Abstract

TORRES-LUQUE, G. et al. Analysis of the distribution of physical activity in early childhood education students. CPD [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.1, pp.261-268. ISSN 1989-5879.

The practice of physical activity (PA) is very important element of promoting health during childhood. However, little information is available with regards to PA patterns of children during a day. The aim of this study was to describe the bouts patterns of different lengths of time among three periods of daily life in nursery school students. 107 children (3.81±0.87 years; 19,64±4,32 kg, 1,19±0,29 m) were selected. The subjects wore an accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X) during 5 consecutive days. The level of PA was calculated using the cut-points proposed by Sirard et al. (2005) in order to analyze moderate-intensity bout patterns of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 min during three periods Monday to Friday, school hours and extracurricular time. Results showed that students accumulated 90% of their PA intermittently, corresponding to bouts of 1 to 2 min (p <0.001). Additionally, more bouts of 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 min were accumulated in Monday to Friday, and extracurricular time than compared to school schedule (p <0.001). Based on these findings, it was concluded that that children in nursery school accumulated high intermittent PA, consisted of 1 to 2 min bouts, and this information should be used to promote strategies during school timetable in order to increase PA in school.

Keywords : children; accelerometer; bout; level of physical activity.

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