Children becoming sedentary due to gadgets

He goes to school in the morning. He does his homework and revision in the afternoon. He says his evenings are spent engaging in sports.

His choice of sports is between badminton and basketball, and he usually dedicates an hour a day for them.

“I’m a very active person. I’m happy to say that through sports, I’m able to make many friends including those from overseas,” said Aiman.

However, when pressed further, he revealed that the “sports” he had been engaging in was merely virtual games played online.

The fact is, many of the younger generation think like Aiman. They convince themselves that they have active lifestyles even though what they mean by it is playing online games.

Tapping on their keyboards and thumbing down Xbox controllers is considered “exercise” for the “digital generation”.

Even if they are not playing games, many of them prefer to spend hours on their smartphones browsing social networks to spending time outdoors.

Whether at the restaurants, playgrounds or parks, you can see them with their eyes fixated on the screens of their digital gadgets.

“There is this myth that the children today lead active and busy lifestyles. The truth is, they are sedentary,” said the Deputy Director of the Institute of Teacher Education, Raja Melewar Campus, Dr Mehander Singh.

He was speaking as a panelist at the regional conference “Bringing Health and Nutrition Back to Malaysian Children”, organised by Dutch Lady Malaysia.

Mehander said a more sedentary lifestyle was making the typically energetic younger generation more inactive.

The South East Asian Nutrition Survey (SEANUTS) which involved Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand revealed that majority of the children between 7 and 12 years old are not doing enough physical activities.

Another joint study between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Nestle also revealed that out of 100 respondents, only 27 percent engaged in physical activities in their free time.

“Before technology became pervasive, children were known to be active and energetic. They walked to school and played all day. Today, all they playing they do is on the Play Station,” said Mehander.

Besides eating right, exercise is an important aspect of childhood as it contributes to positive physical and mental growth.

“Physical activities is the key determiner of energy use and thus is fundamental to energy balance and weight control", he said.

Previous studies have shown that merely engaging in sports can reduce the risk of diseases.

There needs to be an immediate measure to address the increase of the population of passive or inactive children.

Besides the risk of obesity, inactive children are also prone to Vitamin D deficiency.

The Seanuts finding show that nearly half of the children in urban or rural settings suffer from the problem. In urban areas, the problem is more prevalent among girls.

This is due to them not being exposed to enough sunlight, the main source of Vitamin D.

The Head of UKM’s Nutritional Sciences Programme, Prof Dr Poh Bee Koon said it was a rather interesting finding, considering that Malaysia is a tropical country.

“We should not be having the problem of vitamin D deficiency. The fact that we are facing problems like these show that many parents have disallowed their children to play outside, due to safety reasons.

"Besides that, our people have associated beauty with fair skin. So parents keep their children indoors for fear of them becoming dark,” she said.

To keep them from getting bored indoors, parents present their children with digital games, smartphones and computers with online facilities.

Vitamin D deficiency is no laughing matter. It is the most needed nutrient for bone health and for controlling the amount of calcium in the blood, said Consultant Paediatrician Dr Yong Junina Fadzil.

Children with vitamin D deficiencies are exposed to the risk of rickets, body aches, weak muscles and are at increased risk of bone fracture.

“Children need vitamin D for growth and bone development as it helps with the absorption of calcium. When the sun’s UVB rays shines on the skin, the body will naturally make vitamin D.

“Many people do not get enough vitamin D through their diet. Only certain foods like oily fish and eggs contain a significant amount of vitamin D,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dr Poh said while not many foods naturally contain vitamin D, milk was a good source of the vitamin.

However, it is better for parents to reflect on their role of encouraging their children to lead a healthy lifestyle through a nutritious diet and plenty of exercise.

As role models to their children, parents should spend time with their children doing physical activities such as swimming, playing badminton or exercising.