[LifeStyle] Teen eating habits are unhealthy

[#Steeven.™]

One in four teenagers in Europe eat sweets every day, one in 6 consume sugary drinks with the same frequency and only half eat fruit or vegetables every day, according to a study on the habits of children between the ages of 11 and 15 published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Registered trends explain the increase in overweight and obese adolescents, conditions that currently affect 20% of them.

The conclusions of the study, prepared based on the responses of more than 227,000 adolescents from 45 European countries and covering the period 2014-2018, indicate that the emotional health of this age group decreases as they grow older.

This explains why one in four admits feeling nervous, irritable or having difficulty sleeping at least once a week, with girls being the ones who have the highest risk of suffering from these disorders.

"It is worrying that adolescents are telling us that all is not well with their mental well-being and we must take this message seriously, as good mental health is an essential part of a healthy adolescence," said Jo Inchley, coordinator of the study during presenting your results.
A good sign is that most of the participants assure that it is easy for them to talk with their mothers (85%) and fathers (72%) about what worries them, which opens the way to face problems within the family, and two-thirds feel that their parents support them, although this percentage decreases over the years.

Among the concerns that the study highlights are risky behaviors and consumption, physical inactivity and the abuse of digital technologies, with the main risk of cyberbullying, which affects girls somewhat more than boys (12% and 14%, respectively, claimed to have been victims of online attacks in the last month).

Unprotected sex remains a risk factor: 25 percent of the sexually active 15-year-olds said they had had unprotected intercourse.

On the other hand, the report indicates that there was a decrease in the consumption of tobacco and alcohol, despite which the figures continue to be worrying, since one in five children under 15 years of age has acknowledged that they have been drunk at least twice.

A not inconsiderable part, one in five, said they do at least one hour of physical activity a day, but a third of the country has registered a decrease in the time that adolescents dedicate to physical exercise.

Another chapter of the study indicates that a third of adolescents communicate digitally with their friends throughout the day, although their preference continues to be face-to-face communication: only 1 in 10 preferred to communicate online and 7% considered that have symptoms of addiction to social networks.

Although this data predates the pandemic, WHO believes it can be used to learn more about adolescents and understand how school closings, lack of exercise, and social and movement restrictions may have affected their health.