Effectiveness of School Based Physical Activity on Overweight Children - Prospective Cross Sectional Study Design

Background: Overweight/obesity are worrying factors because of inactive lifestyle and poor eating habits. Worldwide prevalence of obesity in children has increased in past few years. School based settings are an attractive point for childhood obesity and overweight prevention as well as treatment, where decisions regarding physical activity, choice of the food, attendance can be reasonably controlled. Objectives: To study the effectiveness of School Based Physical Activity on body mass, central adiposity and physical fitness in overweight school going children in terms of Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference and Incremental Shuttle Walk Test respectively. Methodology: A total of 30 overweight school going children were included. Pre assessment was done in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist circumference (WC), Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (ISWT). School Based Physical Activity were given in the form of traditional School Physical Activity, Running, Long Jumping and Trampoline jumping. These exercises were given for 60 min/day, 5 days per week continuously for 8 weeks. Post intervention re-assessment was done and pre-post data was compared. Results: Significant difference in pre and post measurements was seen in all the three components. Pre and post mean for BMI was 22.65 and 22.03, mean for WC was 31.80 and 30.86 and mean for ISWT was 119.44 and 134.72 respectively with p value