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“Böckligumpe” is a classic in Swiss gyms. Photo: trapezoidal
Overweight students after lockdown and holidays: teachers sound the alarm
Society pays a high price for the fight against the coronavirus: restricted freedom of movement for weeks leaves its mark, especially on schoolchildren.
Memories of the six-week closure in spring are slowly fading, we’ve long gotten used to the rules of distance and the fact that disinfectants are available everywhere. The use of a mask is also widely accepted in public transport and in some cantons in shops.
How federal measures will affect public health can only be estimated in months, if not years. Claudio Nigg, a health scientist at the Institute of Sport Sciences at the University of Bern, expects an increase in chronic diseases such as diabetes in the long term. Children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 16 are at special risk.
Sports involving physical contact are currently not recommended in Swiss school sports. Photo: trapezoidal
This age group has long been the Swiss problem child. According to a study by the World Health Organization, which was published in November 2019 in the medical journal “The Lancet”, 9 out of 10 young people in Switzerland exercise less than the recommended hour per day. This is not only more than the last survey 15 years ago, but it is also above the global study average of 80 percent. The logical consequence: one in five people under the age of 18 in Switzerland is overweight. In addition, those affected usually eat mainly low-content foods. As a result, they are generally not only overweight, but also undernourished.
6 week block, 15 kilogram gain
The finding is not new, it is already reflected in the SOPHYA study of the Federal Office for Sport FOSPO, which examined the physical activity behavior of children and young people in Switzerland from 2013 to 2016. According to this, children spend most of the day (90%) sitting, lying down, or doing light activity. And with each year of life, physical activity decreases, while time spent sitting increases. That has a lot to do with the zeitgeist. “We had a digital revolution that obviously changed the movement patterns of adolescents and encourages them to sit more, be less active, drive more, walk less,” says Leanne Riley of the WHO. It is played digitally.
School sports can provide a remedy. In compulsory school, at least three hours of sport a week are compulsory, and in many places swimming is also included. For a quarter of children and adolescents, it is the only physical activity. School sports play an equally important role. This is in line with the experiences that many teachers have had in recent months. After the closure, many children are physically in an “alarming state” and the poor condition worsened during the summer holidays. A teacher at a school in northwestern Switzerland who wants to remain anonymous reports that a student gained 15 kilograms in six weeks and was barely recognizable.
School sport with protective mask
Consequently, physical education teachers are challenged, but of all people they are disappointed by the authorities. In a position paper, the Swiss Association for Sports in Schools (SVSS) complains that little attention has been paid to physical education in protection concepts and recommendations. In it, the association makes recommendations on what measures should be taken and what activities should be avoided.
Sports that involve physical contact are not recommended. It means: no football, no floorball, no gymnastics. Instead: coordination exercises, athletics. Since the end of the extraordinary situation in June, school sports can be played with virtually no restrictions. Theoretically.
Most students don’t think the high jump is as fun as the tschutten, but it is more compatible with the crown. Photo: trapezoidal
Many sports teachers fear infection in class and the possible consequences that may even result in the closure of entire schools if prescribed by the cantonal doctor. Also, there is uncertainty about what makes sense. An example from the canton of Aargau shows how different cantons respond to this question. After a case of positive corona in a canton school, physical education is carried out there separately by gender and with a mask. According to epidemiologists and virologists, the infection situation is likely to worsen in autumn. Physical education remains a balancing act for an indefinite period of time. The return to homeschooling would be the scene of terror. For teachers, students, parents and public health.
