Background Changes in physical activity (PA) levels can be observed among youth. The majority of 11 year olds in Denmark do meet the recommend level of PA; the majority of 15 year olds do not. The chances of not meeting the recommended level of PA as adults are correlated with not meeting ...
Background Hispanic-American preschool children have higher rates of obesity and Hispanic-American youth may be at higher risk for sedentary lifestyles and metabolic syndrome. Both physical and social environmental factors influence young children’s physical activity. The ability to simultaneously capture objective measurement of physical activity and location of young Hispanic-American ...
Background Evidence suggests that parents play an important role in shaping children’s physical activity levels through behavioral modeling and support. Physically active parents are more likely to have physically active children. However, research indicates that on average, parents and children spend less than 5 minutes per day engaging in physical ...
Background Determining the relation of built environment characteristics to physical activity and obesity remains an ongoing public health concern. Recent literature suggests that environment characteristics of smart growth planning (e.g., walkability, preservation of open space) may promote physical activity. However, the majority of studies examining associations between these environmental ...
Background Research studies have shown the importance of built environment in affecting people’s physical activity. Lack of sidewalks, nearby parks, and recreation centers in the neighborhood are believed to be some of the key environmental barriers to physical activity. On the other hand, factors such as presence of crosswalks, ...
Background Humans have an innate connection and attraction to nature, often referred to as ‘biophilia.’ Exposure to nature has been reported to have a positive impact on health, and several studies have documented that engaging in physical activity outdoors improves mental health and well being. Exact mechanisms remain unknown but ...
Background Due to concern about United States (US) levels of physical activity among youth, in 2009 the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement promoting environments and policies favoring physical activity, such as consideration of easier access to parks and open space. Parks provide free or low cost public space ...
A problem exists in applying the kinetic energy equation KE mv2 to estimates of energy expenditure based on activity counts over long epochs. The instantaneous velocity should be obtained over short time periods (on the order of 0.1 second) and squared to obtain the instantaneous kinetic energy. The instantaneous KE is ...
Background Increasing understanding of environmental and social correlates of physical activity can inform environmental and policy changes that help create active communities for youth. An emerging body of research suggests that all youth may not have the same level of access to physical activity resources and this may explain socioeconomic ...
Background The local build environment is believed to play an important role in youth physical activity (PA) as their independent mobility is restricted. To be able to target interventions to promote PA among youth knowledge about objectively measured PA patterns is important. We would like to be able to answer ...