Changes in exercise regime affected by teaching the module healthy lifestyle

Health and health protection represents value that requires a life-long active approach. Social health and its improvement are based on an active participation of every individual. Individual health, as a form of highest potential of health and harmonious personality development can be positively affected by healthy lifestyle. Regular participation in physical activity is one of the basic conditions for a healthy lifestyle and active health in adulthood [6]. Experts from various fields of sport and medicine science emphasize decrease in physical activity of young people, followed by its negative effects on individual health and health of the entire population [4, 22, 23]. Current problems in physical inactivity of children and youth and related prevalence of disorders motivates researchers to review the results of unhealthy lifestyle in this age category. Physical and Sport Education is one of the intervening forms of stimulation and motivation for lifelong active participation in physical activity. Through regular continuous theoretical instruction in teaching module “Healthy Lifestyle” represents physical and sport education at school area, suitable to increase the volume of information and knowledge about individual components of a healthy lifestyle [2, 16, 18, 20, 21, 29, 32, 34–36].

Regular spontaneous physical activity as a part of daily routine, enables one to live genetically determined potential health [15]. Daily regime has its own well-defined components. Child should be physically active in its spare time, if possible in the most diverse ways. Exercise regime is a systematic arrangement of all physical activities for a period of time and the sum of all the physical activities that occurs in human life of the workload to the nature of the interest. Subjective and objective factors such as sex, age, education, health, previous physical activity, level of motor skills, physical fitness, attitudes and social status affects the content, intensity, frequency and type of exercise regime. Physical activity should be realized in terms of satisfaction, based on human needs. Dobay [17] highlights not only the importance of recreation or education, but also the need of compensation, contemplation, communication, integration and participation.

Inactivity, on the other side effects negatively the cardiovascular system, demineralized bones, increases their fragility, and decreases the strength of the muscles, resulting in loss of muscle mass and muscle fatigue [13, 14, 26, 27, 31].

Weekly exercise regime complements, in case of children and youth, physical and sport education at school, which represents the ideal environment to create lasting relationship to regular lifelong physical activity. Physical and sport education has, due to Müller et al. [29] irreplaceable role in the education and training systems. Despite of this, the large amount of secondary and high schools pupils is not participating actively in the lessons of physical and sport education [24].

Physical and sport education has undergone the process of innovation and transformation, to improve the teaching and education of pupils at all school levels. The acquisition of theoretical knowledge as basis for individual exercise regime represents educational area “Health and movement”, which actively and systematically allows schools to support the primary health care. Physical Education and Sports is divided into four modules – Health and its disorders, Physical fitness and physical performance, Sporting exercises in the regime and Healthy lifestyle, which application we used to gain the results of our study. Content of the “Healthy Lifestyle” teaching module constitutes of an exercise regimen evidence, hygiene habits and basic concepts in nutrition, composition of foods and eating habits and knowledge about eating disorders. Furthermore, knowledge and skills about health oriented physical activity, importance of regeneration, relaxation, psychohygiene, Kalokagathia and Olympism [7].

Material and methods

Pedagogical experiment was realized at High school in city Nováky and lasted from 28.4.2017 to 27.6.2017. Experimental selection (ES) consisted of pupils of comprehensive studies (eightyear grammar school) (n = 23 pupils), control selection (CS) of pupils of comprehensive studies (four years grammar school (n = 26 pupils). Participants were pupils (age = 15.5 ± 0.5 years old), multiplicity of each sex was following ES = 17 boys, 6 girls; CS = 16 boys, 33 girls (Table 1).

using mathematical statistics methods. Incidence of results was expressed using percentage and graphically in the form of images, in which we compared both input and output data, in some indicators specifically for boys and girls. To obtain basic information about the lifestyle of experimental selection pupils, we used “weekly exercise regime record”. At first pupils recorded their physical activity during the week before the application of the experimental agent in the period from 24.4.2017 – 28.4.2017 and then after

Table 1

Characteristics of the group (n = 72)

Factors	Experimental selection (n = 23)		Control selection (n = 49)
	Body height, cm	Body weight, kg	Body height, cm	Body weight, kg
	173.8 ± 10.5	62.2 ± 15.5	170.9± 20.5	62.5 ± 12.7
Age	15.5 ± 0.5 years old		15.5 ± 0.5 years old
BMI	20.5 ± 6.1		21.1 ± 5.7

