CREAL. Centre for research in environmental epidemiology

Dr. Sunyer highlights the need for young children of exercise to prevent diseases

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Nearly 200 people attended the INMA meeting of December 13, held in the Hall of Casal Pere Quart in Sabadell. The aim was to inform schools and parents, whose children participate in INMA research project, about the first results on Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). And in this sense, Dr. Jordi Sunyer, CREAL co-director and INMA´s Project director, remarked that “it is very serious that young children do not walk because exercise in this age improves mental health."

In fact, Dr. Sunyer said that "children who walk more are those with fewer symptoms of ADHD," and that "syndrome of autism in children are associated with poor sleep and watch too much television."

In this event also participated Dra. Amaia Hervás, chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, from University Hospital Mutua de Terrassa, with the conference 'ADHD children moved, when we have to worry?'. Dr. Hervás reflected on this disease and highlighted that "there are genetic components that favor the predisposition to ADHD, but there are also environmental factors that make certain areas of the brain of children more impaired than others." And here lies the importance of research carried out by INMA Project.

Before concluding the event, Dr.Gregorio Luri, Ph.D. in philosophy and collaborator of Criatures supplement of Ara newspaper, provided a critical point. On one hand, he highlighted the complexity and diversity of students that teachers must face to. And on another hand, he called for more involvement and encouragement to learn from teachers. In fact, Luri threw up a question: 'How much diversity can support teachers?'.