Study Shows Effectiveness of Organised Sports in Switzerland

Maintaining physical activity throughout life is crucial for health and well-being. However, the age-related decline in average physical activity is a challenge. In a study conducted by a team of experts from all over Switzerland, including Prof. L. Suzanne Suggs, Full Professor at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), it was noted that organised sports, supported by the Swiss Youth+Sports (Y+S) programme, plays an important role in counteracting this trend. Children who participate in this programme are much more likely to maintain an active lifestyle as they get older. The results were published Monday 14 October in the peer-reviewed journal Swiss Medical Weekly.

Regular physical activity has a wide range of health benefits, including reduced risk of chronic disease, improved mental health, better quality of life and improved cognitive function, including academic performance. Promoting and maintaining physical activity in young people as a means of health promotion across the life course is therefore a public health priority. However, research shows that young people tend to become less physically active as they age. Accordingly, the age-related decline in average physical activity, although a natural phenomenon also observed in animals, poses a challenge to achieving physical activity and health promotion goals.

In the longitudinal SOPHYA study, which was supported in content and funding by the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO), Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) researchers, USI Professor L. Suzanne Suggs included, analysed the development of physical activity in around 430 children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 from all over Switzerland over a period of five years. The results have been published today in the peer-reviewed journal Swiss Medical Weekly.

Less decline in physical activity with organised sports

As expected, physical activity among 6 -16 year olds decreased over the 5-year period, while sedentary time increased. “Despite the probably partly biological decline in physical activity with age, we were able to identify children and adolescents in our study who resisted this age-related decline in physical activity and maintained or even increased their physical activity behavior,” said Johanna Hänggi, scientific collaborator at Swiss TPH and first author of the publication.

The researchers found that participation in the sport activities of the Y+S programme has a strong influence on the physical activity behaviour of children and adolescents over a five year period. Children who participated in organised sports activities were more likely to maintain their physical activity behaviour as they got older compared to children who did not participate in Y+S sports activities.

Organised sports in Switzerland has been supported for over 50 years by Y+S, the largest sports promotion programme of FOSPO, targeting children and young people between the ages of 5 and 20. It supports around 80 sports and disciplines and more than 600,000 participants each year with around 100 million Swiss Francs. It is already known that children and young people are more active as a result of the programme. However, this is the first time that the impact of the Y+S programme on long-term physical activity behaviour has been examined. “The study shows that participation at the Y+S courses and camps are having a long-term impact on young people's physical activity and that our investment is paying off,” said Pierre-André Weber, head of Y+S programme at FOSPO.

Importance of long-term cohorts

The longitudinal study was embedded in the population-based SOPHYA cohort, the first long-term study in Switzerland to objectively measure the physical activity behaviour of children and adolescents. It was conducted by Swiss TPH in collaboration with the Institut des Sciences du Sport de l'Université de Lausanne (ISSUL) and the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). By following around 2,300 children and adolescents from all over Switzerland between 2014 and 2019/20, it was possible to make long-term, representative conclusions about the development of their physical activity behaviour. “Representative long-term studies are essential for analysing the long-term benefits of public health interventions as shown in this study,” said Nicole Probst-Hensch, principle investigator of the SOPHYA study and senior author of the publication. “Ultimately, they provide decision-makers with important data for implementing policies to improve people's health and well-being and for evaluating their impact.”