THE CONNECTION OF CHILDREN\u27S PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH

Namen raziskave je bil ugotoviti povezanost gibalne aktivnosti otrok z zdravjem otrok in ugotoviti, ali so bolj gibalno aktivni otroci tudi bolj zdravi kot njihovi manj aktivni vrstniki. Raziskava je bila opravljena na vzorcu 453 otrok, starih od 9 do 11 let. V raziskavo so bili zajeti otroci, ki so v tem času obiskovali OŠ Cirkulane-Zavrč, OŠ Markovci, OŠ Laporje, OŠ Šmarje pri Jelšah, OŠ Franca Rozmana Staneta in OŠ Toneta Čufarja. Gibalno dejavnost otrok smo ugotavljali s pomočjo anketnega vprašalnika, ki so ga izpolnjevali otroci sami. Na osnovi gibalne dejavnosti so bili učenci razdeljeni v skupine nizko, srednje in zelo gibalno dejavnih otrok. Njihovo gibalno dejavnost smo ugotavljali s pomočjo anketnega vprašalnika, na katerega so odgovarjali sami, razdeljeni v skupine. Za ugotavljanje splošnega zdravja je bil uporabljen Kindlov vprašalnik Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children. Zbrani podatki so bili obdelani z računalniškim programom SPSS 19.00 za Windows. Rezultati so pokazali, da ni statističnih razlik med različno gibalno dejavnimi otroci v slabem počutju, pogostosti glavobolov in bolečin v trebuhu, utrujenosti in izčrpanosti ter moči in energiji. Ugotovitve so pokazale, da v obdobju preadolescence splošno zdravje naj ne bi bilo povezano z gibalno dejavnostjo, kar je presenetljivo, saj večina raziskav potrjuje močno pozitivno povezanost gibalne dejavnosti in zdravja. Podobno raziskavo bi bilo smiselno izvesti z bolj natančnim instrumentarijem za ugotavljanje gibalne dejavnosti (pedometer) ter morda z zdravniškim osebjem ter zdravstvenimi kartoni za ugotavljanje zdravja.The aim of this diploma paper research was to determine the influence of physical activity to children’s health – whether more physically active children are also healthier than their less active peers. The research was conducted on a sample of 453 children from 9 to 11 years of age. The sample comprised of a group of children who currently attended Cirkulane-Zavrč Primary School, Markovci Primary School, Laporje Primary School, Šmarje pri Jelšah Primary School, Franc Rozman Stane Primary School and Tone Čufar Primary School. Children\u27s physical activity was observed by a survey questionnaire, which was filled-out by the children themselves. Based on their physical activity, the pupils were divided into groups of low, medium and extremely physically active children. To determine their general health, Kindle Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children was used. The data collected was processed with a Windows computer program SPSS 19.00. The results indicated no statistical differences between the groups of children of various physical activities in regard of general welfare, the frequency of headaches and abdominal pain, fatigue and exhaustion and the strength and energy. According to the results obtained, during preadolescence, the general health tends not to be in correlation with the physical activity. These results were surprising, because most contemporary studies confirm a strong positive correlation between physical activity and health in children. It is, therefore, recommended to perform a similar research with the more exact instrumentation for identifying physical activity (pedometer), and perhaps estimate children’s health in cooperation with the medical personnel and health records