School and weekend physical activity of 15-16 year-old Czech, Slovak and Polish adolescents

Time Trends of Step-Determined Physical Activity Among Adolescents With Different Activity Levels in Czech Republic

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to present step-determined physical activity trends in adolescents with different activity levels over a period of 10 years.

METHODS

Pedometers were used to monitor weekly physical activity in 1855 boys and 2648 girls aged 15-19 years recruited from 155 schools in the Czech Republic between 2009 and 2018. Trends for average steps/day and percent of accumulating various levels of steps/day (<10,000, 10,000-13,000, and >13,000 steps/d) were analyzed by sex.

RESULTS

There was a statistically significant decrease in average steps/day between 2009-2010 and 2017-2018 in boys from 12,355 (3936) steps/d to 10,054 (3730) steps/d and girls from 11,501 (3278) steps/d to 10,216 (3288) steps/d. The percent accumulating <10,000 steps/d increased by 21% in boys and 12% in girls. The percent achieving >13,000 steps/d decreased by 17% in boys and 10% in girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Objectively collected evidence indicates an overall decrease in Czech adolescents' steps/day over a 10-year period concurrent with an increase in the percent of boys and girls accumulating <10,000 steps/d. These trends are concerning as they portend a decline in physical activity as adolescents transition to adulthood and continue to age, which also may have major health implications.

Surveillance of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in czech children and adolescents: a scoping review of the literature from the past two decades

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to map the available evidence related to physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) in Czech children and adolescents and suggest future directions and improvements to strengthen the surveillance of PA and SB in the Czech Republic.

METHODS

The search of articles published between January 2000 and December 2020 included the Medline and Medvik databases and a manual search in eight Czech journals related to the topic. This review followed the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews".

RESULTS

Out of 350 identified articles, 79 articles met the criteria for selection and referred to 27 studies. The majority of the articles were cross-sectional (89%), approximately two-thirds of the articles (61%) examined only PA, and half of the articles (51%) employed device-based assessments. Approximately 47% of the articles reported the prevalence of physical inactivity on the basis of inconsistently defined recommendations. Approximately 14%, 23%, and 10% of the articles focused on active transportation, organized PA (including physical education or leisure-time PA), and parent-child PA, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Future studies need to focus on longitudinal design and interventions, randomly selected samples, a mix of device-based and self-reported methods, and the recognition of health-related 24-hour time use patterns. This review advocates the government-supported development of a national surveillance system that will help to reduce insufficient PA and excessive SB.

Adolescents' Physical Activity in Education Systems Varying in the Number of Weekly Physical Education Lessons

Purpose: School physical activity (SPA) is a significant component of daily PA. We investigated differences in PA between boys and girls in two differing education systems-Poland and the Czech Republic-which have four and two physical education lessons (PELs) per week, respectively. Method: This project was conducted from 2012-2016 at 17 Polish and 23 Czech secondary schools (N = 921; mean age = 16.2 ± 0.7 years). ActiTrainer accelerometers were used to monitor participants' PA and heart rate during school days. Weekly PA was measured using pedometers. Subjective levels of weekly PA were self-reported on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-long form. Results: The Polish education system enabled adolescents to meet the recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous PA more likely than did the Czech system. SPA also represented a higher portion of daily PA in the Polish (vs. Czech system); however, the differences in total daily step count between Polish and Czech adolescents were non-significant. SPA accounted for 30-37% of the daily PA (as measured by step count) of Polish girls (23-30% of Czech girls) and 28-39% of Polish boys (25-37% of Czech boys). Conclusions: Participation in PELs was associated with a higher rate of meeting SPA recommendations in both countries. Compared with the Czech Republic, more PELs in the Polish education system was associated with increased daily vigorous PA and a greater portion of SPA in daily PA. Differences in overall daily and weekly moderate-to-vigorous PA between Polish and Czech adolescents were non-significant.

