The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Brain Break® activities on interest and motivation for physical activity among schoolchildren and the contribution of such activities on learning for health and holistic development. The study sample was comprised of 283 participants, primary school students from 3rd to 5th grades from two public schools in the Republic of Macedonia. Six experimental and six control groups were included in the study. Interventions in classroom settings—based Brain Break® video exercises were introduced in the experimental group during a period of three months. Students’ attitudes toward physical activity were tested using a self-report survey instrument entitled “Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale (APAS)” before and after intervention. Applied factor analyses were completed and the results of these analysis support APAS validity and the successful use of this application in the measurement of the learning experience, self-awareness, self-efficacy, and self-confidence in developing physical fitness. Learning was enhanced by using video exercises. Information presented in this paper is meaningful for the promotion of better exercise habits and the holistic approach to better health by using personal motivation and motivation provided by others. The results from repeated ANCOVA suggest positive effects of the applied Brain Break® video exercises as an interventional program. The study confirms the effect of application of Brain Break® video exercises on children’s attitudes for physical activity, motivation for PA, internalization of movement habits as personal good.
Background: This study aimed to assess the basic red blood cell variables and hematological indices in children and adolescents and analyze the differences regarding age and sex. Methods: Overall, 320 young participants, age 8 to 18 yr, were enrolled at Laboratory of Sport’s Medicine, Medical Faculty, Skopje, Macedonia in 2016. Capillary blood samples were drawn and following hematologic parameters were measured: the red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), hematocrit level (Hct) and hematological indexes: mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean hemoglobin concentration (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RDW). Results: RBC variables in male group showed high statistical level of significance between age different groups (P=0.001) for all studied parameters except MCHC (P=0.423) and RDW (P=0.174). ANOVA test and multivariate tests in female group showed that there was no significant difference for all hematological parameters between age different groups. Regarding the sex differences, male participants had significantly higher red blood count (P<0.001), hemoglobin content (P<0.001) and hematocrit (P<0.001). Conclusion: Hematological parameters in adolescent as inhomogeneous population are not quantified sufficiently, especially hematological indices. RBC variables, regardless of the age, differ very much between male and female examinees, in favor of the male examinees. Hematological indices were insignificantly higher in males. Regarding the age of examinees, RBC variables showed significant inter-groups differences only within male adolescents. While with girls, ages span 8 to 18 yr, we did not find significant differences for most of the hematological variables.
The objective of this study was to analyze the hematologic parameters and their correlation with body composition components in healthy boys at pubertal age. One hundred and ninety physically active male subjects, aged 10 to 17 years, mean age 13.87 ±4.5 years, were included in the study. Capillary blood was drawn from all subjects and the following hematologic parameters were measured: RBC, Hct, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC. The following body components derived from Matiegka anthropometric method were assessed: muscle mass (MM), bone mass (BM), and body fat mass (BF). The mean values (±SD) of hematologic parameters were: RBC= 4.87±0.41 x 10 12 /L, Hb=14.24±1.24 g/dL, Hct=43.83±3.8%. Anthropometric characteristics were as follows: body mass index (BMI) = 20.26± 3.27 kg/m 2 , relative muscle mass (MM%) = 53.18± 3.19%, bone mass (BM%) = 18.83± 2.4% and body fat percentage (BF%) = 15.19± 2.64%. Correlation analysis between hematologic parameters and body composition showed a moderate to strong correlation between RBC, Hb and Hct and all body components. The strongest correlations were found between Hb and Hct, and muscle mass (r= 0.60; r= 0.61) and lean body mass (r= 0.59). The body fat mass showed also a positive association with RBC (r=0.47); Hb (r=0.47) and Hct (r=0.48). Our findings showed that the relationship between anthropometric measures and RBC variables in healthy physically active boys were positively correlated, but the level of association was higher with skeletal muscle mass.
The aim of this research is to determine the fitness level of the Macedonian adolescents, including adolescents from both sexes with different variables of their body mass indexes (BMI). The research has been carried out on 1835 adolescents and students from 19 elementary schools throughout Central and Eastern Macedonia. The sample (average age being 13.43 ± .5) was split into two sub-samples in relation to their gender, 933 being male and 902 being female respondents. Five anthropometric measurements (IBP methodology) were used in the research, in which the body fitness was analyzed using the following parameters: estimating motor skills applying seven tests of the Eurofit fitness testing battery; body composition by applying the BIA; aerobic capacity by applying a 3-minute step test. The results have been statistically analyzed using the SPSS, v. 20.0 for Windows (variance analysis, Spearman's correlation analysis and the test). The percentage of the overweight children, classified according to the BMI is equal to 31% of the Macedonian adolescents of the same age. Both male and female respondents with a high or an increased BMI have lower muscle mass percentage and show poor test results in the evaluation of the body strength, explosive power, speed, agility and coordination, as well as a low aerobic capacity.
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