Decline in cycling means Dutch teenagers aren't getting enough exercise

Teenagers in the Netherlands are not getting enough exercise because they are cycling less and less often, according to researchers from Delft University of Technology. E-bikes are part of the problem, but also parents who drive their kids around more, the Telegraaf reports from the study.

The researchers analyzed data from the ODiN study, in which tens of thousands of Dutch people indicated how and how much they travel. They found that the 15 to 17-year-old group, in particular, is increasingly inactive or travels passively.

“They’re passengers in a car,” researcher Maarten Kroesen explained. Their study found that a large group of teenagers has fewer outdoor activities and ride in cars more often.

There have long been concerns about young people not exercising enough in the Netherlands. According to the Dutch public health institute RIVM, 55 percent of the Netherlands residents don’t meet the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. And the percentage of those who don’t get enough exercise increased fastest among teenagers in the past five years.

Earlier this year, several advocacy groups told AD that the percentage of teenagers not meeting the recommended exercise standards has risen to 40 percent. They blamed e-bikes, calling them a “serious threat to public health” because they require much less exertion than regular bicycles.

But according to the Delft researchers, the e-bike isn’t solely to blame. Their study shows that teens are spending more time as passengers in cars. “Parents may have become more protective of their children and more willing to pick them up and drop them off,” the researchers said in their report.

Researcher Kroesen added that e-bikes allow people to cover longer distances. “In that sense, you could actually see e-bikes as a solution to chauffeuring. The average distance a young person travels as a passenger in a car is 15 kilometers. On an e-bike, they travel an average of 13.4 kilometers.”