Lazy Teens Physically Resemble Pensioners

According to Danish researchers, many lazy teenagers have the muscle strength of an old person. It is enough to remain immobile for only two weeks, and this will result in the loss of one third of the entire muscle strength.

The teenagers who prefer to go to school by public transport or in their parents’ car cause more damage to themselves than they can possibly think of. Immobility for just two weeks reduces their muscle strength by a third, as the scientists from Denmark have found. Besides, these children have the same abilities for walking as are usually observed in the 50-year-olds.

The most painful thing is that they require three times as much time to restore muscle strength in comparison with the period during which they abstained from movement. After two weeks in bed, a teenager needs 4 weeks of active physical activities for a complete restoration of energy.

The scientists from the University of Copenhagen believe that their findings are important for understanding the effects of bed rest for teenagers, who are unable to walk for some reason – for example, because of an accident or injury. The researchers asked the healthy men of all ages not to move for a certain period of time.

It was found that bed rest affects muscle strength in young and elderly men equally quickly. It suffices not to use one leg for two weeks, and one third of the young man’s muscle strength will disappear. An elderly person loses a quarter of muscle strength. Thus the experiment showed that young people lose twice as much muscle mass as elderly people do.

Encourage your children to move regularly, and they will live up to your age without turning into a decrepit old person.