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American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2014, 2(1), 48-55
DOI: 10.12691/AJSSM-2-1-9
Research Article

Effects of Daily Life Physical Activity on Obesity Indices, Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Association of the Latter Two with Academic Performance in Bengali Adolescents of India

Roan Mukherjee1 and Prakash C. Dhara2,

1Department of Human Physiology, Hazaribag College of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Demotand, Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India

2Ergonomics and Sports Physiology Division, Department of Human Physiology with CommunityHealth, Vidyasagar University, Medinipore, West Bengal, India

Pub. Date: February 12, 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Exercise in Prevention of Obesity in Children)
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Roan Mukherjee and Prakash C. Dhara. Effects of Daily Life Physical Activity on Obesity Indices, Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Association of the Latter Two with Academic Performance in Bengali Adolescents of India. American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2014; 2(1):48-55. doi: 10.12691/AJSSM-2-1-9

Abstract

This study examined the influence of daily life Physical Activity (PA ) on obesity parameters (BMI: Body Mass Index, WHR: Waist Hip Ratio, Body fat percentage) and cardiorespiratory fitness or CRF (PFI: Physical Fitness Index). The influence of the later two on academic performance was also documented. The study was conducted on 720 healthy Bengali adolescents involving 240 subjects from each of the three age groups ( Age group I: 13-14 yrs, Age group II:15-16 yrs, Age group III:17-18 yrs). Subjects of both the genders were chosen from urban and rural areas by random sampling method. Physical activity questionnaire for adolescents (PAQ-A) was used to classify adolescents into low, moderate and high PA levels. Obesity parameters and PFI was measured using standard techniques. Percentage (%) of the mean of the three years total marks of annual school examination was computed to get the academic score (%) of the participant. In most of the instances, obesity parameters were significantly (p < 0.05) varied among different PA levels. PFI also showed similar trend of results.It was seen that rural urban impact on obesity parameters may not always be necessarily present whereas in case of PFI it was consistently significant. Obesity parameters was found to have significant negative correlation (p < 0.001) with PA and academic performance. PFI possessed significant (p < 0.001) positive correlation with PA and academic performance.However, multiple regression analysis found that only body fat percentage independently and significantly predicted academic performance in both the genders. The present data highlighted the importance of practicing sufficient PA in daily life not only to keep check against increased body fat levels and prevent obesity but also to increase CRF. Additively, it indicated that higher levels of body fat and lower levels of CRF may possibly restrict performance in examination. PA induced lowering of body fat and improvements in CRF may be expected to bring about some positive changes in academic performance.

Keywords

Bengali adolescents, physical activity, obesity parameters, cardiorespiratory fitness, academic performance

Copyright

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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