FITeens Toolkit

17 Daily physical activity has been considered as an important part of life for children and adolescents. According to WHO (2020), physical activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. It is recommended that children and adolescents aged 5-17 years should do at least an average of 60 minutes per day of moderate to-vigorous intensity, mostly aerobic physical activity, across the week . Examples of activities classified as aerobic may include walking, running, bicycle riding, dancing, and swimming. Moreover, activities that strengthen the muscle should also be incorporated at least 3 days a week in the daily life of children and adolescents. Examples of activities for younger children may include jumping, climbing, and gymnastics, whereas for older children and adolescents the supervised strength training programmes with the focus on developing proper exercise technique could be considered. Importantly, it is recommended that the amount of time spent being sedentary, particularly the amount of recreational screen time should be limited in the daily life of children and adolescents (WHO, 2020). Physical activity is a learned behaviour . Basic movement skills such as running, jumping, and throwing serve as the building blocks for a lifetime of physical activity. Children who do not develop these skills early in life may be less likely to meet the recommendations for daily physical activity later in life (Tammelin et al., 2014). Today, however, various electronic devices and social media have tremendously