CC BY
18
DOI 10.14526/01_2017_183 EXTRA OPORTUNITY INCREASES PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS OF CHILDREN
Marlon M. V. Leite (Master student) Institute of Sciences of Physical Activity and Sport, University Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil.
José A. Barela (PhD), Associate Professor, Institute of Sciences of Physical Activity and Sport, University Cruzeiro do Sul, Department of Physical Education, Institute of Biosciences, Sao Paulo State University, Rio Claro,
Brazil.
Corresponding author: Rua Galvao Bueno, 868, 13°andar, bloco B - Liberdade, Sao Paulo, SP, 01506-000
E-mail: jose.barela@cruzeirodosul.edu.br
Abstract. Extra activity offered to children in the city of Poà, Sao Paulo State in Brazil, is intended to improve children's physical activity enrolment, but the effects of such program still needs to be examined. Therefore the aim of this study was to verify and to compare the physical activity practice of children enrolled in a specific program offered at school. Methods: Sixty-six children constituted two groups: children with extra physical activity (n=33, 15 females and 18 males, aging 9.2 years) - EPA; and children with no involvement with extra physical activity (n=33, 15 females and 18 males, aging 9.0 years) - NPA. Children were monitored during three days, using pedometers, in order to infer the caloric expenditure, number of steps per day, and the total travelled distance. Two questionnaires were answered by the children's parents providing information about the social economical family status and about the physical enrollment of the children in activities performed out of the school. Results. Our results showed that children enrolled in activities at school present higher level of caloric expenditure, performing more steps per day and longer travelled distance. In all these three measures, boys were more activity than girls. Children with extra activities at school also spend more time with physical and playful activities performed in other places than the school. Despite these differences, the amount of time enrolled in sedentary activities was similar between children who were performing or not performing extra activities at school. Recommendations: Children enrolled in extra activities at school are more active and with higher caloric expenditure than children who are not enrolled. In addition, children enrolled in activities are also more active in physical and playful activities in their daily activities. Thus, extra activities might constitute an important program to engage and promote physical activities in children in the city of Poà. Keywords: Physical activity enrolment; active life; children; policy making.
Introduction. Physical activity enrollment in early years of life is critical in promoting active habits in subsequent years [1,13]. This is an important aspect considering that physical activity is crucial in promoting health benefits such as muscle strength increase, circulatory improvement, bone resistance increase, lower risk of hypertension, decrease the risk of falls, and
helps in the caloric expenditure and body weight control [25].
Despite all these benefits, it has been observed a dramatic reduction in physical activity enrollment and, as a consequence, reduction of caloric expenditure in activities such as leisure, labor, and daily activities in general [24]. Moreover, it has been observed an alarm increasing of sedentary habits with a clear tendency of worsening of this situation
in the following years [24]. Therefore, the reduction in the physical activity and the increasing of sedentary habits should be carefully examined in order to be prevented and to propose actions to change such situation.
Considering that infancy and adolescence are important periods in order to shape much of one's future behavior, there is the need to propose and to offer a wide range of physical activity opportunities for children and adolescents. For instance, adolescents nowadays have not been enrolled in activities according to the recommended [17] or do not attend the recommended level to promote health benefits [14]. More alarming is the observation that physical activity levels decrease as chronological age increases [1]. The low enrollment in physical activities and the dramatic increase of sedentary behavior constitute a serious health problem that may lead to undesirable consequences to the individual throughout the life due to sedentary habit [3,13,19,28].
The dramatic and alarming low level of physical activity and all the implications that such situation have lead policy makers and organizations to propose and to implement several opportunities and activities aiming to reduce sedentary lifestyle and to promote physical activity level. For instance, the Brazilian Federal Government launched in 2003 the Second Half Program, an educational sports program, in order to promote through the sport practice social inclusion and children's development [30]. Similarly, several actions have been proposed and started by, for instance, cities throughout Brazil. One of these initiatives was the one delivered by the city of Poa, in Sao Paulo State, offering several activities, including sports and physical activities for children at school complementary to the regular schedule. Although all these actions and all the efforts in promoting and increasing physical activity levels in children are important, there is still the need to examine the impact of such actions on children's physical activity practice. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine and to compare
physical activity level of children enrolled in the physical activity provided as extra school activity in the city of Poâ.
