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Children's Physical Activity Levels During Indoor Recess Dance Videos
Author(s) -
Erwin Heather,
Koufoudakis Ryann,
Beighle Aaron
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12034
Subject(s) - physical activity , sedentary behavior , dance , psychology , physical therapy , medicine , demography , art , literature , sociology
BACKGROUND Children's physical activity ( PA ) levels remain low, and schools are being asked to assume a leadership role in PA promotion. Research suggests outdoor recess contributes to children's overall PA levels. However, similar research is not available for indoor recess, which occurs frequently due to a variety of factors. The purpose of this study was to describe PA levels and intensity during indoor recess using PA dance videos. METHODS Fifty‐four children (27 girls) wore accelerometers for 5 days during indoor recess. Factorial analyses of variance were conducted to examine the differences in PA between sexes and across grades. RESULTS Participants averaged 17.66 ( SD = 2.82) minutes in indoor recess. On average, 22.22% ( SD = 12.72) was spent in moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity ( MVPA ), and 45.70% ( SD = 11.29) of time was spent in low‐intensity physical activity ( LPA ) totaling 67.92% ( SD = 16.54) of total recess time. Boys accumulated a higher percentage of MVPA and total PA compared to girls. CONCLUSIONS Students engaged in PA 68% of indoor recess time, equaling almost 12 minutes of PA during recess. Results suggest PA dance videos are 1 effective method for increasing elementary children's PA during indoor recess as an alternative to sedentary activities.