Teenagers today are spending more time tweeting, snapchatting, instagramming, and using social media than years before. Is this why teenagers are getting more and more lazy? Should we blame schools for not having a lot of physical activity involved in classes? Teenagers are slowly becoming less active, but who’s at fault?

According to public experts, teenagers should get at least 60 minutes of exercise every day for a good physical and mental health.This does not mean 60 minutes of jogging or 60 minutes of sit ups; this means 60 minutes of activity that helps one’s body and/or mind.

Many teenagers are getting most of their exercise done at school, but is that even nearly enough for one day? Do students actually try or listen to the gym teacher when told what to do, for example, how many students actually run 2 laps under 5 minutes when told to do so? Even though schools are a major source of physical activity for teens, Huffington post mentioned that students “spent only 4.8 percent of their time at school physically active.” Even though teens move around a lot, the percent is still low because classes do not provide physical activity, kids are usually sitting in class for 45 minutes or longer listening to the teachers. With providing more opportunities for students to be active, the percent can slowly increase.
Exercising does not put anyone at risk, but only benefits them. According to Huffington Post, “physical activity provides multiple health benefits, including physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health benefits” and “low physical activity puts teens are current and future risk for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases.” Without exercise, teens are more likely to develop long term illnesses such as heart disease or diabetes. Along with that, it also affects the brain which means lower grades.