Secular Trends in the Achievement of Physical Activity Guidelines: Indicator of Sustainability of Healthy Lifestyle in Czech Adolescents

(1) Background: The increasing socio-economic and educational demands on adolescents should be reflected in their lifestyles accordingly. The aim of the study was therefore to identify the trends in the achievement of physical activity (PA) guidelines by Czech adolescents through objective and subjective PA monitoring. (2) Methods: The research was carried out between 2010 and 2017 and involved 49 secondary schools, 2 higher vocational schools, and 8 universities in the Czech Republic. In total, the projects involved 1129 girls and 779 boys. PA monitoring was performed by Yamax SW-700 pedometers and IPAQ-long questionnaires. (3) Results: The results according to the average number of steps/day confirm a decrease in the amount of PA in boys and girls and in the achievement of the recommended 11,000 steps/day. However, the estimates of meeting the recommended weekly PA expressed as MET-min/week based on the IPAQ-long questionnaire are not so convincing about the decrease. (4) Conclusions: The combination of objective monitoring of weekly PA using wearables and subjective estimates of weekly PA using a questionnaire regarding the ease of application, appears to be a sufficient indicator of the status of and trend in PA and thus the sustainability of a healthy lifestyle in youths.

Composition of weekly physical activity in adolescents by level of physical activity

Background

Physical activity (PA) in adolescence is crucial for lifelong healthy lifestyle, and attention is needed to adolescents at health risk due to insufficient PA. This study investigates the composition of weekly PA in adolescents by PA level and provides a rationale for change in their lifestyles.

Methods

The research was conducted at 66 schools in Poland between 2009 and 2016, among 949 girls and 650 boys aged 15–18 years. We used pedometers to monitor weekly PA with data assessed using the Indares web app. The participants were split into three groups by mean daily step count (lower, < 9000; middle, 9000–12,999; and higher, ≥ 13,000 steps/day), as a reliable and non-expensive indicator of PA.

Results

We did not observe statistically significant differences in composition of 7-day PA between participants with varying levels of PA, regardless of their gender (F_(12,9558) = 0.60; p = 0.841; η_p² > 0.000). The smallest differences in daily step counts by PA level were found on Mondays and the biggest on Fridays and Saturdays, in boys and girls; the differences between average school and average weekend days were most pronounced in less active girls (1677 steps/day) and boys (1886 steps/day). During the school week, the highest proportion of less active girls met the 11,000 steps/day recommendation on Fridays (21.9%), statistically significantly less than on other school days (p < 0.001). Similarly, less active boys (22.2%) had significantly less activity on Fridays than on other school days, except for Mondays (p = 0.143) Analogous pattern was apparent also in more active adolescents.

Conclusions

Less active adolescents have comparable composition of weekly PA to the more active ones but they can hardly meet the generally accepted PA recommendations. Better understanding of weekly PA composition and rates of meeting PA recommendations by day of the week can lead to more efficient interventions improving lifestyles. The recommendation of 9000 steps/day most days of the week, thus, appears appropriate for less active adolescents, as a motivating achievable goal.

Compensation for Adolescents' School Mental Load by Physical Activity on Weekend Days

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE

Increasing mental load and inadequate stress management significantly affect the efficiency, success and safety of the educational/working process in adolescents. The objective of this study is to determine the extent that adolescents compensate for their school mental load by physical activity (PA) on weekend days and, thus, to contribute to the objective measurement of mental load in natural working conditions.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2013 and April 2014. A set of different methods was employed-self-administered questionnaire (IPAQ-long questionnaire), objective measurements-pedometers, and accelerometers (ActiTrainers). They was distributed to 548 students from 17 high schools. Participants' mental load was assessed based on the difference between PA intensity and/or physical inactivity and heart rate range.

RESULTS

The participants with the highest mental load during school lessons do not compensate for this load by PA on weekend days.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents need to be encouraged to be aware of their subjective mental load and to intentionally compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. It is necessary to support the process of adopting habits by sufficient physical literacy of students, as well as teachers, and by changes in the school program.