“Hey, did you know that we could solve huge world problems like hunger, HIV/AIDS, poverty, illiteracy and war just by supporting adolescent girls?” This post is part of a campaign to save and empower girls that deserve our attention- to learn more visit The Girl Effect and see how YOU can help make a difference.

Hat tip 🙂 @ToriDeaux

First study to show physical and mental health benefits of sports participation in 12- to 14-year-old adolescents

Taking part in sports is good all round for young teens: physically, socially, and mentally, according to a new study by Dr. Keith Zullig and Rebecca White from West Virginia University in the US. Their research shows that middle-school teenagers who are physically active and play on sports teams are more satisfied with their life and feel healthier. Zullig and White’s paper is published online in Springer’s journal Applied Research in Quality of Life. [continue reading…]

Many parents will not be surprised with findings of this new European study led by Spanish researchers which has shown how the proportion of young people who watch television and play on the computer for more than two hours per day doubles at the weekend. And while boys opt for video games, teenage girls prefer to surf the net.

“A sedentary lifestyle has become one of the major public health problems in developed countries”, Juan P. Rey-López, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR), tells SINC. “During the week, one-third of teenagers said the watched more than two hours of television per day. At weekends, this figure exceeds 60%”.

The results, published in the July issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, show that teenagers devote more time to sedentary behaviour (in front of a screen) at the weekend. [continue reading…]