Back in 2021, China instituted the world’s first series of national regulations to try and curb sedentary behavior in children. Almost three years on, a team led by scientists at the University of Bristol has taken a close look at the results of the measures. The conclusion? They seem to be working.
For a great many of us, our days now revolve around sitting down. Whether it be a desk job, a long drive, or flopping onto the sofa after a tiring day, we don’t do as much standing as we used to 50 or 100 years ago. This trend is just as apparent in our children, with research showing that kids from hunter-gatherer societies get way more exercise than those growing up in the UK or the US.
The trouble is that all this sitting can mean we lose some of the health benefits of regular exercise. Although it may be possible to “catch up” on physical activity you miss out on during the week, most health experts still agree that getting our kids into more active habits from a younger age can help stave off potential problems down the line. The problem is, how can that be achieved in a society that has them sitting at school, then sitting to do homework, and then probably sitting to relax in their downtime too?
The Chinese government was the first in the world to bring in regulations to try and tackle this issue. In July 2021, a series of measures was brought in that took a multi-pronged approach to sedentary behavior in different settings. The regulations restrict the access that online gaming businesses can have to the youth market; they limit the amount of homework teachers should assign to children according to age group; and they put constraints on when private tutoring companies can offer lessons.
Dr Bai Li, from the Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences at the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies, explained in a statement that “this type of regulatory intervention across multiple settings has never been tried before.”
“Traditionally, children and their parents or carers have been guided with education and encouraged to make behavioural changes themselves, which hasn’t really worked. With these regulatory measures, the onus has shifted to online gaming companies, schools and, private tutoring companies to comply.”
Li recently led a study to find out how the intervention is faring, and the results may provide food for thought for other world governments.
The team looked at routine surveillance data for over 7,000 school students aged 9 and above living in 31 regions across 14 cities in the Chinese province of Guangxi. The data covered a period between 2020 and 2021, just before and just after the regulations came into effect.
Overall, the average daily sedentary time for these students dropped by 46 minutes. The difference was more pronounced in kids from urban areas as opposed to more rural areas.
Average daily screen time went down by about 10 minutes (6.4 percent), and students were deemed 20 percent more likely to meet a recommendation of a maximum of two hours of screen time daily after the new regulations had been introduced.
The students were also more likely to meet the Chinese government’s recommendations for time spent on homework, although this varied with age – younger pupils were 3.6 times more likely to meet the recommendations, whereas for middle- and high-school-age pupils it was 2.1 times.
Commenting on why these measures appear to have worked better at this stage than previous efforts targeting parents and kids themselves, Li said, “This very different approach appears to be more effective, because it is aimed at improving the environment in which children and adolescents live, supporting a healthier lifestyle.”
For now, it’s only possible to draw conclusions on this one region of China, so more research is needed to assess how the guidance is having an impact on the rest of the country. It’s also not clear how such an approach might translate to other countries and cultural contexts; nonetheless, it’s an interesting insight into what might be possible.
“This is a fascinating study because most interventions to reduce sedentary behaviours have relied on educational approaches rather than the regulatory measures used here,” said Professor Boyd Swinburn, co-director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Obesity Prevention, who was not directly involved in the study.
“While achieving similar regulations in countries outside China may be a challenge, the impact of the regulations does show how sensitive sedentary behaviours are to the prevailing environmental conditions and rules.”
The study is published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Source Link: China’s Efforts To Get Kids More Active Appear To Be Working
