Why Teen Girls must Exercise

The researchers at the Columbia University made an assessment of 1,312 students at four inner-city high schools in New York, to figure out if there is any connection between regular exercise and violence-related behaviours.

The respondents were asked questions such as on how often they exercised, how many sit-ups they did and the time of their longest run in the past four weeks as well as whether they played on an organized sports team in the past year. Besides, they were asked if they had carried a weapon in the past 30 days or if they were in a physical fight or in a gang in the past year. Three-quarters of the respondents were of Latin origin, 19 per cent were black and 56 per cent of the respondents were female.

Those who exercised regularly were found to have decreased odds of being involved in violence-related behaviours. Females who exercised more than 10 days in the last month had decreased odds of being in a gang. Girls who did more than 20 sit-ups in the past four weeks or reported running more than 20 minutes every day, they didn’t carry weapons or were less likely to be a part of a gang.

The study findings were presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.

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