全球三分之一青少年缺乏運動

American children aren't the only couch potatoes with nearly one third of children globally spending three hours a day or more watching TV or on computers, according to study of over 70,000 teens in 34 nations.

From Argentina to Zambia, Regina Guthold of the World Health Organization in Geneva and her colleagues found most children aren't getting enough exercise and it made no difference if they lived in a rich or a poor country.

"With regards to physical activity levels, we did not find much of a difference between poor and rich countries," Guthold said. "Growing up in a poor country does not necessarily mean that kids get more physical activity."

The study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, looking at 72,845 schoolchildren aged 13 to 15 from North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The children were surveyed between 2003 and 2007.

The researchers defined adequate physical activity as at least an hour of exercise outside of gym class at least five days a week.

Children who spent three or more hours a day watching TV, playing computer games, or chatting with friends -- aside from time in school or time spent doing homework -- were classified as sedentary.

The researchers found only one quarter of the boys and 15 percent of the girls were getting enough exercise by these definitions.

A quarter of boys and nearly 30 percent of girls were sedentary and didn't get enough exercise with girls less active than boys in every country aside from Zambia.

Uruguay had the highest percentage of active boys, at 42 percent, while Zambia had the lowest, at 8 percent.

Girls from India were the most active, with 37 percent meeting exercise recommendations, while girls from Egypt were the least active, with just 4 percent getting adequate exercise.

Children in Myanmar were the least sedentary, with 13 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls classified as sedentary. The most sedentary nations were St. Lucia and the Cayman Islands, with 58 percent of boys and 64 percent of girls spending at least three hours a day in sedentary activities.

While the study didn't look at the reasons behind the lack of physical activity in various nations, Guthold speculated that urbanization could be a factor as well as access to cars and TVs.

一項面向34個國家7萬多名青少年開展的調查顯示，愛泡在電視機前的並非只有美國兒童，全球近三分之一的兒童每天看電視或玩電腦的時間達到三小時甚至更多。

位於日內瓦的世界衛生組織的瑞吉娜•古特爾德和她的同事發現，從阿根廷到贊比亞，全球多數兒童都缺乏鍛鍊，而且這和他們生活在富國和窮國沒有多大關係。

古特爾德說：“在身體鍛鍊水平上，我們發現窮國和富國的孩子沒有太大差別。在貧窮國家長大，並不意味着能得到更多的鍛鍊。”

該研究在《兒科學期刊》上發表。研究人員於2003年至2007年間對南北美洲、亞洲、歐洲和中東地區年齡在13歲到15歲之間的72845名學生進行了調查。

研究人員將“充足的身體鍛鍊”定義爲每週至少鍛鍊五天，每天至少進行一小時的戶外鍛鍊。

除了在學校或做作業的時間外，每天看電視、玩電腦遊戲或和上網聊天的時間超過三小時的孩子被定義爲”慣於久坐”。

研究人員發現，根據這些定義，只有四分之一的男孩和15%的女孩進行了足夠的鍛鍊。

四分之一的男孩和近30%的女孩“慣於久坐”，缺乏鍛鍊。除贊比亞外，所有國家的女孩都不如男孩愛動。

烏拉圭愛活動的男孩比例最高，達到42%，贊比亞的這一比例最低，只有8%。

印度女孩最活躍，其中有37%達到建議活動量，埃及的女孩最不愛動，只有4%進行了足夠的鍛鍊。

緬甸的“久坐型”兒童最少，只有13%的男孩和8%的女孩慣於久坐。聖盧西亞和開曼羣島的兒童最慣於久坐，58%的男孩和64%的女孩每天坐着的時間至少爲三個小時。

儘管這一研究沒有探究各國兒童缺乏身體鍛鍊的背後原因，但據古特爾德分析，除汽車和電視的普及外，都市化也是其中一個因素。

Vocabulary:

sedentary: (of people) spending a lot of time sitting down and not moving（人） 慣於久坐不動的