Biological Age and Sex-Related Declines in Physical Activity during Adolescence

摘要

Two of the most consistent findings in epidemiological studies of physical activity involve age and sex: physical activity has been shown to decline with age for both sexes (2,4,7,8,21,28), and boys are more active than girls throughout childhood and adolescence (9,10,18,22,23,29,30), particularly when aligned by chronological age. Work in these areas suggests that childhood and adolescence is a critical developmental period for understanding declining physical activity and the emergence of sex differences. Given that physical inactivity is widely regarded as one of the most pressing public health problems (3), it is important that we understand both sex and age-related declines in physical activity.