title: Physical activity patterns of kindergarten children in comparison to teenagers and young adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Due to the increasing occurrence of obesity and low physical activity (PA) reported in school children there is a need to investigate PA patterns of preschool children. Our aim was to identify the PA of preschool children in comparison to the PA of teenagers and young adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  PA of 104 Czech preschool children (aged 5-7 years), 1174 teenagers (aged 12-17 years) and 787 young adults (aged 18-24 years) was determined using Caltrac accelerometery. PA was evaluated on the basis of activity energy expenditure (AEE--kcal kg(-1) day(-1)). Subjects were monitored over 7 days to include a weekend.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AEE in preschool children was significantly higher in comparison to all age groups of teenagers and young adults during both weekdays and at the weekend (P<0.0001). On weekdays during leisure time, preschoolers were considerably more physically active than all categories of teenagers and young adults (P<0.001). Preschoolers show similarities in PA level between weekdays and weekends, unlike the older age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems to appear that organized daily PA (2x20 min of exercising on carpet, 50-70 min of walking outdoors) in preschool children along with enough space for spontaneous PA establishes prerequisites for their further healthy development.
authors: Center for Kinanthropology Research, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic. erik.sigmund@upol.cz
authors: Erik
authors: E
authors: Sigmund
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: De Ste Croix
authors: Ludmila
authors: L
authors: Miklánková
authors: Karel
authors: K
authors: Frömel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003604:Czechoslovakia; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control