The national survey on the lifestyles of adolescents living in Italy, carried out annually by the Adolescent Laboratory and the Iard Research Institute, is still in progress, but some initial evidence is already emerging on the effect that a year of pandemic and swing between Dad, narrow-gauge school and “colored” areas. «Data still provisional – he specifies Carlo Buzzi, scientific coordinator of the survey – but so well established that net of some residual percentage variations we can already take them into consideration ». Two aspects are already evident: a significant delay the time they go to sleep (even during school), with relative worsened quality of sleep, and a diet which, if also associated with the inevitable reduction in physical and sporting activity that the pandemic has imposed, is of great concern to doctors and pediatricians.
A dangerous step back
On this front 55% claims to have eaten more than usual over the course of this year-Covid ed 54.5% to have done it in a more “disorderly” way, that is respecting even less the times of traditional meals, but nibbling throughout the day. “If there is something that Italian teenagers would not have needed – he comments Margherita Caroli, member of the board of directors of the European childhood obesity group and coordinator of Laboratorio Adolescenza’s nutrition study group for the nutrition area – it’s just about eating more. Overweight remains a dramatic constant in childrenand Italian teenagers. If in the last few years we were recording if not yet a reduction in the incidence at least a settlement, now we expect a dangerous step back“. But the paradox, beyond the amount of food, is that despite the fact that in this period of the pandemic the adolescents had been more at home and, probably much more than usual, with at least one parent present, the situation was not taken advantage of to restore order about a regular consumption of breakfast (the daily habit of which has actually decreased compared to “normal” times), lunch and dinner. “This is because – explains Margherita Caroli – food was consumed at all hours rather than hunger to overcome boredom of a life at home. To the damage is added the insult that to perform this function of “psychological comfort” were much more suitable junk snacks than a plate of salad ».
Delayed sleep phase syndrome
On the side of sleep we have passed from 23% ofteenagers who went to bed after 11pm during the school period (percentage considered high by the experts) to a disturbing 63%. Obviously the drastic reduction in the hours of sleep compared to the already few hours of sleep they were used to, certainly not compensated by the late morning wake up as a result of the school in Dad which is “reached” by going directly from the bed to the virtual classroom. And even if the balance (between hours lost at night and hours recovered during the day) were not “in debt”, the risk – as he points out Maria Luisa Zuccolo, head of the Adolescent Working Group of the Cultural Association of Pediatricians – it is called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, that is impaired synchronization between internal rhythms (attempt to sleep at a time incompatible with one’s internal clock) and pace imposed by social needs (get up to go to school). But the problem is not only a quantitative one, but also a qualitative one.
The effort of falling asleep
If the sleep quality of adolescents was not optimal already from a survey carried out by Laboratorio Adolescenza and Iard in 2019 (difficulty falling asleep and frequent nocturnal awakenings, often without being able to go back to sleep) even from this point of view things now appear worse. 73.4% of adolescents struggle to sleep (+10 compared to 2019); 63% have frequent nocturnal awakenings and 15.4% often remain sleepless after awakening (percentage doubled compared to 2019 data). Is it the fault of the inevitable mobile phone? It is difficult to say whether it is the cause or effect of staring nights; it is certain that the percentage of adolescents who never turn off their smartphones has reached the threshold of 75.6%, with a + 15% compared to the 2019 survey. Social, platforms for watching movies and television series and video games they are the three most traveled roads, according to age and gender, by teenagers of the night. The “ting” of various notifications that come from the social world are a constant accompaniment of the night.
Suspended sexuality
And we must not forget that adolescence is also the time when sexuality explodes: a sexuality suspended, also this, by Covid and which risks, like a karst river, to seek alternative routes for its own flow, which often coincide with the routes offered by the network. As it claims Loredana Petrone, psychotherapist and professor of risk psychology in developmental age at the Faculty of Psychology of L’Aquila: “The pandemic restrictions clearly show that you fall in love with your own image more, celebrating the triumph of the aesthetic body at the expense of the erotic and desiring body. Less emotions and physical contact, more celebration of the aesthetic body, more selfies, sexting and use of pornographic material, with all the consequences we can imagine ».
April 23, 2021 (change April 23, 2021 | 18:44)
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