Physical Activity Patterns in Secondary School Children

Abstract

The physical activity patterns of a group of pupils in school years 7 to 10 from two communities representative of the South of England were examined using minute by minute heart rate monitoring. Data from 3 school days were obtained from 52 boys and 42 girls. Data were analysed for the % time and the frequency of 10 and 20 minute periods of sustained activity with the heart rate exceeding moderate (? 140 beats.min‐1) and vigorous (? 160 beats.min‐1) activity thresholds. The % of children accumulating 30 mins daily of at least moderate intensity physical activity was calculated. In comparison with data collected from the same region over 10 years ago, girls spent a greater % of time in moderate physical activity and more of them accumulated 30 minutes of moderate activity daily. Differences between boys and girls for the % time spent in moderate and vigorous activity were not significantly different in the present study. Analyses of the sustained periods revealed striking similarities between our previous study and the present data set and confirmed a considerably lower frequency of sustained activity periods in girls. In both studies, age was significantly and negatively correlated with the % time spent in moderate and vigorous activity. The young people studied were also notably less active at weekends than during the school week. Therefore, whilst activity levels do not appear to have fallen dramatically over the past decade, the present data confirm that many secondary school age children have adopted sedentary lifestyles. School physical education represents an ideal setting for the promotion of physically active lifestyles, but the continuing squeeze on the time available for physical education and the evident disparity between young people's preferred physical activities and those offered in schools represent barriers which will inevitably limit schools’ ability to positively influence young people's lifestyles.