Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, tracked children beginning at age 9 and then again at ages 11, 12, and 15. They found that children get sluggish by age 15, with their physical activity dipping well below the recommended 60 minutes a day for good health.
However, at age 9 the kids spent an average of three hours a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, well above the 60-minute minimum suggested by most experts.
When children hit age 15, the study found their physical activity fell to only 49 minutes on average on weekdays, far below the recommendation. Only 31 percent met the recommended level of 60 minutes on weekdays and only 17 percent on weekends. According to WebMD news, girls fell below the recommended 60 minutes per day by about age 13.1 for weekday activity and boys, at age 14.7.
The research was part of the continuing Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a look at the health of American children that was begun in 1991 and is financed by the National Institutes of Health.
The study is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
