Sport does not guarantee that the children receive sufficient physical activity (science daily)

PharmaLive.com (December 6, 2010) - only about a quarter of children participating in organized sports - such as baseball, softball and soccer - receive the amount recommended the Government to exercise during the practices of the team, according to a report published online that will appear in the issue of April 2011 impression of archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives Journals.

National guidelines recommend that children and adolescents are running 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, but less than half of the children and 10% of teens meet these guidelines, according to context information in the article. "American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that young sportsmen and sportswomen as a way to get physical activity as well as social benefits," the authors write, and a young u.s. estimated 44 million to participate in a program organized sports. "Despite the intensity in the moderate to vigorous range values are obtained by playing common young athletes, it is unknown how much physical activity is provided by the youth sports practices, because much of the time may be inactive, such that receive verbal instructions and waiting turns."

Desiree Leek, B.S., of San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego and colleagues documented physical activity among the 200 young years 7 to 14 who played on 29 teams in soccer, baseball or softball. Participating athletes wore accelerometers - sensors which measure physical activity - around size practice. Parents filled out surveys with information on the demographic characteristics of the family as well as details about the age of children, racial or ethnic background, size and weight.

Overall, 24% of the participants met with 60 minutes to practice physical activity recommendation. Rates differ by sport and by age group. Less than 10 per cent of participants from 11 to 14 years old and less than 2 percent of the young girl softball players reached the guideline.

Lengths of practices varied from 40 to 130 minutes 35 217 minutes of baseball and softball and soccer. The young participants were moderately to vigorously active 45.1 minutes, 46.1% of practical time. Football players were assets for an average of 13.7 minutes to 10.6% more time than players in baseball or softball. Boys were 10.7 assets more minutes and 7.8% more time than practice girls. Young athletes (age 7-10 years) has spent 7 minutes and 5.8% more time to practice moderate to vigorous physical activity under the age of 11 to 14 years.

Youth sports players on average spent 30 minutes inactive during each practice, the authors note. "Clearly available therefore to increase physical activity among young athletes," they write. "Based on the current results, it seems that youth sports practices provide a less-than-optimum contribution to the objectives of health to increase physical activity and the prevention of childhood obesity."

"Effects on the health of young athletes could be improved by the adoption of policies and practices that ensure young people obtain sufficient practical during physical activity: emphasis on participation in the competition sponsoring teams for all levels of expertise across all ages, ensuring access by young people from low-income sliding scales for costs, increase the frequency of practice extends short seasons, using pedometers and accelerometers to regularly monitor the exercise in practice of coaching strategies aimed at increasing physical activity and the support of youth and parents in obtaining physical activity adequate non-pratique days."

Editorial: Change of activity levels youth sports programs

"There is a need for more research on the amount and intensity of physical activity that young Americans accumulate during the most common sports and structured recreational activities," write Russell r. Pate, Dr., Jennifer r. Dr. O'Neill, mph, University of South Carolina, Columbia, in an accompanying editorial. "This would include not only dance lessons (e.g., classical ballet, contemporary jazz, tap) but also organized team sports and outdoor activities (e.g., rock climbing, biking, canoeing, kayaking) programs."

"More and perhaps most importantly, we need to learn the ways in which doses of physical activity provided to youth sport and activity programs may be increased more effectively by modifying the way practices and competitions are carried out."

"Physics of informal neighbourhood settings or physical activity and active transportation to school education can and should be important sources of physical activity for most young people," they conclude. "Providing young people with physical activity they need is one of the major challenges of public health in the 21st century." Available evidence indicates that sports programmes can make a significant contribution, but probably cannot be the singular solution to this challenge. »

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Source of the story:

The story above is reproduced (with drafting adaptations by staff at PharmaLive.com) materials provided by JAMA and archives of newspapers.

Journal references:

Desiree Leek. Jordan a. Carlson. Kelli l. Cain. Sara Henrichon; Dori Rosenberg. Kevin Patrick. James Sallis f... Activity during the practices of youth sports. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2010; DOI: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.252Russell r. Pate. Jennifer r. O'Neill. Youth sports programs: contribution to physical activity. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2010; DOI: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.245

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited for this.