Patterns of Physical Activity and Screen Time Among Brazilian Children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the patterns of physical activity (PA) and screen time among children and adolescents attended by the Brazilian National Health System. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil. The sample was composed of 270 children and adolescents attending 5 basic health care units. PA and screen time were assessed through a questionnaire. Economic status, sex, and body composition variables were used as covariates. RESULTS: Boys were more likely to be active when compared with girls (odds ratio = 2.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.43-4.58). Children and adolescents who accumulated less screen time were more likely to be in the most active group (odds ratio = 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.72). When comparing data year on year, we found that the level of PA has not changed significantly among children aged 7-10 years; however, at the age of 10, we noticed a significant reduction in PA scores, which kept decreasing until the age of 12. Regarding screen time, the situation was the opposite, with the amount of time spent in this behavior increasing over the years. CONCLUSION: Our results showed an association between low PA levels and high amount of screen time among children and adolescents, showing that is necessary to encourage an active lifestyle, decreasing time spent on television, computers, cell phones, and video games.

Health-related physical fitness among undergraduate students in physical education / Aptidão física relacionada à saúde de alunos de gradução em educação física

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to describe and analyze physical fitness of undergraduate students in Physical Education. The sample consisted of 110 women and 115 men. We evaluated weight, height, body mass index, percentage of body fat (BF), heart rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, flexibility, strength and muscular endurance (ME). As main results we observed a higher percentage of women with body fat and ME above the ideal values ​​for age when compared to men (BF: 37% vs 4%, p = 0.001; ME: 32% vs 13%, p = 0.001), while there were more men with changes in SBP when compared with women (22% vs 6%, p = 0.001). In conclusion, male students had higher levels of physical fitness than women, and a significant portion of undergraduate students in Physical Education showed results different than normal for anthropometric, hemodynamic and performance variables.

RESUMO O objetivo desse estudo foi descrever e analisar o condicionamento físico de alunos de graduação do curso de Educação Física. A amostra foi composta por 110 mulheres e 115 homens. Foram avaliados peso, altura, índice de massa corpórea, percentual de gordura corporal (GC), frequência cardíaca em repouso (FCR), pressão arterial sistólica (PAS) e diastólica, flexibilidade, força e resistência muscular localizada (RML). Como principais resultados observou-se maior porcentagem de mulheres com gordura corporal e RML acima dos valores ideais para a idade quando comparados aos homens (GC: 37% vs 4%, p= 0,001; RML: 32% vs 13%, p= 0,001), enquanto houveram mais homens com alteração na PAS quando confrontado com mulheres (22% vs 6%, p= 0,001). Em conclusão, estudantes do sexo masculino apresentaram maiores níveis de aptidão física em relação às mulheres, e parcela expressiva de alunos de Educação Física apresentam alterações nos valores de referência à normalidade para variáveis antropométricas, hemodinâmicas e de desempenho motor.

Acute administration of high doses of taurine does not substantially improve high-intensity running performance and the effect on maximal accumulated oxygen deficit is unclear.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of acute administration of taurine overload on time to exhaustion (TTE) of high-intensity running performance and alternative maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAODALT). The study design was a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Seventeen healthy male volunteers (age: 25 ± 6 years; maximal oxygen uptake: 50.5 ± 7.6 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)) performed an incremental treadmill-running test until voluntary exhaustion to determine maximal oxygen uptake and exercise intensity at maximal oxygen uptake. Subsequently, participants completed randomly 2 bouts of supramaximal treadmill-running at 110% exercise intensity at maximal oxygen uptake until exhaustion (placebo (6 g dextrose) or taurine (6 g) supplementation), separated by 1 week. MAODALT was determined using a single supramaximal effort by summating the contribution of the phosphagen and glycolytic pathways. When comparing the results of the supramaximal trials (i.e., placebo and taurine conditions) no differences were observed for high-intensity running TTE (237.70 ± 66.00 and 277.30 ± 40.64 s; p = 0.44) and MAODALT (55.77 ± 8.22 and 55.06 ± 7.89 mL·kg(-1); p = 0.61), which seem to indicate trivial and unclear differences using the magnitude-based inferences approach, respectively. In conclusion, acute 6 g taurine supplementation before exercise did not substantially improve high-intensity running performance and showed an unclear effect on MAODALT.