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A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity

School recess provides a unique opportunity for children to be active. However, many children perceive smartphones as a key barrier for engaging in physical activity during recess. The aim was to investigate if a ban on smartphone usage during recess changed children’s physical activity. During Augu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau, Nielsen, Jonas Vestergaard, Schmidt, Tanja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7920279/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33669387
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041907
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author Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau
Nielsen, Jonas Vestergaard
Schmidt, Tanja
author_facet Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau
Nielsen, Jonas Vestergaard
Schmidt, Tanja
author_sort Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau
collection PubMed
description School recess provides a unique opportunity for children to be active. However, many children perceive smartphones as a key barrier for engaging in physical activity during recess. The aim was to investigate if a ban on smartphone usage during recess changed children’s physical activity. During August–October 2020, children from grades 4–7 (10–14 years) at six Danish schools were banned from using their smartphones during recess for a four-week period. Questionnaire and systematic observation (SOPLAY) data were collected from 814 children before intervention (baseline) and 828 during the last week of intervention (follow-up). The mean frequency of physical activity significantly increased from baseline to follow-up (odds ratio = 1.370), as did physical activity on a moderate level (odds ratio = 1.387). Vigorous physical activity significantly decreased (odds ratio = 0.851). The increase in physical activity was found among both schools having outdoor and indoor recess, among both boys and girls, and nearly equally among grades 4–7. This suggests that implementing a ban on smartphone usage during recess would improve the everyday conditions for health among a broad range of schoolchildren. Future studies are needed to further investigate the association between recess physical activity and smartphone usage.
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spelling pubmed-79202792021-03-02 A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau Nielsen, Jonas Vestergaard Schmidt, Tanja Int J Environ Res Public Health Article School recess provides a unique opportunity for children to be active. However, many children perceive smartphones as a key barrier for engaging in physical activity during recess. The aim was to investigate if a ban on smartphone usage during recess changed children’s physical activity. During August–October 2020, children from grades 4–7 (10–14 years) at six Danish schools were banned from using their smartphones during recess for a four-week period. Questionnaire and systematic observation (SOPLAY) data were collected from 814 children before intervention (baseline) and 828 during the last week of intervention (follow-up). The mean frequency of physical activity significantly increased from baseline to follow-up (odds ratio = 1.370), as did physical activity on a moderate level (odds ratio = 1.387). Vigorous physical activity significantly decreased (odds ratio = 0.851). The increase in physical activity was found among both schools having outdoor and indoor recess, among both boys and girls, and nearly equally among grades 4–7. This suggests that implementing a ban on smartphone usage during recess would improve the everyday conditions for health among a broad range of schoolchildren. Future studies are needed to further investigate the association between recess physical activity and smartphone usage. MDPI 2021-02-16 2021-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7920279/ /pubmed/33669387 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041907 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau
Nielsen, Jonas Vestergaard
Schmidt, Tanja
A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity
title A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity
title_full A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity
title_fullStr A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity
title_full_unstemmed A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity
title_short A Ban on Smartphone Usage during Recess Increased Children’s Physical Activity
title_sort ban on smartphone usage during recess increased children’s physical activity
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7920279/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33669387
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041907
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