Methods. Sixty-six children enrolled at the E.M.E.B. Heitor Gloeden school, city of Poâ, Sao Paulo State, participated of this study. Children constituted two groups: children with extra physical activity (n=33, 15 females and 18 males, aging 9.2 years) -EPA; and children with no involvement with extra physical activity (n=33, 15 females and 18 males, aging 9.0 years) - NPA. Children in the EPA group were enrolled in extra physical activity longer than six months, offered at the school twice a week, lasting 60 minutes each practice. The children's practice involved indoor soccer (n=18), gymnastic (n=8), and dance (n=7) activities. Children in the NPA group were not enrolled in any regular activity at school or any other regular program. Children's parents were informed about the procedures and signed a consent form approved by the Institutional Review Board.
After informed about the procedures and signed the consent form, parents answered a questionnaire in order to verify the social economical family status and the SAUDES-Vitoria questionnaire in order to verify physical activity (hours) performed out of school and the sedentary activity (hours). The SAUDES-Vitoria questionnaire is composed of 17 questions, 5 regarding home and school communicating, 3 regarding leisure physical activities, and 6 regarding sedentary activities, and this questionnaire was tested [8], validated [12] and employed in a recent study [2] involving 6-10-year-old children. Both questionnaires were applied in a reserved room at school and all the procedures took about 30 minutes.
Following the questionnaires, each child was asked to walk naturally performing 10 steps. The total distance was measured and divided by 10, obtaining the average step length for the respective child [9,12]. In addition, weight and height were inferred. All these three information were entered into the child's respective pedometer (Tech Line), which was affixed at the child's waist. Each
child wore the pedometer, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., in two non-consecutive weekdays and in one weekend day. Before wearing the pedometer, it was explained to the child and to his/her parent that the child should perform and enrolled in his/her activities as usually and that the pedometer should be wore throughout the day. The pedometer could be taken off only when necessary: taking shower or a nape; chancing clothes; among others, but parents had to register such occurrence in a specific report, discriminating the day and the hours that the pedometer was not used.
Based upon the pedometer information, the caloric expenditure, the number of steps per day, and the total travelled distance were obtained. From the SAUDES-Vitoria questionnaire, it was obtained the total time of physical activity and the total time of playful activity the child used to engage in the school off hours. Finally, the total time of sedentary activity, such as watching television, using computer, playing videogames, among others, was also estimated.
Statistical analyses were performed, first, to test the normality and homogeneity. Following two multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs, having as factor group (EPA and NPA) and gender (male and female), were employed. The dependent
variables for one MANOVA were the caloric expenditure, the number of steps/day, and the total travel distance. For the other MNAOVA, the dependent variables were the total time of physical activity and the total time of playful activity. Following up univariate tests and Tukey post hoc tests, when applicable, were performed. Chi square tests were performed to compare the percentage of children from both groups (EPA and NPA) in five categories of time spent in sedentary activity. All procedures were performed using SPSS software (SPSS for Windows, version 19.0) and the significance level was kept at 0.05.
Results and discussion. Additional physical activity leads to an increase of caloric expenditure with children with extra physical activity performing more steps and travelling longer distance. Figure 1 depicts the caloric expenditure (Fig. 1a), the number of steps per day (Fig. 1b), and the total travelled distance (Fig. 1c) for both children's group with extra physical activity (EPA) and with no extra physical activity (NPA), separated by boys and girls. MANOVA revealed group, Wilks' Lambda=0.749, F(3,60)=6.71, p<0.005, and gender effect, Wilks' Lambda=0.701, F(3,60)=8.51, p<0.001, but did not reveal group and gender interaction, Wilks' Lambda=0.961, F(3,60)=0.80, p>0.05.
