scholarly journals Associations Between Physical Fitness, Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Academic Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saša Ðurić ◽  
Špela Bogataj ◽  
Vinko Zovko ◽  
Vedrana Sember

There is evidence that physical activity (PA) can improve the academic performance. We recruited healthy adolescent girls, aged 11–12 years, and measured their PA with the accelerometer ActiGraph GT3X for the consecutive 5 days. Physical fitness (PF) was measured with eight motoric tests and three anthropometry measures. Academic performance (AP) was assessed for the six academic narrated school subjects. The results revealed that the girls were more physically active during the week days and less active at weekend (557 vs. 516 counts/min). Physical education grade shows the highest overall correlations with the results of the PF test battery (r = 0.53–0.95, p < 0.01). Nevertheless, correlations surprisingly decrease for the combined daily PA (r = 0.45), especially the weekend PA (r = 0.28). Grade point average and PF correlated moderately (r = 0.43-0.64), while they were moderate to high for PA (r = 0.59–0.87). Many questions arose after the completion of the present study and several new topics opened up, such as the question of how parental education affects the duration of PA and AP of the children and the influence of the place of residence AP of the children.

Author(s):  
Kristina Larsson ◽  
Örjan Ekblom ◽  
Lena V. Kallings ◽  
Maria Ekblom ◽  
Victoria Blom

A physically active lifestyle incurs health benefits and physically active individuals show reduced reactivity to psychosocial stressors. However, the findings are inconclusive and are based on self-reported physical activity and sedentary time. The present study aimed at studying the associations between psychological stressors (job demand, control, support, JD-C-S) and objectively measured physical activity (PA) on various intensities from sedentary (SED) to vigorous physical activity. The participants were 314 employees from a cross-sectional study. PA data were collected with the accelerometer ActiGraph GT3X (Pensacola, FL, USA), SED data with the inclinometer activPAL (PAL Technologies Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland, UK), and psychosocial stressors with a web questionnaire. Results showed that vigorous-intensity PA was negatively associated with demand (β −0.15, p < 0.05), even when adjusted for the covariates. SED was negatively associated to support (β −0.13, p < 0.05). Stress significantly moderated relations between support and sedentary time (β −0.12, p < 0.05). Moderate PA (MVPA) was negatively associated with demand, but only when controlling for overtime (β −0.13, p < 0.05). MVPA was also negatively associated with control (β −0.15, p < 0.05) but not when work engagement was included in the model. Being more physically active and spending less time sedentary may help to handle job situations with high demand and low support.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Esteban-Cornejo ◽  
David Martinez-Gomez ◽  
Laura Garcia-Cervantes ◽  
Francisco B. Ortega ◽  
Alvaro Delgado-Alfonso ◽  
...  

Background:This study examined the associations of objectively measured physical activity in Physical Education and recess with academic performance in youth.Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,780 participants aged 6 to 18 years (863 girls). Physical activity was objectively measured by accelerometry and was also classified according to sex- and agespecific quartiles of physical activity intensities. Academic performance was assessed through school records.Results:Physical activity in physical education (PE) and recess was not associated with academic performance (β ranging from –0.038 to –0.003; all P > .05). Youth in the lowest quartile of physical activity in PE engaged in an average of 1.40 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and those in the highest quartile engaged in 21.60 min (for recess: lowest quartile, 2.20 min; highest quartile, 11.15 min). There were no differences in academic performance between quartiles of physical activity in Physical Education and recess.Conclusions:Time spent at different physical activity intensities during PE and recess does not impair academic performance in youth.


Author(s):  
Adrià Muntaner‐Mas ◽  
David Martínez‐Gómez ◽  
Jose Castro‐ Piñero ◽  
Jorge R Fernandez‐Santos ◽  
Jo Salmon ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Emerald G. Heiland ◽  
Örjan Ekblom ◽  
Emil Bojsen-Møller ◽  
Lisa-Marie Larisch ◽  
Victoria Blom ◽  
...  

The bi-directional, day-to-day associations between daytime physical activity and sedentary behavior, and nocturnal sleep, in office workers are unknown. This study investigated these associations and whether they varied by weekday or weekend day. Among 324 Swedish office workers (mean age 42.4 years; 33.3% men), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and sedentary behaviors and sleep (total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency (SE)) were ascertained by using accelerometers (Actigraph GT3X) over 8 days. Multilevel linear mixed models were used to assess the bi-directional, day-to-day, within-person associations. Additional analyses stratified by weekend/weekday were performed. On average, participants spent 6% (57 min) of their day in MVPA and 59% (9.5 h) sedentary, and during the night, TST was 7 hours, and SE was 91%. More daytime sedentary behavior was associated with less TST that night, and reciprocally, more TST at night was associated with less sedentary behavior on the following weekday. Greater TST during the night was also associated with less MVPA the next day, only on weekdays. However, daytime MVPA was not associated with TST that night. Higher nighttime SE was associated with greater time spent sedentary and in MVPA on the following day, regardless if weekday or weekend day. Sleep may be more crucial for being physically active the following day than vice versa, especially on weekdays. Nevertheless, sedentary behavior’s relation with sleep time may be bi-directional. Office workers may struggle with balancing sleep and physical activity time.


Author(s):  
Russell R. Pate ◽  
Marsha Dowda ◽  
Ruth P. Saunders ◽  
Natalie Colabianchi ◽  
Morgan N. Clennin ◽  
...  

Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity is higher in economically and socially deprived areas. Higher levels of physical activity reduce the risk of excessive weight gain in youth, and research has focused on environmental factors associated with children’s physical activity, though the term “physical activity desert” has not come into wide use. Methods: This exploratory study operationalized the term “physical activity desert” and tested the hypothesis that children living in physical activity deserts would be less physically active than children who do not. A cross-sectional study design was applied with 992 fifth-grade students who had provided objectively measured physical activity data. Five of 12 possible elements of the built environment were selected as descriptors of physical activity deserts, including no commercial facilities, no parks, low play spaces, no cohesion, and the presence of incivilities. Results: Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that only the absence of parks was associated with less physical activity in children. Conclusion: Children living in a “no park” zone were less active than their counterparts who lived near a park. This study contributes preliminary conceptual and operational definitions of “physical activity desert.” Future studies of physical activity deserts should be undertaken in larger and more diverse samples.


Climacteric ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 456-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Aparicio ◽  
M. Borges-Cosic ◽  
P. Ruiz-Cabello ◽  
I. Coll-Risco ◽  
P. Acosta-Manzano ◽  
...  

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