The study measured physical activity levels of 50 boys and 50 girls aged 9-10 using accelerometers worn for 7 days. It found that on average, girls spent 38 more minutes per day being sedentary than boys. Boys also spent 19 more minutes per day doing moderate to vigorous physical activity. Overall, both genders spent over 9 hours per day being sedentary. Just over half of the pupils met the government's physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes per day, with more boys (36%) meeting it than girls (18%). The study concludes that sedentary time needs to be reduced and girls' physical activity levels need to be increased to meet guidelines and improve health.

1. Measuring the moderate-vigorous physical activity and
sedentary time in year 5 pupils for both boys and girls
Joel Huskisson 541817; Keith Mitchell 660908; Sam Walker 652581
Introduction
• Referring to ‘Start Active, Stay Active guidelines’ (SASA) is the
following: The percentage statistics show that Physical Activity (PA)
lowers the risk of disease by between 20-40%. From the source:
Department of Health (2004) the Dose-response graph (Figure 1)
clearly shows that the more physically active you are, the less risk
of disease and the less physically active you are the higher the risk
of disease.
• According to the SASA, 5-18 year olds should be engaging in
moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for at least 60 minutes
a day and up to several days a week. Strength of muscle and bone
activities should be incorporated at least three times per week.
• The aim of this study is to measure the activity levels of boys and
girls in year 5 and to make comparisons between the two genders.
Methods
• The sample group of this study was 50 boys and 50 girls aged 9-
10. We measured the activity levels of these 100 pupils using
accelerometers (ActiGraph wGT3X-BT). Pupils wore an
accelerometer for 7 days on the right hip during the hours when
they were awake. Once the 7 day period was over, we analysed
and evaluated the mean data of: Average sedentary minutes per
day, Average MVPA minutes per day and lastly the percentage of
pupils meeting the SASA guidelines for MVPA. We evaluated the
study and made conclusions on how pupils can improve their PA
levels.
• Equipment list (Equipment, manufacturer, country of origin):
1. Accelerometer (wGT3X-BT), ActiGraph, United States of America
2. ActiLife software, ActiGraph, United States of America
3. Microsoft Excel, Microsoft, United States of America
Evaluation and Implication
• On table 1 it shows that girls spend more time being sedentary
than boys by a difference of 38 minutes. However overall for both
groups it shows that both genders spent more than 9 hours being
sedentary. Table 1 also shows that boys spend more time than
girls doing MVPA, by a mean difference of 19 minutes. Even
though there is a small difference between both genders, figure 2
shows that just over half the pupils sampled (54%) in the sample
met the government requirements and the majority were boys
(36%) compared to girls (18%).
• Comparing Wenthe et al (2009) data, there is a same relationship
that boys spent more time taking part in MVPA than girls and
described that the main factors for participating in PA are family
support, friend support and self-efficacy. Martinez- Gomez et al
(2011) data shows that European children spent on average 540
minutes (9 hours) of sedentary time and did on average 62
minutes of MVPA per day. Sedentary time for both genders is
higher than previous research and also girls spend extra 54
minutes of sedentary time.
• Based on the results, to increase the amount of PA within a school
environment, the sedentary time during school may have to be
reduced. More research will need to go into effective interventions
to increase MVPA and reduction in sedentary time. According to
Trost et al (2000), MVPA was significantly lower on weekends
compared to week days showing that school is essential to
maintain MVPA levels due to the environment schools provide.
Over all MVPA levels of girls needs to be raised in order to meet
the government guidelines and sedentary time for both genders
needs to be reduced to improve health.
References
1. Department of Health, Physical Activity, Health improvement and Protection (2011). Start
Active, Stay Active: A report on physical activity from the four home countries’ Chief
Medical Officers.
2. Department of Health (2004) At least five a week: Evidence on the impact of physical
activity and its relationship to health. A report from the Chief Medical Officer.
3. Wenthe, PJ., Janz, KF., & Levy, SM. (2009). Gender similarities and differences in factors
associated with adolescent moderate-vigorous physical activity. Paediatric Exercise
Science , 21, 291-304.
4. Martinez-Gomez, D., Ortega, FB., Ruiz, JR., Vincente-Rodriguez, G., Veiga, OL. et al.
(2009). Excessive sedentary time and low cardiorespiratory fitness in European
adolescents: the HELENA study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 29, 240-246.
5. Trost, SG., Pate, RR., Freedson, PS., Sallis, JF., & Taylor, WC. (2000). Using objective
physical activity measures with youth: How many days of monitoring are needed?.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 32, 426-431.
Results
Table 1: Mean ± Standard Deviation number of minutes spent
partaking in sedentary and MVPA per day in boys and girls
Boys Girls
Mean sedentary per
day (minutes)
556 ± 80 594 ± 51
Mean MVPA per
day (minutes)
75 ± 19 56 ± 17
Figure 1: Dose- Response curve (Department of Health, 2004)-
Showing relationship between physical activity and risk of disease.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Girls Boys Combined
MeetingMVPAguidelines(%)
Gender
Meeting
guidelines
(%)
Not meeting
guidelines
(%)
Figure 2. Percentage of pupils meeting or not meeting the MVPA
guidelines set by the government.