To lessen obesity, three health risk behaviors have been targeted:

• Sedentary behavior -goal is to limit to 2 hours of screen time in 24 hours
• Physical activity -goal is 1 hour (or more) of moderate to vigorous activity
• Sleep duration -goal is 9-12 hours (ages 6-12 years) and 8-10 hours (13-18 years)

A recent study (X Zhu et al. J Pediatr 2020; 218: 204-9) shows that <10% of U.S. kids meet these goals.  The authors examined data (2016-17) from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset (n=71,811)

Key findings:

• 80.9% did NOT meet physical activity goal
• 76.2% did meet screen time goal
• 581% did meet sleep goal
• However, only 9.4% met all 3 goals
• Not meeting these ‘movement’ guidelines was associated with obesity, particularly in females (aOR 4.97 compared to aOR 3.99 for males)

My take: We are all made to be different shapes and sizes.  Nevertheless, we should strive for healthy behaviors and healthy eating which could improve outcomes.