and death.
"Whatever you do, keep moving"
"Our study shows that the accumulation of inactive time is associated with damage to the heart, regardless of body weight and blood pressure," summarised the author of the study, Dr Agbaje, at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology. For him, it is therefore clear: "Children and young people need to move more in order to protect their health in the long term." He quoted Martin Luther King Jr: "If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving."
And he appealed to parents: they should encourage children and young people to be more physically active, "for example by taking them for walks and limiting the time spent on social media and video games".
In other words, parents should definitely take the results of this large-scale study to heart.
Cover photo: Shutterstock/Melnikov Dmitriy
Mom of Anna and Elsa, aperitif expert, group fitness fanatic, aspiring dancer and gossip lover. Often a multitasker and a person who wants it all, sometimes a chocolate chef and queen of the couch.