Figure 1: Mean and standard deviation of caloric expenditure (a), number of steps per day (b) and total travelled distance (c) for both children's group with extra physical activity (EPA) and with no extra physical activity (NPA), separated by boys and girls
Univariate analyses indicated that children of the EPA group showed higher caloric expenditure, F(1,62)=16.47, p<0.001, higher number of steps, F(1,62)=17.43, p<0.001, and longer total travelled distance F(1,62)=9.36, p<0.005, than children of the NPA group. Univariate analyses also indicated that boys showed higher caloric expenditure, F(1,62)=20.71, p<0.001, higher number of steps, F(1,62)=23.08, p<0.001, and longer total travelled distance F(1,62)=13.52, p<0.001, than girls.
Our results show a clear and important change in the children's behavior, leading those who were enrolled in physical activities at school being more active. As suggested previously [5], enrollment in physical activity early, during the infancy, is important to induce such behavior later in life. Therefore, the activities provided at school might constitute an important tool to improve and to incentive enrollment in activities that not only produce caloric expenditure, with longer distances and more steps performed
throughout the day, but also might lead to important behavior change towards a more active lifestyle in children and adolescents.
Considering that children all over the world are less active and with over-weight or even obesity problems [13, 19, 24, 28], additional activities offered by the regular school system might constitute an important and critical issue. As our results showed, children's caloric expenditure was higher in those who were enrolled in such activities and, as a consequence, might take advantage of body weight reduction or at least weight control as observed in children enrolled in sports are more likely to have a lower body mass index [10].
Our results also showed a common finding that boys are more active than girls at the end of infancy. Several studies have already showed such results [17,27], and our results showed that boys participating in this study showed higher caloric expenditure, longer travelled distance that implied higher number of steps per day. Interesting to point
44
out that despite this gender difference, our results showed that this is the case for children from both groups of our study. Therefore, we can suggest that despite being less active, girls can take advantage of the extra physical activity at school increasing the level of physical activity compared to her peers who are not enrolled at such physical activity program. Such a result is encouraging and important to prevent or at least to increase the physical activity involvement of girls.
The pedometer information also showed that our children are below the vigorous and recommended daily physical activity. Boys and girls from the EPA group performed 10,789(±2,939) and 7,793(±1,207) steps per day, respectively. Boys and girls from the NPA group performed 8,152 (±2,568) and 5,652 (±1,935) steps per day, respectively. These numbers show that our children do not reach the recommended physical activity level [29] and corroborate previous observation [22]. Although not reaching the recommended vigorous and
moderate physical activity daily enrolment, still children with extra activities at school, the EPA group, show higher number of steps compared to the ones not enrolled in extra activities at school.
Extra physical activity also promoted longer total time of physical activity and of total time of playful activity. Figure 2 depicts the total time of physical activity (Fig. 2a) and of playful activity (Fig. 2b) for both children's group with extra physical activity (EPA) and with no extra physical activity (NPA), separated by boys and girls. MANOVA revealed group, Wilks' Lambda=0.781, F(2,61)=8.53, p<0.005, but no gender effect, Wilks' Lambda=0.999, F(2,61)=0.01, p>0.05, and group and gender interaction, Wilks' Lambda=0.981, F(2,61)=0.58, p>0.05. Univariate analyses indicated that children of the EPA group showed longer total time of physical activity, F(1,62)=17.34, p<0.001, and longer time of playful activity, F(1,62)=15.90, p<0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2: Mean and standard deviation of total time of physical activity (a) and total time of playful activity (b) for both children's group with extra physical activity (EPA) and with no extra physical activity (NPA), separated by boys and girls
The above results confirm the results obtained using the pedometers, with children enrolled in extra physical activity at school
spend more time in overall physical activity and also in playful activities of the school. This finding is important because indicates
that children seem to transfer the experience of being active at school to activities performed in other activities not offered at school. In doing so, children spend more time in physical activity games and playful activities, leading to more caloric expenditure and with higher steps performed and longer distance travelled.
Finally, extra physical activity at school did not change the children's
enrollment at sedentary activities. Figure 3 depicts the distribution of children at different periods of sedentary activities for both children's group with extra physical activity (EPA) and with no extra physical activity (NPA). Chi square tests did no show any difference between groups for the five periods in which sedentary activities were grouped at.
