Preschoolers sedentary

[Guest guest]

Preschoolers are not necessarily the nonstop dynamos of their reputation,

even when they're playing outside, researchers here said.

In a cross-sectional study, kids spent 89% of their days at daycare centers

doing sedentary activities, H. Brown, Ph.D., of the University of

South Carolina, and colleagues reported in the January/February issue of

Child Development.

" The 'conventional wisdom' of many early childhood educators is that young

children are very active in preschools, " the researchers said. " [but]

research has shown that, most often, young children's physical activity in

preschools is primarily sedentary in nature. "

The number of preschoolers going to daycare programs has increased

dramatically, hand-in-hand with the recent overweight trend among children,

the researchers said.

However, there's limited information about children's physical levels at

preschools.

So to describe their physical activity behaviors and to determine which

conditions predict physical activity, the researchers conducted the

cross-sectional Children's Activity and Movement in Preschools Study

(CHAMPS) of 476 children ages three to five enrolled in 24 preschools in a

metropolitan area of South Carolina.

During 30-minute observation periods, researchers focused on one child and

recorded five levels of physical activity: motionless, stationary with limb

movement, slow easy activity, moderate activity, and vigorous activity.

A total of 264,809 indoor observations were made, accounting for 87% of all

observations, and 29,694 outdoor observations were made, accounting for 10%.

The majority of children's activities were sedentary. During a typical day,

89% of activities were sedentary, 8% were lightly active, and 3% were

moderate-to-vigorously active.

Of the indoor observations, 94% of activity was sedentary, while only 1% was

moderate-to-vigorous. Outdoors, 56% of activity was sedentary while 17% was

moderate-to-vigorous.

" Even during outdoor play, our observations indicated that most often

children's activities were sedentary, " the researchers said. " Teachers very

rarely used intentional methods such as encouragement to be physically

active and teacher-arranged activities to increase physical activity. "

The researchers said that kids were more likely to be active when balls and

other play objects were introduced. Also, having open space was associated

with more physical activity.

" If one's goal is to increase children's physical activity while decreasing

their sedentary behavior, careful attention to the availability of

particular outdoor materials and sufficient open space, which are associated

with preschoolers' opportunities for physical activity, may be warranted, "

the researchers said.

They noted their results may be limited with respect to generalizability,

especially to children in public schools, because the study was conducted in

community-based preschools that weren't affiliated with public schools.

Still, they concluded that " low levels of children's activity and the lack

of adult encouragement point to a need for teachers to organize, model, and

encourage physical activity. "

The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of

Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.

Primary source: Child Development

Source reference:

Brown WH, et al " Physical activity in preschools " Child Dev 2009.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/12779

--

Ortiz, MS RD

" Nutrition is a Science,

Not an Opinion Survey "