Effects of Exergaming Based Exercise on Urban Children’s Physical Activity Participation and Body Composition

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 992-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zan Gao ◽  
Ping Xiang

Background:Exergaming has been considered a fun solution to promoting a physically active lifestyle. This study examined the impact of an exergaming-based program on urban children’s physical activity participation, body composition and perceptions of the program.Methods:A sample of 185 children’s physical activity was measured in August 2009 (pretest), and percent body fat was used as index of body composition. Fourth graders were assigned to intervention group engaging in 30 minutes exergaming-based activities 3 times per week, while third and fifth graders were in comparison group. Measurements were repeated 9 months later (posttest). Interviews were conducted among 12 intervention children.Results:ANCOVA with repeated measures revealed a significant main effect for intervention, F(1, 179) = 10.69, P < .01. Specifically, intervention children had significantly greater increased physical activity levels than comparison children. Logistic regression for body composition indicated intervention children did not differ significantly in percent body fat change from comparison children, Chi square = 5.42, P = .14. Children interviewed reported positive attitudes toward the intervention.Conclusions:The implementation of exergaming-based program could have a significantly positive effect on children’s physical activity participation and attitudes. Meanwhile, long-term effect of the program on children’s body composition deserves further investigation.

2006 ◽  
Vol 91 (10) ◽  
pp. 3935-3940 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Z. Kasa-Vubu ◽  
W. Ye ◽  
K. T. Borer ◽  
A. Rosenthal ◽  
T. Meckmongkol

Abstract Context: GH is strongly related to body composition, physical activity, and pubertal progression. Adolescent girls decrease physical activity during puberty, whereas their weight increases. Because leptin is a good index of energy balance in active young women, we hypothesized that leptin is related to GH secretion in this population while taking into account fitness, fatness, and age at menarche. Methods: We measured body composition and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) in 37 postpubertal adolescent girls aged 16–21 yr. GH was sampled every 10 min and leptin hourly for 24 h. We first analyzed 6-h time blocks by repeated measures for GH and leptin, with body mass index (BMI), percent body fat, and VO2max as covariates for the entire group and a lean subgroup. The deconvolution method was used to characterize GH pulsatility from individual time points. Results: GH varied through the day (P &lt; 0.0001), with the highest concentrations overnight. BMI, percent body fat, and VO2max were related to GH concentrations in the entire group, whereas leptin predicted GH in the entire group as well as the lean subgroup of girls. Higher leptin was related to lower GH concentrations (P = 0.011), regardless of time. A log leptin level increase by 1 unit decreased GH by 27%. Pulsatility characteristics showed a 1-yr increase of age at menarche increasing total GH input by 20% (P = 0.0035) independently from BMI. Conclusion: In postpubertal adolescent girls, leptin is related to GH concentration across the lean to overweight BMI spectrum. GH pulsatile secretion was greater in girls with later age at menarche.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Kojo Anderson

Research studies have produced conflicting results of the impact of breastfeeding on overweight/obesity. This study evaluated the impact of infant feeding on infant body composition. There were two groups of mother-infant pairs (exclusive breastfeeding [EBF;n=27] and mixed feeding [MF;n=13]) in this study. At baseline, participants were similar in their demographic characteristics except prepregnancy weight, where MF mothers tended to be heavier than their EBF counterparts (67.3 kg versus 59.9 kg;P=.034). Infant birth weight was slightly higher among the MF group than their EBF counterparts (3.5 kg versus 3.4 kg), although the differences were not statistically significant. At 3 months postpartum, mean infant FMI (4.1 kg/m2versus 3.8 kg/m2) and percent body fat (24.4% versus 23.1%) were slightly higher among EBF infants than MF infants. In terms of growth velocity, EBF infants gained weight faster than their MF counterparts, although the differences were not statistically significant. The findings from this study suggest that EBF may promote faster weight gain and increase in both fat mass index (FMI) and percent body fat in the early postpartum period in addition to the numerous health benefits enjoyed by the infant and the mother who exclusively breastfeeds her newborn.


Author(s):  
Adrian Bauman ◽  
Tim Armstrong ◽  
Joanne Davies ◽  
Neville Owen ◽  
Wendy Brown ◽  
...  

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