Children's Physical Fitness

Physical exercise not only improves health and well-being, but it also has a positive impact on senior citizens' social interactions. Physical exercise has a number of social advantages, including empowering older persons to participate more actively in society. Many older persons are compelled to give up many of the responsibilities they hold dear because of causes such as the loss of loved ones, retiring, financial difficulties, health and solitude.1 The necessity for health-related youth exercise programmes is supported by current research trends. The fact that childhood behaviour has an impact on adult features and behaviour is one argument in favour of the demand. This is particularly true in terms of body composition, with estimates ranging from 80 to 86% indicating that childhood obesity is the underlying cause of adult obesity. Furthermore, the cure rate for adult obesity is predicted to be less than 20%, which is much lower than the therapeutic efficacy for the majority of malignancies. Even more importantly, decreasing obesity in childhood is seen as an important step in reducing the incidence of grownup obesity, since the most effective way is to prevent it rather than to treat it.2-3

Having a healthy lifestyle as a kid has a direct impact on one's health as an adult and into old age. The contemporary lifestyle and technology advances have led to a decrease in physical activity among both children and adults. Obesity and other ailments have reached "crisis proportions" in certain societies because of a lack of physical exercise. According to

recent findings, Indians are genetically predisposed to heart attacks at higher rates than any other ethnic group. Compared to a Japanese, Chinese, Caucasians, and Hispanics, one in five Indians had high levels of Lipoprotein. However, the dramatic rise in heart disease among young people is not only due to genetics. A person's way of life is the solution. Enas says, "Genetics load the pistol; lifestyle pulls the trigger.". By 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) expects that India would have 100 million, or 60 percent of the world's cardiac sufferers. People who are less physically active are more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses, both directly as a risk factor and as a result of increasing weight. When it comes to a national crisis, life choices have never been more crucial.4

Developing physical health and promoting lifetime physical activity habits are two of the most significant aims of physical education programmes in schools and universities. To achieve this, children and adolescents must be taught from birth about the need of regular exercise and leisure activities. At all stages of education, physical activity should be promoted and encouraged by offering a wide range of activities, particularly those that may be enjoyed for a lifetime. In addition, schools should encourage the advantages of exercise, the formation and maintenance of body lifestyle, and a good attitude toward lifelong exercise training. Unfortunately, the current educational system does not include a formal Physical Education curriculum. The majority of pupils do not participate in any kind of education curriculum

limited resources and infrastructure, as well as a lack of effective motivating approaches and knowledge among parents.5 Reduced adult-onset heart related disease and some malignancies are linked to decreased adolescent obesity and hyperlipidemia, which may be prevented with regular physical exercise. In addition to lowering adult osteoporosis risk, regular physical exercise increases peak bone mass. When it comes to enhancing teenagers' mental health, using physical activity and exercise as a form of therapy goes well beyond standard treatment and the majority of mental health programmes.6-8 It is one of the most important advantages of physical exercise because it improves one's physical health. A person who is fit is able to go about their everyday tasks with vigour, which lowers their chance of developing health issues. Aerobic endurance, muscular strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, and body composition are five essential components of fitness that have been linked to improved health. Exercise has a favourable effect on several components of health-related physical fitness, and a sufficient degree of development in these components is required for good health.9

People of all ages should be evaluated on fitness-related health components on a regular basis, as maintaining good health is a priority for everyone. Regular testing emphasises the significance of an active lifestyle to keep down fat, high cardio-respiratory function, acquire appropriate muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility in the lower trunk or posterior thigh regions for optimal low back function.10 In addition, assessing students' motor skill fitness will provide light on their current academic achievement. Thus, we will be able to compare the pupils' performance to normative community norms to see whether there are enough discrepancies to suggest a need for education. Without a comparison, a raw score has no relevance. It is only possible to develop such reference scales if a representative sample of persons has taken the exams under regulated settings. Using the sample's distribution of scores, you may determine an individual's age and gender position by comparing their raw scores with the

