Adolescents around the world, including India, spend an average of eight to ten hours a day in sedentary activities, which is nearly four times higher than the World Health Organization's recommendation of two to three hours per day. This sedentary time is spent watching television, using electronic devices such as smartphones for gaming or social media, and riding motorised vehicles.
A cross-sectional observational study involving more than 6,000 adolescents (among those aged 11 to 19) and their parents from 16 countries, published in the peer-reviewed ‘International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,' found that adolescents spend an average of 3.8 hours per day on recreational screen time. "Screen time contributes significantly to overall sedentary activities during the day. For instance, in Chennai (India), during non-school hours, 65% of the time is spent being sedentary," said one of the first authors, diabetologist Dr R M Anjana from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF).
Adolescents in Chennai have the least screen time in a day compared to those in 16 other cities, but the average sedentary time is still high, the authors pointed out. Findings derived from the ‘International Physical Activity and the Environment Network (IPEN) Adolescent Study' showed screen time spent by adolescents in Chennai was the lowest at 145 minutes (2.4 hours) compared to 333 minutes (5.5 hours) by those in Curitiba, Brazil and 326 minutes (5.4 hours) by those in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Researchers attribute this to the lower number of gadgets owned by adolescents. In Chennai, one in two adolescents owned a personal electronic device and had at least one electronic device in the bedroom. One in four has a social media account. This was low compared to cities such as Olomouc and Odense in Czech Republic, where every child owned at least one device and had more than three gadgets in the bedroom. In addition, the average transport-related sitting time, which was approximately 40 minutes a day across most cities, was low in Chennai at 24.4 minutes.
Parents reported the use of recreational spaces such as playgrounds, gyms or parks is low due to various reasons, including poor accessibility and traffic safety. "For instance, encroachments take away most spaces on pavements," said joint first author Ranjani Harish, who heads MDRF's department of preventive and digital health research.
"Both home and neighbourhood environments play a critical role in shaping sedentary behaviour. Urban planning, community safety, and supportive home environments collectively influence how adolescents balance their time between active and sedentary pursuits. These findings call for holistic policies to reduce sedentary time and enhance the overall health of young people," she said.