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Teens Don’t Get Enough Exercise

Health consequences could be serious

Shefali O'Hara
3 min readJul 2, 2022
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

According to research done at the University of Georgia, most teens don’t get enough exercise. Which observant people already knew, but now the research has quantified it.

The lead author of the study, Janani R. Thapa, stated that part of the problem was that schools no longer provide enough physical activity or access to facilities that would promote it. She pointed out that schools had cut the time allocated to recess.

The researchers looked at 362,926 students. The group was 48% male and 52% female. While 57% of the boys were considered active, only 35% of the girls were.

The study considered various metrics, not just the physical environment but also school safety, bullying, and support networks.

Thapa observed that students were more active in schools that encouraged physical activities such as sports. Therefore, the best way to deal with the problem, according to the research, is to improve facilities and access.

The lack of activity is just one aspect of what is considered an obesity epidemic among American youth.

Childhood obesity can cause serious medical conditions in the long run. People are suffering from conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure at younger…

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Shefali O'Hara
Shefali O'Hara

Written by Shefali O'Hara

Cancer survivor, Christian, writer, engineer. BSEE from MIT, MSEE, and MA in history. Love nature, animals, books, art, and interesting discussions.

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