Pedometer‐measured physical activity patterns in physical education classes: A pilot study
Abstract
Physical inactivity during the early years of life is currently indicated as a major contributor to increased levels of obesity and other serious medical conditions and is being seen in children and adolescents all across Europe. Children spend a large part of their time at school and the school curriculum should provide good opportunities to promote physical activity.
Worldwide, public health physical activity guidelines include special emphasis on populations of children (typically 6-11 years) and adolescents (typically 12-19 years). Existing guidelines are commonly expressed in terms of frequency, time, and intensity of behavior. However, the simple step output from both accelerometers and pedometers is gaining increased credibility in research and practice as a reasonable approximation of daily ambulatory physical activity volume. The present study aims to measure the amount of physical activity that takes place during physical education classes. The study comprised a sample of 70 children (41 boys and 29 girls) ages 10-12 from a school in Murcia (Spain). A pedometer was used to measure physical activity. Two session of learning unit titled “Games and Alternative Sports” was analyzed. The results showed a steps/day average of 3.318 (3.467,3 steps/day for boys and 3.107,2 steps/day for girls). This amount represents the 20.1% to 28.85% of the daily recommended steps/day (11.000 and 16.500 for minimum and maximal, respectively).
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© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2013
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The works and papers that are published in this Journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publication Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) has the Publication Rights (Copyright) to the published papers and works, and favors and permits the reusing of the same under the license indicated in point 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2013
2. The papers and works are to be published in the digital edition of the Journal under the license Creative Commons Reconocimiento-No Comercial-Sin Obra Derivada 3.0 España (legal text). The copying, using, spreading, transmitting and publicly displaying of the papers, works or publication are permitted as long as: i) the authors and original sources (Journal, publisher and URL of the publication) are quoted; ii) it is not used for commercial benefit; iii) the existence and specifications of this users license are mentioned.
3. Conditions of Self-Archiving. It is permitted and encouraged that the authors spread electronically the pre-print (before printing) and/or post-print (the revised, evaluated and accepted) versions of their papers or works before their publication since this favors their circulation and early diffusion and therefore can help increase their citation and quotation, and also there reach through the academic community.
