A team of researchers from Nagoya University in central Japan investigated how restrictions on kid’s activities in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic affected their life habits and their abilities to perform physical activities. By comparing medical examination data before and after the onset of the pandemic, they found that physical functions amongst adolescents deteriorated, including their dynamic balance. Additionally they found that the kids had higher body fat levels and worse life habits. Reasonably than an absence of exercise time, this may increasingly have been due to an absence of quality exercise attributable to activity restrictions.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Japan, as in other countries, schools and sports clubs tried to forestall the spread of infection by reducing physical education and restricting outdoor physical activities, club activities, and sports. Nonetheless, children who’re denied opportunities for physical activity with social elements may develop bad habits. In the course of the pandemic, children, like adults, increased the time they spent television, smartphone, and computer screens, exercised less, and slept less. Such changes in lifestyle can harm adolescent bodies, resulting in weight gain and health problems.

Visiting Researcher Tadashi Ito and Professor Hideshi Sugiura from the Department of Biological Functional Science on the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, along with Dr. Yuji Ito from the Department of Pediatrics at Nagoya University Hospital, and Dr. Nobuhiko Ochi and Dr. Koji Noritake from Aichi Prefectural Mikawa Aoitori Medical and Rehabilitation Center for Developmental Disabilities, conducted a study of Japanese children and students in elementary and junior high schools, aged 9-15, by analyzing data from physical examinations before and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. They evaluated the kids’s muscle strength, dynamic balance functions, walking speed, body fat percentage, screen time, sleep time, quality of life, and physical activity time.

The researchers found that after the onset of the pandemic, children were more more likely to have decreased balance ability when moving, larger body fat percentage, report spending more time TV, computers or smartphones, and sleep less. Since there have been no changes within the time spent on physical activity or the variety of meals eaten, Sugiura and his colleagues suggest that the worsening of physical functions was related to the standard of exercise of the kids. The researchers reported their findings within the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

“For the reason that outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Japan after April 2020, children haven’t been able to have interaction in sufficient physical education, sports activities, and outdoor play in school. It became clear that balance ability during movement was easily affected, lifestyle habits were disrupted, and the proportion of body fat was more likely to increase,” explained Ito. “This may occasionally have been due to shorter outdoor playtime and club activities, which impeded kid’s ability to learn the motor skills needed to balance during movement.”

“Limitations on kid’s opportunities for physical activity due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus have had a big impact on the event of physical function and lifestyle and will cause physical deterioration and health problems in the longer term,” warned Ito. “Especially, the chance of injury to children may increase due to a reduced dynamic balance function.”

The outcomes suggest that even after the novel coronavirus becomes endemic, it is vital to think about the consequences of social restrictions on the body composition of adolescents. Since physical activities with a social element could also be necessary for health, authorities should prioritize stopping the reduction of kids’s physical inactivity and actively encourage them to play outdoors and exercise. The group has some recommendations for families nervous concerning the effects of college closings and other coronavirus measures on their children. “It will be important for kids to practice dynamic balance ability, maintaining balance to avoid falling over while performing movements,” Ito advised. “To enhance balance function in children, it is vital to include enhanced content, reminiscent of short-term exercise programs specifically designed to enhance balance functions.”

Source:

Journal reference:

Ito, T., et al. (2022) Physical functions amongst children before and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective longitudinal observational study (stage 1). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811513.