Ever wondered why children don’t run out of energy?

Don’t you find that your kids never seem to run out of energy?

Children can run around the whole day and they never seem to tire out. They can continue playing long after adults are tired and ready to rest and relax.

Previous research has shown that children do not tire as quickly as untrained adults during physical activity suggesting that the energy profiles of children may be comparable to that of endurance athletes.

The children recovered quickly – faster than trained endurance athletes – which were demonstrated by their faster heart-rate recovery and the ability to remove lactate from their blood.

However, there is no evidence to prove this until now.

For this study, twelve healthy boys of pre-pubertal age (8-12 years), 12 untrained men (19-23 years) and 13 endurance athletes (19-27 years) volunteered to participate.

To be included in the study the boys and untrained adults had to perform recreational physical activities such as Alpine skiing, snowboarding, sailing, skateboarding and climbing for less than 4 hours per week. They also had to be free from any medical issues which might impede their physical activity.

The endurance trained athletes were national level competitive athletes and were engaged in long distance physical activities such as running, cycling and triathlon for over 6 hours a week for at least two years.

The researchers asked all three groups to perform cycling tasks.

Each group was assessed for the two ways that the human body produces energy. The first is aerobic power which uses oxygen from the blood. The second is known as anaerobic and doesn’t use oxygen but produces acidosis and lactate (often known by the incorrect term – lactic acid) which may cause muscle fatigue.

The participant’s heart rates, oxygen levels and lactate-removal rates were checked after the cycling tasks to see how quickly they recovered.

In all the tests, children outperformed the untrained adults.

The children used more of their aerobic metabolism and were thus less tired during high-intensity physical activities.

They also recovered quickly – faster than trained endurance athletes – which were demonstrated by their faster heart-rate recovery and the ability to remove lactate from their blood.

This study gives significant information to parents who want to know how to develop their child’s athletic potential. The study indicates that children have very good muscle endurance and so it is better to focus on other areas of fitness such as sports technique, sprint speed or muscle strength. This will help optimise physical training in children so that they can enjoy sports better.

The research also shows that aerobic fitness at the muscle level decreases significantly as children move into adulthood which is also around the times when increases in diseases such as diabetes occur.

This is significant to know as these days children are spending more time indoors on screens giving rise to physical inactivity which can contribute to the risk of diseases as children grow up.

As physically active and healthy kids are at a young age, it important to instil a habit of outdoor physical activity that includes sports so that children remain healthy and strong as they grow older and as physiological changes occur in their body.

Source: Frontiers in Physiology