Desempenho escolar, atividade física, aptidão cardiorrespiratória e síndrome metabólica em crianças adolescentes

Abstract

Academic achievement has been acquiring an increasing centrality and importance on educational policy and consequently in the dynamics of school organization. Its impact has been reflected directly in different educational contexts, removing importance from physical education classes, not giving students opportunities to be more active nor allowing them to acquire healthy lifestyle strategies. On the other hand, the current pandemic of physical inactivity threatens physical and cognitive health in all stages of life. Despite the the emphasis on the benefits of physical activity has been placed, throughout the ages, on physical nature and public health concerns, it has most recently been given more attention to the benefits that it has on cognitive health of the population in general and, in particular, on that of children and adolescents. Growing evidence suggests that children and adolescents physically active and with better levels of cardiorespiratory fitness have higher academic achievement compared to those with less active lives. However, many studies have used subjective methods of assessment of physical activity and have not considered important variables that influence academic achievement, leading few consistent results. Thus, the present thesis had as its main objective: to analyse between the association of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on academic achievement (article I), to verify the double benefit of cardiorespiratory fitness in physical and cognitive health (article II), and to perceive the importance of high levels of intensity of physical activity in cardiorespiratory fitness and academic achievement. To this, three studies involving 1222 children and adolescents (675 girls) aged between 10 and 18 years, from public schools in the Porto area, were conducted. For the assessment of the main variables of the study objective measures were used. Physical activity was measured using accelerometers and cardiorespiratory fitness was estimated through the Shuttle run test. Body mass index, waist circumference and systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured by standardized procedures. The blood samples were collected to determine levels of high density cholesterol, low density cholesterol, triglycerides and fasting glucose, and academic achievement was measured through the school grades of Native Language (Portuguese) and Mathematics. Results suggest that cardiorespiratory fitness is correlated with moderate to vigorous physical activity that, in turn, is associated with better academic achievement. We also found that higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with a decrease of metabolic risk factors. Lastly, we found significant effects of vigorous physical activity levels' on academic achievement. In sum, moderate to vigorous physical activity seems to play an important role on health in general. Particularly, in addition to promoting health in general, vigorous physical activity may also be constituted as a new strategy in the optimization of academic achievement.