between the sexes.11

Healthful coordination of the body's cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, metabolic, musculoskeletal, hemostatic, neurological, and psychological systems is what we mean when we talk about physical fitness.12 Individuals are evaluated on their ability to perform all of their bodily systems. Maintaining an individual's health state is dependent on both physical exercise and physical fitness. The capacity of the muscle tissue to move in conjunction with a calorie expenditure is what is meant by physical activity. According to the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. A person's physical fitness may improve if they engage in regular physical exercise, according to this theory. In 2010, the WHO reported that 81% of 11-17-year-olds worldwide were physically inactive, with females being more inactive (with 84% of inactivity) than boys (78 percent ). Adolescents' lack of physical activity is a result of a variety of variables, including urbanisation, socioeconomic position, and the environment.13-15 Obesity is a leading cause of adult-onset endocrine, metabolic, cardiopulmonary, and respiratory diseases, as is a lack of physical exercise in childhood. 96 Physical exercise and a nutritious diet help people maintain their ideal weight and fitness level. As a result of these considerations, it is crucial to emphasise that physical fitness assessment is acknowledged as a significant health marker as well as a predictor of mortality rates in adults. Studies show that a person's physical activity levels plummet between the ages of 13 and 18 years old, according to a growing body of evidence.16 Physically fit children are more likely to experience mental and emotional suffering, as well as a lower level of cognitive functioning and a worse academic achievement.17

98 Until recently, obesity and diabetes were thought to be illnesses of adults. However, it has been shown that juvenile obesity and diabetes are precursors to adult metabolic problems. A person's physical fitness is impacted by both genetics and the environment in equal measure. Physical fitness may be broken down into two categories: health and skill-based physical fitness. Adolescents' overall fitness was assessed using fitness characteristics culled from the Eurofit fitness assessment battery. High reliability and validity in testing the physical fitness of schoolchildren may be found in the test battery. In addition to health and skill fitness, Eurofit offers a battery of fitness tests. BMI, skinfold thickness, cardiovascular health, suppleness, and trunk muscular endurance are just a few of the aspects of health that will be evaluated. In terms of skill fitness, you should be able to maintain your balance, your upper-body strength and endurance, your hand grip

indicator of visceral fat in young people.18

The anthropometric assessment of BMI is a low-cost way to categorise one's body composition. When it comes to measuring adiposity in young adults, it's usually employed for that purpose. A person's BMI is overstated as obese in some demographics due to its reliance on height and build to make accurate predictions about a person's adiposity. The categorization of BMI was previously covered in earlier chapters. Adolescents who are obese or overweight OW or o NW had higher levels of adiposity as measured by BMI and DEXA, according to research.19 Teenage obesity has several risk factors, and one of the most prevalent is IGT, which is obesity-related comorbidity. IGT was found in 1.87 percent of OW and 13.19 percent of obese 12- to 18-year-olds in the study. Diabetes and other morbid conditions might result from this. Obesity is determined by a combination of anthropometric measurements such body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and amounts of visceral or subcutaneous adiposity (VA). A person's fat mass and body fat percentage may be linked with their BMI, although this measurement has several drawbacks. With lower reliability than skinfold or waist circumference measurements, the BMI is significantly linked to health indicators and should be extensively utilised by schools to assess health status. 20

Compared to the BMI, skinfold thickness had a greater correlation with body fat than the BMI.It is more accurate than BMI and WC to assess subcutaneous fat mass using skin fold measurements than to use BMI and WC alone to estimate body fat percentage. The thickness of the subcutaneous tissue may be determined by measuring skin folds in various parts of the body. The biceps, subscapularis, suprailiac, and triceps are the most regularly measured skinfold regions. In teenagers, triceps skinfold and the sum of other regions is a stronger predictor of body fatness than BMI, according to a new study. Children's central adiposity and the sum of their abdominal, suprailiac, and subscapular folds have been discovered to be closely related. In children, skin fold thickness may be used to evaluate adiposity in conjunction with BMI.21

