“Over 90% of US high school students don’t get enough exercise to stay fit and healthy,” says Amy Norton, a CBS News reporter.
There is a very serious problem when it comes to teenagers, health, and exercise. Obesity is a very serious problem amongst teens and the problems that go along with it only get worse with age. What’s causing these teenagers to not make an effort to exercise? Are Logan students exercising? It turns out the answer is not as much as they should.
American teenagers receive 16.9% of their calories from fast and junk food.
“I know I should be exercising more but it’s very hard to fit exercise in a very busy schedule,” Senior Stephanie Gonzalez said. “Although I don’t exercise as much as I should; I really do try to eat well. As much as we hated it, I think PE freshman and sophomore year really did make a difference. At least if it was for an hour, we were all very active. Maybe we can see some improvement if we made juniors and seniors take PE again.”
An important fact to consider is that habits are formed early and those who are active and exercise now have a greater chance of keeping these habits longer in their lifetime and as they grow into adults. Besides being active, maintaining a good diet is also extremely important in the lives of these developing teens.
According to an article by Nicholas Bakalar on The New York Times, American teenagers receive 16.9% of their calories from fast and junk food. A well-balanced diet in the life of teenagers is very important; what may seem like a few extra pounds now can result in health problems. If we continue the habits of eating bad and unhealthy meals continuously and little to no exercise at all, it can impact our future.
“We all have our cravings here and there, and there’s nothing wrong with satisfying them as long as we don’t make it a habit,” Gonzalez said.
As teens, we are old enough to start making our own decisions and decisions about our body and health are ones that are very crucial to us. This does, however not mean you should skip meals! A healthy and well-balanced diet doesn’t mean starve yourself. The advancing technology we have today can really help with this, there are many reliable apps we can use as well as gather information from many sites.
“Our health is so important, I believe we should learn to take care of us more and schools should also emphasize it,” Gonzalez said.
