Is Participation in After-School Physical Activity Associated with Increased Total Physical Activity? A Study of High School Pupils in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This study assessed the physical activity (PA) levels and its variability across days, months and seasons of two groups of high school pupils: those who did and those who did not participate in regular organized after-school physical activity (ASPA). Thirteen pupils wore pedometers continuously for one school-year, logged their step counts into record sheets and were then interviewed for information as regards their participation in any ASPA. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that regardless of the day, month and season, ASPA pupils achieved significantly more mean step counts/day than the non-ASPA pupils. There were no significant fluctuations across months and seasons in PA levels of ASPA pupils when compared to non-ASPA pupils. We conclude that regular organised ASPA might increase the pupils’ total PA levels; and could help to maintain a relatively constant PA level for adolescents across the whole school-year regardless of the influences of a range of weather and meteorological indicators that are related to months/seasons.

Physical activity of 15-17 years old adolescents in different educational settings: a Polish-Czech study

“…Another reason of our outcomes can be that Polish adolescents have more opportunities to engage in after-school PA. After-school PA can be developed within the school setting and represents a critical window for promoting PA among youth, as well as for enhancing higher PA levels and reducing obesity risk (28). A study developed in the Czech Republic and focused on adolescents' PA demonstrated that exercising in after-school organized PA increases overall quantity of daily PA (29). Thus, it is clear that a wider offer of after-school activities could provide more favourable conditions for reaching higher PA levels.…”

Association of School Environment and After-School Physical Activity with Health-Related Physical Fitness among Junior High School Students in Taiwan

“…In addition, the after-school period is considered a “critical interval” that defines the propensity of adolescents for physical activity [ 16 ]. The after-school period may represent significant opportunities for educators and researchers to modify exercise habits and enhance physical activity for adolescents reported by Pelclová et al [ 17 ]. In this study, we performed a cross-sectional investigation of environmental variables and health-related physical fitness, measuring five physical fitness indicators in Taiwanese adolescents aged 13–15 years.…”

Secular trends: a ten-year comparison of the amount and type of physical activity and inactivity of random samples of adolescents in the Czech Republic

“…Although PA of adolescents has attracted global debate regarding its characteristics (e.g. recommended levels, influence of organized PA on total PA, sedentary behaviour, age-related decline) [ 4 , 9 , 12 , 16 ], studies have usually focused only on assessing the levels of PA, without detailed information about the specific types of adolescents' PA [ 17 ]. The different types of PA and sedentary behaviour are important for understanding active and sedentary behaviours, and for effective design, planning, and support of interventions which aim to promote physically active lifestyles.…”