An essential health fitness metric these days to predict cardiovascular, metabolic, and musculoskeletal problems in the future is the CRF. 40 As defined by the CDC, fitness is a person's maximal capacity to use respiratory systems can pump enough oxygenated blood to all of your body's tissues for a prolonged period of time without being fatigued. VO2max serves as a visual representation of maximal oxygen consumption. In the 1920s, Hill et al. and Herbst invented the phrase.22This is what they posited: 1. There is a maximum VO2max range. 2. To be really accurate, one must take into account the metabolic capability of the individual while measuring one's VO2 max. 3. A high VO2max is essential for extended activity. 4. A person's VO2 max is determined by his or her ability to transport oxygenated blood to the tissues at a maximal capacity. VO2 max, a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness, is represented in ml/kg/min.

The flow rate is about 5 litres per minute. This 5 litres per minute may rise to as much as 10 litres per minute in those who are really physically fit. In children and adolescents, low CRF is a predictor of cardiovascular disease later in life and increases the risk of premature death.23

The most prevalent issue influencing students' day-to-day activities is poor posture. Rarely do postural issues have an influence on a child's growth and development in general or on their quality of life in particular. Adult structural and functional restrictions are often the result of postural abnormalities that began in infancy. To put it another way, an individual's postural stability determines their capacity to maintain their equilibrium. An individual's posture is influenced by a variety of factors, including age, weight, gender, muscle segmentation, brain adaptations, psychological state, degree of physical activity, and lifestyle.24

The distribution of body fat, physical inactivity, and a sedentary lifestyle have a considerable influence on postural stability and balance in school students between the ages of 13 and 17 years. Balance is a crucial motor fitness measure, and the quality of life in maturity will be determined by its assessment in infancy, according to experts. Having a good sense of balance is being able to maintain your centre of gravity at your point of support, even if your posture is slightly swaying. When a person is standing

influence from both internal and external sources. The little deviation of a sway throughout a stationary posture does not necessarily indicate a problem with balance, but it might indicate a problem with the sensorimotor system. In order to maintain one's balance, the body's visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular systems must function together in harmony.25

Adolescents' and children's physical fitness should be regarded an important health indicator, highlighting the need of include physical fitness tests in heath monitoring programmes. It is imperative that present and future public health policies focus on increasing the amount of time spent engaging in vigorous exercise and high-intensity training. Because various health outcomes are related to different aspects of physical fitness, exercise programmes should target not just cardiovascular fitness and also muscular fitness or speed/agilty. For example, schools may assist identify children who lack physical fitness and promote healthy habits like getting them to be more active and paying attention to how intense their workouts are. This area needs long-term investigations and randomised control trials so that we can understand the nature & relative relevance of other factors throughout development and maturation and verify the efficacy of alternative promotion tactics. Public health goals should not be set based on shaky evidence or impossible-to-implement suggestions.26

