Over 80 percent of teenagers in Poland do not achieve an appropriate level of daily physical activity. As
experts point out, this is not only an issue of habits but also conditions in which they live – access to safe
places for play, recreational areas and sports activities. The objective of the European B-challenged
project is to help create an environment conducive to play outdoors and a healthy lifestyle, especially in
less privileged communities.
Only 7 to 30 percent of 5–17 year-old children and adolescents globally are sufficiently active, and as a consequence they have a higher risk of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and also mental problems, emphasised Teatske Altenburg, Associate Professor at Amsterdam University Medical Centres (Amsterdam UMC), lead of the B-challenged project, in a conversation with the Newseria agency.
According to the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, children and adolescents should practise moderate or vigorous physical activity at least 60 minutes a day on average. Only a small percentage of Polish children meet these guidelines on a weekly basis.
In Poland, only half of children engage daily in active play at a level considered healthy. As indicated in a study carried out by the University of Physical Education (AWF) in Warsaw as part of the project “WF z AWF (PE with AWF)”. Additionally, over 90 percent of children are not comprehensively prepared for an active lifestyle, and only 12–30 percent are able to correctly perform basic movement-based activities such as running, jumping or ball throwing.
The main reason for the lack of physical activity is not the lack of motivation, because children are intrinsically motivated to be active, especially children at primary schools, all they do is play, preferably outdoors. But I think there is a lack of safe, attractive and well-maintained spaces for children to play outdoors, the researcher from t Amsterdam UMC assessed. There might also be lack of appropriate affordable afterschool activities that are organised for children.
Children spend increasingly more time in front of screens. The NASK report indicates that they use the Internet on average for almost five hours a day on weekdays, and even more on weekends.
A lot of children also experience FOMO, fear of missing out, so all they talk about is the online world, and they want to be included in conversations about that, dr Teatske Altenburg explains that there are two sides of the coin. I think one side is that physical activity opportunities might be insufficient, such as access to spaces, and also the attractiveness of online activities.
Research carried out in many countries shows that children living in less privileged neighbourhoods often suffer from overweight and obesity, less often participate in organised sports activities and have limited access to safe spaces for play.
If in the neighbourhood there are no recreational areas, cycling paths or safe spaces for play, children have less opportunities for daily physical activity, assessed dr Anna Dzielska, Assistant Professor, Acting Head of Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Institute of Mother and Child.
These are the areas of focus of the European research project B-challenged carried out in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands. It focusses on children aged 6–12 living in districts with barriers to access to infrastructure conducive to physical activity. In Poland, it’s Praga Północ in Warsaw.
The B-challenged project is aimed at supporting children’s healthy behaviours by creating a better environment for play outdoors and for healthy nutritional choices. This is important, because children’s health depends not only on their individual choices but also the conditions they live in, learn and spend free time in, dr Anna Dzielska emphasised.
Participants in the project include not only academic researchers and local government representatives but also parents, teachers and children themselves.
The distinguishing feature of the project is an approach based on co-creating solutions. Instead of prescribing ready activities, we engage local communities in designing them. In this way, we are increasing the chances for the proposed changes to be effective, accepted and permanent, dr Anna Dzielska stressed.
Researchers look at the barriers which make it difficult for children to play outdoors and engage in daily physical activity. Then, together with other groups of programme participants, they prepare recommendations for changes. The developed models can also be implemented in other cities.
Issues related to children’s health and lifestyle are complex and cannot be solved by one institution or sector. Researchers provide knowledge and scientific evidence, local government bodies can introduce changes in the public space and local policy, and residents, including addressees of the measures, are best positioned to recognise their needs. Only including all these perspectives makes it possible to create effective solutions, dr Anna Dzielska stressed. I think children should always be consulted whenever we want to design something for them. Making a playground child-friendly in collaboration with the children should be a legal requirement, Teatske Altenburg added.