Figure 3:
Figure 3: Percentual distribution of children at different periods of sedentary activities for both children's group with extra physical activity (EPA) and with no extra physical activity (NPA)
As one can see half of the children from both groups is spending more than 4 hours per day in sedentary activities, such as watching television, using computers, playing video-games among others. Unfortunately, our results are not surprising and corroborate results from previous studies [2,16], in which it has been observed that children at the end of infancy are prevalently spending their time in sedentary activities.
Conclusions. Extra physical activity provided at school promotes an increase of caloric expenditure due to higher number of steps and longer distance travelled. Yet, boys are more active than girls. The effects of the extra physical activity at school also influence children's behavior out of school leading them to spend longer time in activities in general and in playful activities. Despite all this important and desirable physical activity enrolment, children still spend the same amount of time in sedentary activities.
References
1. Anderssen N, Jacobs DR, Jr ., Sidney S, Bild DE, Sternfeld B, Slattery ML, et al. Change and secular trends in physical activity patterns in young adults: a seven-year longitudinal follow-up in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (CARDIA). American journal of epidemiology.1996;143(4): 351-62.
2. Andrade Neto F, Eto FN, Pereira TS, Carletti L, Molina Mdel C. Active and sedentary behaviours in children aged 7 to 10 years old: the urban and rural contexts, Brazil. BMC public health.2014;14: 1174.
3. Balakrishnan R, Webster P, Sinclair D. Trends in overweight and obesity among 5-7-year-old White and South Asian children born between 1991 and 1999. Journal of public health.2008;30(2): 139-44.
4. Cohen KE, Morgan PJ, Plotnikoff RC, Callister R, Lubans DR. Fundamental movement skills and physical activity among children living in low-income communities: a cross-sectional study. The international
journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity.2014;11(1): 49.
5. Colley RC, Garriguet D, Adamo KB, Carson V, Janssen I, Timmons BW, et al. Physical activity and sedentary behavior during the early years in Canada: a cross-sectional study. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity.2013;10: 54.
6. Colley RC, Janssen I, Tremblay MS. Daily step target to measure adherence to physical activity guidelines in children. Medicine and science in sports and exercise.2012;44(5): 977-82.
7. Copetti J, Neutzling MB, da Silva MC. Barriers to physical activity practice in adolescents of southern brazilian city. Brazilian Journal of Physical Activity & Health.2012;15(2): 88-94. (in Portuguese)
8. Checon K, Fonseca VM, Faria CPd, Carletti L, Molina MdCB. The reproducibility of the Saudes - Vitoria Study's physical activity assessment questionnaire for children. Brazilian Journal of Maternal and Child Health, Recife.2011;11(2): 173-80. (In Portuguese)
9. Cruz WA, Pinho RWS, Santos AB, Schmidt F, Michelim ER, Braz TV. Normal physical activity level calculated by pedometer in the space program in Americanas-SP. Journal of Prescription and Exercise Physiology, Sao Paulo.2014;8(45): 246-53. (In Portuguese)
10. Drake KM, Beach ML, Longacre MR, Mackenzie T, Titus LJ, Rundle AG, et al. Influence of sports, physical education, and active commuting to school on adolescent weight status. Pediatrics.2012;130(2): e296-304.
11. Duan J, Hu H, Wang G, Arao T. Study on Current Levels of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior among Middle School Students in Beijing, China. PloS one.2015;10(7): e0133544.
12. Fernandes CDR.: Validation of the questionnaire assessing physical activity in children 9 and 10 years of age. In 78f. Dissertation (Master degree). UFES, Vitoria: Course of Physical Education and Sports.2012. (In Portuguese)
13. Goldfield GS, Harvey A, Grattan K, Adamo KB. Physical activity promotion in the preschool years: a critical period to intervene. International journal of environmental research and public health.2012;9(4): 1326-42.
