A study on physical activity levels of young children in the nursery school / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

Six male and seven female children, aged five or six years, ran on the flat treadmill increasing running speeds every two minutes by 20 m/min till their subjective exhaustions. The first steps were started with the speeds of 80 or 100 m/min and the rest periods of 30 seconds were inserted between each successive step for the blood sampling. Expired airs for the determination of oxygen uptakes were collected during the last 30 seconds of every stage. Heart rates were recorded for each subject throughout the whole test session.<BR>Two male and two female subjects were selected in order to determine their physical activity levels in the nursery school. Their heart rates were recorded from Monday to Saturday in a given week.<BR>Analyses of physical activity patterns were tried by relating heart rate levels to circulorespiratory variables which were equivalent to 3 or 4 mmo<I>l</I>/<I>l</I> blood lactate concentration (3m MLA or 4m MLA) .<BR>By so doing, the following results were obtained<BR>1) Mean values of blood lactate concentrations observed immediately after the cessation of the last exhaustive steps were 5.16 m MLA for males and 4.70 m MLA for females.<BR>2) Relative values of heart rate to 3 and 4 m MLA against maximal heart rate (% HRmax-3 m MLA and % HRmax-4 m MLA) were respectively 92.2% HRmax-3 m MLA and 97.5% HRmax-4m MLA for males and 94.9% HRmax-3 m MLA and 98.2% HRmax-4 m MLA for females.<BR>The corresponding relative values of oxygen uptakes were 85.2% Vo<SUB>2</SUB>max-3 m MLA and 94.3% Vo<SUB>2</SUB>max-4 m MLA for males and 89.7% Vo<SUB>2</SUB>max-3 m MLA and 96% Vo<SUB>2</SUB>max-4 m MLA for females.<BR>3) Mean values of heart rate recorded in the nursery through a given week except Sunday ranged from 89 to 114 beats/min for males and 106 to 126 beats/min for females. In the relative value of a heart rate against the heart rate equivalent to 4 m MLA, that is, HR 4 m MLA these values correspond to 44-57% HR 4 m MLA and 57-67% HR 4 m MLA respectively.<BR>4) Accumulated duration time Their hearts beat higher than 160 beats/min, except in the case of 800 m endurance run (only 0-4 and 0-6 minutes for males and 0-6 and 4-21 (touch of tachycardia) minutes for females) .<BR>Percentages of accumulated duration time lower than 120 beats/min occupied 72-94% and 77-91% of 6 or 7-hour nursing time for males and 51-91% and 51-78% for females.<BR>5) Absolute and relative values of mean heart rates in 800 m endurance run ranged from 183 beats/min (Net 83% HRmax, 90% HR 4 m MLA) to 199 beats/min (Net 98% HRmax, 104% HR 4 m MLA) for males and from 172 beats/min (Net 77% HRmax, 92% HR 4 m MLA) to 196 beats/min (Net 92% HRmax, 96% HR 4 m MLA), though the duration times were short.<BR>6) Optimal intensity of work load was proposed to be the heart rate level of at least 190 beats/min for favourable development and/or improvement of the circulo-respiratory system in young children.