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A comparative study found that a seven‐year school‐based exercise programme increased physical activity levels in both sexes
Author(s) -
Cronholm Felix,
Rosengren Björn E.,
Karlsson Caroline,
Karlsson Magnus K.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.14172
Subject(s) - medicine , physical activity , leisure time , intervention (counseling) , physical therapy , demography , activity monitor , gerontology , psychiatry , sociology
Aim This study assessed whether a Swedish school‐based exercise intervention programme could increase total physical activity. Methods We followed up 228 children who started school in 1998–2000 seven years later, when they had reached a mean age of 14.8. The 152 children (59% boys) at the intervention school did 200 minutes of physical education per week during that period, and the 76 children (50% boys) in the three control schools did the standard 60 minutes. Questionnaires assessed the durations of total and leisure‐time physical activity and screen‐time activity at baseline and after five and seven years. Results Physical activity and screen‐time activity were similar between the two groups before the study started. The intervention group then achieved higher durations of total physical activity than the controls (p < 0.001) and these levels remained in the sex‐specific evaluations. There were no differences between the groups in the durations of leisure‐time activity (p 0.08–0.77) or screen‐time activity (p 0.31–0.91). Conclusion A school‐based exercise intervention programme increased the total duration of physical activity in both sexes without any compensatory increase in screen‐time activity. The findings contradict the activity‐stat theory, which stated that the duration of physical activity in children is constant.