Differences in the intensity of physical activity during school days and weekends in Polish and Czech boys and girls

Abstract

Introduction and objective. The physical, mental and social development that occurs in young people through physical activity (PA) is primarily through extracurricular activities. Family, peers and social environment, in addition to schools, interest groups and school sports, play a unique role during this developmental period. The objective of the study was to examine the differences in the intensity of PA during school days and weekends and the relationship between PA and physical inactivity (PI) during these days in Polish and Czech boys and girls. Materials and methods. In total, there were 816 participants among whom 333 met the requirements of 8 hours of continuous recording of PA (ActiTrainer accelerometers) during at least one school and one weekend day. Results. Boys and girls from both countries engaged in virtually the same amount of PA during school and weekend days, and participated in more PA at lower intensities on the weekends compared with school days. Conclusions. This study surveyed important issues related to global public health, specifically for the school environment and school settings. The important and crucial relations with family were emphasized, which should increase the awareness and understanding of public health problems of this particular research sample. The results indicated that less time was spent in PI, but also that the largest amount of time during the weekends was spent in front of a screen.

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

“…The lowest difference in daily step count between boys and girls with higher and lower PA was found on Mondays; efforts to decrease this difference even further might be especially important as a way to compensate for Sundays, as the most critical day with the lowest level of PA. The low level of PA on Sundays has been previously reported by numerous studies [20,[38][39][40][41]. The unfavourable PA on Sundays in the least physically active adolescents has not been getting any better thus far.…”

An all-Poland survey of physical activity and sedentary lifestyles for middle school, high school and university students

“…Brazilian studies show that 69% of teenagers spend weekday time watching TV and being on computers, whilst 80% do so at weekends [31]. Similar studies on Polish and Czech secondary school students have likewise found that more time is spent on screen time at weekends compared to weekdays [32]. A survey by Jodkowska on Polish 13-year-olds demonstrated that the most free time is spent watching TV, followed by being on the computer, jointly amounting to four hours per schoolday and six hours daily at weekends [33].…”

Czech adolescents adopt distorted social norms regarding Saturday physical activity

“…Zatímco PA adolescentů v průběhu školních dní je v českém prostředí mapována relativně často a detailně (Mitáš et al, 2018;Rubín et al, 2018;Sigmundová, El Ansari, Sigmund, & Frömel, 2011), PA v průběhu víkendů, prázdnin a svátků je v literatuře hodnocená výjimečně (Vasickova, Fromel, Groffik, & Chmelik, 2013), a to i přesto, že toto období tvoří téměř polovinu celého roku (Česká republika 46,3 %, Slovensko 48,5 %, Rakousko 50,7 % a Francie 55,6 % neškolních dnů v roce) (Eurostat, 2018). Dle Brooke et al (2014) jsou žáci aktivní (MVPA) 82,3 ± 44,0 minut během průměrného školního dne a 68,3 ± 43,9 minut ve dnech víkendových a pokles PA žáků o víkendu potvrzují taktéž tuzemské studie (Frömel, Kudlacek, Groffik, Chmelik, & Jakubec, 2016;Vasickova, Fromel, Groffik, & Chmelik, 2013). I na základě využití moderních technologií monitoringu a lokalizace PA (GPS + geoinformační systémy + akcelerometrie) je doporučováno směrovat intervence s cílem zvýšení PA právě do dnů mimo školní docházku (Bürgi & de Bruin, 2016).…”