1. Abbot RA, Davies PS. Habitual physical activity and physical activity intensity: their relation to body composition in 5.0 10.5-y-old children. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004;58:28591. 2. Ara I, Moreno LA, Leiva MT, Gutin B, Casajus JA. Adiposity, physical activity, and physical fitness among children from Arago´n, Spain. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007;15:191824. 3. Ara I, Sanchez-Villegas A, Vicente-Rodriguez G, Moreno LA, Leiva MT, Martinez-Conzalez MA, et al. Physical fitness and obesity are associated in a dose-dependent manner in children. Ann Nutr Metab. 2010;57:2519. 4. Ara I, Vicente-Rodriguenz G, Jimenez-Raminez J, Dorado C, Serrano-Sanchez JA, Calbert JA. Regular participation in sports is associated with enhanced physical fitness and lower fat mass in prepubertal boys. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004;28:158593. 5. Branca F, Nikogosian H, Lobstein T.The challenge of obesity in the WHO European Region and the strategies for response. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2007 [cited 2011 May 8]. p. 245. Available from: http://www.euro.who. Zakeri I. Physical activity in nonoverweight and overweight hispanic children and adolescents. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007;39:1257 66. 7. Chiolero A, Madeleine G, Gabriel A, Burnier M, Paccaud F, Bovet P. Prevalence of elevated blood pressure and association with overweight in children of rapidly developing country. J Hum Hypertension. 2007;21:1207. 8. Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH. Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. BMJ 2000;320:12403. 9. de Onis M, Blo¨ssner M, Borghi E. Global prevalence and trends of overweight and obesity among preschool children. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;92:125764. 10. Dencker M, Thorsson O, Karlsson MK, Linde´n C, Svensson J, Wollmer P, et al. Daily physical activity in Swedish children aged 811 years. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2006;16:2527. 11. Fogelholm M, Stigman S, Huisman T, Metsa¨muuronen J. Physical fitness in adolescents with normal weight and overweight. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2008;18:16270. 12. Janz KF, Lutuchy EM, Wenthe P, Levy SM. Measuring activity in children and adolescents using self-report: PAQ-C and PAQ-A. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008;40:767721030. 13. Kowalski KC, Crocker PRE, Donen RM.The physical activity questionnaire for older children (PAQ-C) and adolescents (PAQ-A) manual. Saskatoon: College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan; 2004. 37 p. 14. Laitinen J, Power C, Ja¨rvelin MR. Family social class, maternal body mass index, childhood body mass index, and age at menarche as predictors of adult obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001;74:28794. 15. Laitinen J, Sovio U.Nuorten lihavuuden kehityssuunnat Tuloksia Pohjois-Suomessa vuonna 1966 ja 1986 syntyneiden tutkimuksesta. Suomen la¨a¨ka¨rilehti 2005;42:42315. [In Finnish, abstract in English] 16. Li Y, Brock K, Cant R, Ke L, Morrel S. Parental obesity as predictor of childhood overweight/obesity in Australian migrant children. Obes Res Clin Pract. 2008;2:17987. 17. Page A, Cooper AR, Stamatakis E, Foster LJ, Crowne EC, Sabin M, et al. Physical activity patterns in nonobese and obese children assessed using minute-by-minute accelerometry. Int J Obes (Lond). 2005;29:10706. 18. Rosenbloom AL. Increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents:

Health-related quality of life of severely obese children and adolescents. JAMA 2003;289:18139. 20. Serdula M, Ivery D, Coates R, Freedman D, Williamson D, Byers T. Do obese children become obese adults? A review of the literature. Prev Med. 1993;22:16777. 21. Stigman S, Rintala P, Kukkonen-Harjula K, Kujala U, Rinne M, Fogelholm M. Eight-year-old children with high cardiorespiratory fitness have lower overall and abdominal fatness. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2009;4:98105. 22. Tammelin T, Laitinen J, Na¨yha¨ S. Change in the level of physical activity from adolescent into adulthood and obesity at the age of 31. Int J Obes. 2004;28:77582. 23. Whitaker RC, Wright JA, Pepe MS, Seidel KD, Dietz WH. Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity. N Eng J Med. 1997;337:86973.1031 24. WHO Media centre. Obesity and overweight. Fact sheet No. 311. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2011 [revised 2011 March; cited 2011 May 8]. Available from: http://www.who.int/ mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/index.html 25. WHO, Multicentre Growth Reference Study Group. WHO Child Growth Standards. Length/height-for-age, weight-forage, weight-for-length, weight-for-height and body mass indexfor-age: methods and development. Geneva: World Health Organization, Department of Nutrition for Health and Development; 2006 [cited 2011 May 8]. 312 p. Available from: http:// www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/Technical_re

port.pdf 26. Wing YK, Hui SH, Pak WM, Ho CK, Cheung A, Li AM, et al. A controlled study of sleep related disordered breathing in obese children. Arch Dis Child. 2003;88:10437.

Research Scholar, Sunrise University, Alwar, Rajasthan