Physical activity of adolescents in wartime conditions, ways to optimize it
Authors:   SI “Institute for Children and Adolescents Health Care at the National Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine”, Kharkiv, Rak L.I. , Kashina-Yarmak V.L. ,   SI “Institute for Children and Adolescents Health Care at the National Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine”, Kharkiv,   V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine, Eshenko A.V. ,   SI “Institute for Children and Adolescents Health Care at the National Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine”, Kharkiv,   Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine
Published: January 2025

The war had a particularly adverse effect on adolescent children, who are going through a period of intensive growth, puberty and personality formation. Physical activity (PA) can reduce the impact of stress, so maintaining it can be considered as a therapeutic anti-stress method.
Aim - to determine the level of PA of adolescents in wartime conditions and the ways to increase it, to evaluate the attitude and motivation of teenagers to physical activity.
Materials and methods. During December 2022 - June 2023 103 adolescents aged 11-17 living in the city of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region were interviewed about their PA. 88 of them indicated their attitude towards FA and what affects its level. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using the Fisher and Mann-Whitney tests. Differences were considered statistically significant at a probability of 95% or higher (p<0.05).
Results. The PA of teenagers significantly decreased during the war compared to the quarantine period: 70.9% of teenagers had a low level of PA, 16.5% had an average level of PA, and 12.6% had a high level of PA. The main type of activity was walking, most of the children began to exercise in the morning. Adolescents with a high level of PA had a longer duration of outdoor sports games. 77.0% of respondents had a positive attitude towards PA, but motivation to increase exercising was often low. The opinions of adolescents regarding the causes of insufficient physical activity and the consequences of its increase have been analyzed. Own desire has been pointed out as the main factor by 87% of children with low PA and 93% of children with high PA. The steps to ensure a sufficient level of PA for children during a period of social crisis have been determined.
Conclusions. During the war in Ukraine, the number of sedentary children increased significantly and the number of children with high motor activity decreased significantly. A sufficient level of PA in wartime conditions can be ensured by a combination of daily walks (40-60 minutes) with morning exercise and maintenance of physical education activities. Adding games and sports activities at least three times a week will allow to achieve a high level of activity. Increasing the motivation of teenagers to increase PA is an important task for parents, teachers, doctors, psychologists, and the public.
The study was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Сommittee on bioethics and deontology of these institutions. The informed consent of the children's parents was obtained for the research.
No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.