Heart-healthy physical activity level in primary school physical education: expectations and some evidence

The high sedentary rate of children and youth in Spain encourages us to identify possibilities and propose alternatives to reverse this situation.The ex-post facto, retrospective and comparative cross-sectional study basically consisted of identifying and comparing the level of physical activity (PA) achieved in Physical Education (PE) by 43 boys and 37 girls 6th grade Primary schoolchildren (11.86 +/- 0.34 years) randomly selected from 26 centers of the Community of Madrid, according to the recommended level. For the PA analysis, the heart rate (HR) was continuously recorded by means of Polar (R) monitors during the PE classes in a school week, deriving from the recorded HR data the amount of time spent in an effort of >50% HR reserve which is equivalent to a heart-healthy PA of moderate to vigorous intensity (MVPA). The main results of the statistical analysis, whose level of significance was established at p <0.05, showed that the subjects accumulated in MVPA an average time equivalent to 21.3 +/- 18.1% of the programmed weekly PE time, being similar in boys, 21.1 +/- 18.9%, and in girls, 21.5 +/- 17.5% (p = 0.77). In the literature, a great diversity of results is observed. However, our findings are similar to some studies that, like ours, show that the level of PA reached by schoolchildren is lower than >50% of the PE time recommended. The results show that the boys and girls of the sample spent in MVPA a similar proportion of PE time, a level that, in addition, is considered insufficient to generate benefits in cardiovascular health. Although further research is necessary, the results suggest revising and adapting the current school PE programs to the idiosyncrasy of each school and its school population with a view to effectively increasing the PA level of the students.