Investigating elementary school children’s daily physical activity and sedentary behaviours during weekdays |
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| Authors: | Zan Gao Senlin Chen Charles C Huang David F Stodden Ping Xiang |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Kinesiology, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA;2. Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA;3. College of Education, Wayland Baptist University, Plainview, TX, USA;4. Department of Physical Education and Athletic Training, The University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA;5. Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&6. M University, College Station, TX, USA |
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| Abstract: | The purpose of the study was to quantify the contributions of physical education, exergaming (active video games that also are a type of exercise), recess, lunch break and after-school time segments to children’s daily physical activity and sedentary behaviours. Participants were 138 second and third graders (71 girls) who attended 20-min recess and 75-min lunch time daily, 25-min regular physical education or exergaming-based classes being alternated daily. The after-school period was defined as 3:20–10:00pm. Physical activity was assessed via accelerometry and the dependent variables were children’s time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Children’s percentages of time spent in MVPA (P < .001; except for the difference between exergaming and lunch break: P = .63), light physical activity (P < .001) and sedentary behaviour (P < .001) differed significantly across the time segments (i.e., physical education/exergaming, recess, lunch break and after-school). Additionally, children accumulated significantly more MVPA (t = 10.22, P < .001) but less light physical activity (t = ?3.17, P = .002) and sedentary behaviour (t = ?3.91, P < .001) in physical education than in exergaming. Overall, physical education was more effective in generating MVPA than other segments over the school day. The after-school segment holds potential as an avenue for promoting children’s MVPA, as this long period could be better utilised to organise structured physical activity. |
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| Keywords: | Childhood obesity light physical activity moderate-to-vigorous physical activity school-based physical activity programmes |
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