Childhood is a critical
time for the development of motor coordination skills which are essential for
health and well-being.
Little couch potatoes have worse motor coordination than
their active peers, which periodic bouts of exercise may not overcome,
Portuguese researchers found.
Spending more than three-quarters of the
day sedentary appeared to be a significant discriminating factor separating 9-
to 10-year-olds with poor coordination from those with good coordination (P<0.05 for both
boys and girls) in a study led by Luís Lopes, of Minho University in Braga,
Portugal. It is clear that high level of sedentary behaviour is an independent
predictor of low motor coordination, regardless of physical activity levels and
other key factors.
Boys who spent more than 76% of their
time sitting at school or at home in front of a TV or computer screen were 9.2
times less likely to have good coordination. Girls who spent more than 77% of
their time sedentary were 5.1 times less likely to be coordinated.
Those links were independent of
accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as well as
waist-to-height ratio and other factors, the group reported online in the American Journal of Human
Biology.
"Our findings suggested that
physical activity levels per se may
not overcome the deleterious influence of high levels of sedentary behavior on
motor coordination," they wrote.
Gaining gross motor coordination is part of
children's overall development and is thought to promote exercise and thus a
healthier lifestyle, the researchers pointed out.
"Body composition,
cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength and endurance, anaerobic capacity,
power, and physical activity have all been negatively associated, to various
degrees, with poor motor proficiency," they added.
However, the study
couldn't determine causality in the link, which may work in both directions.
More coordinated kids may feel more competent at sports and other activities
and thus spend more time active; and kids who are more active better develop
their motor coordination.
The study included 213
fourth graders at 13 public elementary schools in urban areas of a city in
northern Portugal who wore accelerometers for five days.
When tested with a body
coordination test evaluating tasks like walking on a balance beam to measure
balance, speed, agility, and power, 46% of girls and 59% of boys had normal or
good coordination.
Overall, 76% of kids' time
was spent in sedentary behaviors, defined as a period with energy expenditure
of less than 1.5 metabolic equivalents, akin to what is seen when sleeping,
sitting, or watching television.
The accelerometer bypassed
subjective recall bias and captured the entire daily pattern of activity,
although it didn't allow the type of sedentary behavior to be distinguished,
the researchers noted.
The group speculated
"that providing children with alternatives to sedentary behavior, namely
daily physical education classes, opportunities for sports participation in and
outside school, and school recesses more conducive to activity, could have a
positive impact on their motor coordination, which could in turn increase
physical activity and decrease time spent in sedentary behaviors."
However, they acknowledged
that further longitudinal and interventional studies would be needed to
determine any real-world impact.
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