Influence of physical activity on change in weight status as children become adolescents

Abstract

Overweight children as young as 9 years old are already participating in less PA than normal weight youth. Although PA declined from childhood to adolescence, overweight girls with normalized weight status, had less of a decline in MPA or VPA than normal weight girls who became overweight. The data highlight the complexity of the interrelationship between physical activity and weight gain or loss. These data suggest that habitual physical activity levels, especially in girls, may have a role in adolescents attaining a healthy weight status.

Results From Shanghai’s (China) 2016 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth

“…[1][2][3][4][5] One hour of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) is recommended everyday for 5-to 17-year-olds by the World Health Organization (WHO) 6 and several countries. 5,7 Similar to many other countries, 8 China suffers the burden of declining PA levels and increasing sedentary behavior among school-aged children, the likely result of broad social changes.…”

Tracking of physical activity behaviours during childhood, adolescence and young adulthood: a systematic review

“…In these studies, frequency of physical activity peaks at about 10-11 years 29 , and then declines 30 . The biggest decrease is between 12 and 15 years 31 .…”

“…There was some evidence to suggest that less structured activities such as running, cycling and walking might increase 22 , or remain high 26 , from adolescence to adulthood, and these less structured sporting activities may also increase the odds of being active in adulthoodFrequency of physical activity, time spent in physical activity and physical activity scores The remaining studies were grouped according to how physical activity was measured; whether by frequency of physical activity behaviour [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] (Table 3) or time spent carrying out physical activity [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] (Table 4). Several studies calculated an overall physical activity level or score for subjects 17,26,30,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59] (Table 5). The majority of these studies simply provided an overall or mean measurement of physical activity in the populations at two time-points, with no facility to estimate degree of tracking (for which individual measurements are required).…”

Levels of physical activity in Spanish adolescents (aged 12 to 14) measured by accelerometry

“…Although the literature underlines the importance of physical exercise in both childhood and adolescence (McMurray et al, 2005) and the connection between regular physical activity and the consolidation of a healthy lifestyle for these age groups (Cavill, et al, 2001), a number of studies show that both at the pre-school stage (Kelly et al, 2007), and in childhood (Howell et al, 1999) and adolescence (Armstrong & McManus, 1994), the amount and intensity of physical activity by boys and girls is insufficient, often being replaced by other sedentary activities which take up many hours in their lives ( In addition to this clear lack of activity, young people do not consider the benefits of physical activity important for their health (García et al, 1998), and demonstrate limited knowledge of the concept of physical activity (Trost et al, 2000). Both of these findings may be related to their lack of regular physical exercise.…”