Purpose It is a commonly held perception that most young children are naturally active and meet physical activity recommendations. However, there is no scientific evidence available on which to confirm or refute such perceptions. The purpose of this study was to describe the physical activity levels and patterns of Australian ...
Purpose This study examines what volume of accelerometry data (h·d-1) is required to reliably estimate preschool children's physical activity and whether it is necessary to include weekday and weekend data. Methods Accelerometry data from 493 to 799 (depending on wear time) preschool children from the Melbourne-based Healthy Active Preschool Years study ...
Purpose To objectively measure the physical activity (PA) characteristics of a racially and ethnically diverse sample of inner-city elementary school children; and examine the influence of gender, race/ethnicity, grade level, and weight status on PA. Methods 470 students in grades 4-6 from six inner-city schools in Philadelphia wore an ActiGraph ...
Objective The objective of this study was to identify school environmental characteristics associated with moderate to vigorous physical activity during school recess, including morning and lunch breaks. Methods Accelerometry data, child-level characteristics and school physical activity, policy and socio-cultural data were collected from 408 sixth grade children (mean age 11 years) attending 27 ...
Background Early childhood provides a window of opportunity for the promotion of physical activity. Given the limited effectiveness of interventions to date, new approaches are needed. Socio-ecological models suggest that involving parents as intervention targets may be effective in fostering healthier lifestyles in children. This study describes the effectiveness of ...
Background The physical activity (PA) levels of many children and adolescents in Australia are currently insufficient to promote health benefits. Physical education (PE) programs aim to promote PA and reach nearly all school-aged children, but PA levels within PE lessons are often low. PE teachers may influence children's motivation to ...
Summary Physical activity declines as children enter puberty. Leptin is cross-sectionally associated with physical activity, but there are conflicting findings on the magnitude and direction of this association. Leptin concentrations fluctuate during puberty, and may impact energy balance. Leptin predicts the decline in physical activity during the start of puberty ...
Background The first aim was to examine the effect of the UP4FUN pilot intervention on children’s total sedentary time. The second aim was to investigate if the intervention had an effect on children’s physical activity (PA) level. Finally, we aimed to investigate demographic differences (i.e. age, ...
Background Physical activity interventions in schools environment seem to have shown some effectiveness in the control of the current obesity epidemic in children. However the complexity of behaviors and the diversity of influences related to this problem suggest that we urgently need new lines of insight about how to support ...
Summary There is an association between adiposity levels and physical activity guidelines for adolescents. Achieving physical activity recommendations helps adolescents to prevent obesity status. This paper presents an association between physical activity levels and obesity status. This paper supports physical activity recommendations to avoid children's obesity levels. This paper emphasizes ...