Parents, please take note. Researchers have demonstrated an association between regular physical activity during childhood and higher lung function in adolescent girls compared to boys. The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, examined the relationship between physical activity, from childhood to young days and lung function in adolescence in 2,300 boys and girls participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). "The high prevalence of physical inactivity observed in children is worrying.

Extrapolated to the population as a whole, this is a factor that could have a considerable impact on lung function," said Judith Garcia Aymerich from Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal).