Are low-income preschoolers physically active at preschool settings? A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Preschools may provide opportunities for children to engage in physical activity (PA), to benefit their health, although little is known when concerning low-income preschoolers. This study aimed (1) to describe time spent in PA among low-income children during preschool hours and (2) to analyse how many children meet the PA recommendations during preschool hours. METHODS: A total of 204 low-income preschoolers (4.51 ± 0.79 years) from João Pessoa/Brazil provided valid accelerometer (Actigraph, WGT3-X) data during the preschool period. Children were grouped in quartiles of PA in counts per minute, according to sex and age. The General Linear Model Univariate was used to examine the differences in PA intensities between the quartiles and the time spent in total PA (TPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) by quartiles, according to age. An hour-by-hour description of children's PA was presented. RESULTS: TPA during preschool hours ranged from 68.33% to 113.89% of the recommended and from 28.34% to 81.68% of the MVPA recommendations. Among 5-year-old children, those in the highest quartile met the PA recommendations. All children were more active outdoors than indoors. For the less actives, preschool time corresponded to 30% of the recommended daily MVPA. CONCLUSION: The current results reinforce the importance of preschool settings for promoting preschoolers' PA and provide particularly important and useful information for tailoring preschool-based interventions focused on those who need it most. Strategies to increase children's MVPA should be prioritized during free-play time.

Energy demand in an active videogame session and the potential to promote hypotension after exercise in hypertensive women.

The aim of this study was to determine the energy demand of one session of active video game (AVG) and its potential to reduce blood pressure (BP). Fourteen hypertensive (56.4±7.5 years) individuals performed sessions of AVG, a traditional sedentary video game sessions (SVG) and walking (WAL), as negative and positive controls, in a randomly determined order. Oxygen consumption and energy expenditure (EE) were measured during sessions. BP and cardiac autonomic modulation (CAM) were measured at rest and every 15 minutes of a 60-minute period of recovery from activities. A rating of enjoyment scale was also applied. AVG and WAL resulted in higher oxygen consumption (10.0±0.5 ml/kg/min and 16.6±3.1 ml/kg/min, respectively) and EE (3.5±0.2 kcal/min and 4.2±0.5 kcal/min) compared to 4.1±0.8 ml/kg/min and 1.4±0.1 kcal/min in SVG. A reduction in systolic and diastolic BP was evident following AVG sessions (-11.6±2.5 mmHg and -8.7±2.5 mmHg) and WAL (-10.8±2.8 mmHg and -8.6±2.3 mmHg) compared to pre-experiment value, and the same did not occur in SVG. All sessions promoted a feeling of enjoyment, with no difference between them. The parasympathetic activity was significantly lower at 30 and 45 minutes in post-WAL recovery (34.6±15.0 ms2 and 34.4±16.0 ms2) in the frequency domain (HF) in relation to both AVG (195.5±67.0 ms2 and 164.5±55.0 ms2) and the SVG (158.9±45.0 and 281.3±98.0 ms2). It is concluded that an AVG session promotes increased metabolic activity and is able to promote acute reduction of BP in hypertensive individuals similar to traditional walking exercise.

Effect of L-arginine intake on exercise-induced hypotension.

OBJECTIVE: to verify if one single dose of L-arginine improves post-exercise hypotension (PEH) in hypertensive. METHODS: double-blind, placebo, randomized with 20 hypertensive (51.47 ± 1.24 years). Two sessions of aerobic exercise were performed proceeded for the ingestion of one dose of 7 g of L-arginine (EX-LARG) or placebo (EX-PLA), plus one session only with L-arginine ingestion (L-ARG). Blood pressure (BP) was measured at rest, and each ten minutes for a period of 60 minutes recovery after exercise. Blood samples were taken before and after exercise for analysis of plasma concentration of nitrite and malondialdehyde (MDA). One-way ANOVA tests were used to compare the baseline conditions and two-way ANOVA, to evaluate possible differences in pressure responses between procedures. RESULTS: both sessions EX-LARG and EX-PLA showed similar peak reduction for the mean systolic blood pressure (-6.58 ± 0.95 mmHg and -8.38 ± 1.29 mmHg respectively, p = 0.28). On the other hand, for the diastolic component, only L-ARG was able to promote PEH (-1.85 ± 0.44 mmHg), significantly better than EX-PLA (+2.13 ± 0.62 mmHg; p < 0.01). L-ARG alone did not result in significant changes in BP. Nitrite and MDA behaved similarly between procedures. CONCLUSION: a single dose of L-arginine before exercise improves diastolic PEH.