14. Guedes DP, Guedes J, Barbosa DS, Oliveira Jd. Levels of regular physical activity in adolescents. Brazilian Journal of Sports Medicine.2001;7(6): 187-99. (In Portuguese)
15. Guedes DP, Guedes JERP. Physical activity, physical fitness and health. Brazilian Journal of Physical Activity & Health.1995;1(1): 18-35. (In Portuguese)
16. Hallal PC, Bertoldi AD, Gon9alves H, Victora CG. Prevalencia de sedentarismo e fatores associados em adolecentes de 10-12 anos de idade. Public Health Notebook, Rio de Janeiro.2006;22(6): 1277-87. (In Portuguese)
17. Hallal PC, Knuth AG, Cruz DKA, Mendes MI, & , Malta DC. Physical activity practice among Brazilian adolescents. Science & Collective Health.2010;15(2): 3035-42. (In Portuguese)
18. Hallal PC, Reis RS, Hino AAF, Santos MS, Grande D, Krempel MC, et al. Evaluation of community Physical Activity programs: the case of Curitiba, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Physical Activity & Health.2012;14(2): 104-14. (In Portuguese) 19. Hernandes F, Valentini MP. Obesity: A concern each day more common for children and teenagers. Journal of the Faculty of Physical Education of UNICAMP, Campinas.2010;8(3): 47-63. (In Portuguese)
20. Janssen I, Leblanc AG. Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity.2010;7: 40.
21. Mahoney JL. School extracurricular activity participation as a moderator in the development of antisocial patterns. Child development.2000;71(2): 50216.
22. Mandich G, Burke S, Gaston A, Tucker P. The physical activity levels and
sedentary behaviors of Latino children in London (Ontario, Canada). International journal of environmental research and public health.2015;12(5): 5528-39.
23. Matsudo SMM, Araujo TL, Matsudo VKR, Andrade DR, Varquer W. Physical activity levelof children and adolescents from different socio-economic regions.Brazilian Journal of Physical Activity & Health.1998;3(4): 14-26. (In Portuguese)
24. Ng SW, Popkin BM. Time use and physical activity: a shift away from movement across the globe. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.2012;13(8): 659-80.
25. WHO.Physical activity. World Health Organization. Fact Sheet No. 385 -Feb 2014 Updated Jan. 2015. Available in: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs 385/en/. Accessed on: 18 Feb., 2016.
26. Rezende LF, Azeredo CM, Silva KS, Claro RM, Franca-Junior I, Peres MF, et al. The Role of School Environment in
Submitted: 7.02.2017 Received: 9.02.2017
Physical Activity among Brazilian Adolescents. PloS one.2015;10(6): e0131342.
27. Rivera IR, Silva MAM, Silva RDATA, Oliveira BAV, Carvalho ACC. Physical Inactivity, TV-Watching Hours and Body Composition in Children and Adolescents. Brazilian Archives of Cardiology.2010;95(2): 159-65.
28. Serra-Majem L, Bautista-Castano I. Etiology of obesity: two "key issues" and other emerging factors. Nutricion hospitalaria.2013;28 Suppl 5: 32-43.
29. Tudor-Locke C, Craig CL, Beets MW, Belton S, Cardon GM, Duncan S, et al. How many steps/day are enough? for children and adolescents. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity.2011;8: 78.
30. BRAZIL. Sport Ministery. Available in: http://www.esporte.gov.br/index.php/instituci onal/esporte-educacao-lazer-e-inclusao-social/segundo-tempo Accessed on: 02 Feb., 2017.
Marlon M. V. Leite (Master student) Institute of Sciences of Physical Activity and Sport, University Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil.
José A. Barela (PhD), Associate Professor, Institute of Sciences of Physical Activity and Sport, University Cruzeiro do Sul, Department of Physical Education, Institute of Biosciences, Sao Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil. Email: jose.barela@cruzeirodosul.edu.br
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are thankful to CAPES (Coordenaçao Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for financial support.
Corresponding author:
Rua Galvao Bueno, 868, 13°andar, bloco B - Liberdade, Sao Paulo, SP, 01506000, E-mail: jose.barela@,cruzeirodosul.edu.br
For citations: Marlon M. V. Leite, José A. Barela Extra opportunity increases physical activity levels of children, The Russian journal of physical education and sport (pedagogical-psychological and medico-biological problems of physical culture and sports), 2017, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 41-48. DOI 10.14526/01 2017 183
