Daily Physical Activity Patterns of Prepubertal Children Involved in a Vigorous Exercise Program

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the effects of a vigorous physical activity program on daily physical activity patterns of 59 7-year-old children divided into experimental (n = 26) and control (n = 33) groups. The experimental group participated in a 25-min vigorous, aerobic exercise session 4 days per week, while the control group maintained their normal daily activities, which included a 1 day per week physical education class, for 8 months. The intensity of each experimental exercise session and each control physical education class was determined by fitting Exer-sentry heart rate devices to two different children randomly selected from each group without replacement. Daily activity patterns were determined using minute-by-minute heart rates calculated from a 12-h EKG recorded from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. using an Oxford Instruments ambulatory monitor. Analysis of the Exersentry data demonstrated significantly higher heart rates (P < 0.05) during the experimental exercise session compared to the control physical education class, except during pre-exercise. Analysis of the 12-h EKG data (n = 720 min) revealed the experimental group spent significantly more time (P < 0.05) at heart rates greater than 160 bts · min^-1 (35 ± 6 min, experimental; 21 ± 3 min, control) during the intervention program. No significant group differences (P > 0.05) were observed in 12-h heart rate data collected prior to initiation of the intervention program. These data suggest that a vigorous physical activity program resulted in differences in the daily physical activity patterns of 7-year-old children.

Key words

physical activity patterns - heart rate - children - exercise