Control selection realized during the experimental period ongoing thematic units. To obtain the research data and results we applied several methods during the research. Before starting the experiment we conducted an admission assessment (25.4.2017) of various indicators identifying the level of knowledge in the teaching module “Healthy Lifestyle” (ISCED 3), selected components and some other adequate support knowledge about the positive affect of physical activity. The same assessment was realised after the end of the experiment (27.6.2017). To obtain the necessary data we used non-standardised anonymous questionnaire, which consisted of accompanying text, information about the intention, personal data (body height, body weight, sex, age, and health problems), questions about healthy lifestyle and volume of physical activity in pupils regime. Questionnaire was distributed and filled out in the whole research group (ES, CS) before and after the experiment. Obtained data were processed within the individual areas the end of the experiment from 26.6.2017 – 30.6.2017. We managed to gather complete records from 20 pupils (8 female students and 12 pupils) from ES. Exercise regime records has been processed in terms of volume of physical activity in each day of workweek (hours per day). Obtained data were assessed by Chi- Square test of good correlation at 1 % and 5 % level of statistical significance.

Results and discussion

Table 2

Changes in the volume of physical activity per week in experimental and control selection (n = 72)

Groups / factors	Experimental selection, % (n = 23)		Control selection, % (n = 49)
Volume of PA	Input	Output	Input	Output
1–2 a week	35.3	33.3	43.7	33.3
3 times a week	17.7	35.3	20.8	29.2
4 or more times a week	41.4	41.4	27.2	29.2
Inactive	5.9	5.9	8.3	8.3
SUM (Ʃ)	100	100	100	100

Table3

Changes in the volume of physical activity, hours per day, in experimental and control selection (n = 72)

Groups/factors	Experimental selection, % (n = 23)		Control selection, % (n = 49)
Volume of PA	Input	Output	Input	Output
Less than 1 hour	11.8	0	20.8	10.4
1 hour	70.5	70.5	37.5	45.8
2 hours	11.8	23.5	22.9	25.0
More than 2 hours	0	0	10.4	10.4
Inactive	5.9	5.9	8.4	8.4
SUM (Ʃ)	100	100	100	100

Interesting finding brought us the analysis of the relationship between knowledge and volume of physical activity in a research file (ES, CS). Girls said that physical activity is health-enhancing in the case that we take part in it “three times a week” (input 31.6 %, output 23.7 %). Boys have consistently said that the health effects of physical activity manifest after “3 times a week” physical activity (input 51.9 %, output 33.3 %). We observed significant increase in the option “daily physical activity”, in a group of girls from 21.1 % to 44.7 % and in the group of boys from 14.8 % to 33.3 %.

Despite the fact that 33.3% of boys and 44.7 % of girls had at the output rating knowledge, that daily physical activity is beneficial to health, “4 or more times a week” are physically active 54.2 % boys and only 22.2 % girls. In the group of girls we observed statistically significant difference between knowledge about the required amount of physical activity and the real volume of physical activity both in input and output ratings at the 1% level of statistical significance

(girls input: Chi = 20.96,p ≤ 0.01; girls output: Chi = 16.96, p ≤ 0.01). In the group of boys statistically significant difference wasn´t observed (Chi = 0.693). In order to make physical activity health-enhancing, we should, by the opinion of girls (ES,CS), actively participate in it “45 minutes” and “60 minutes” (both 36.8 %) and by the opinion of boys (ES,CS), “60 minutes” (66.7 %). Output results presented the correct answer of daily physical activity by 47.4 % of girls and 70.4 % of boys. Positive is, that knowledge about the need of active participation in physical activity “60 minutes a day” cumulatively applies in practice 65.7 % of girls and 44 % of boys of the research group (ES, CS).The frequency of proper under standing of the participation in physical activity “60 minutes a day” cumulatively increased in ES girls from 0 % to 50 % and in ES boys from 81.8 % to 90.9 %. We found that there is a statistically significant difference between knowledge about daily exercise regimen and real time of active participation in the group boys (ES, CS) in input (Chi = 7.879; p ≤ 0.05) and output ratings (Chi = 12.71; p ≤ 0.01). Statistically significant difference between knowledge about daily exercise regime and real time of active participation in the group boys (ES, CS) was detected only in output ratings (Chi = 9.489; p ≤ 0.05). The research indicated that there is a positive parallel between the knowledge and active participation in physical activity, what confirms our hypothesis.

Students of experimental selection recorded in two periods of time (before and after application of the experimental agent), duration of physical activity in each day of working week. Analysis of the results in terms of the volume of physical activity showed a larger amount of physical activity in a group of boys compared to girls. Physical activity in the group of boys also appears more regularly in terms of hours per day. Overall girls were in each day physically active from 8 to 21.5 hours (most on Thursday) and boys from 24.4 to 42.6 hours (most on Monday). Initial evaluation of ES had a range from 32.4 hours to 60 hours per day, what represented the average range from 1.7 hours/day to 3 hours/day for one student. However, the individual assessment highlighted the difference that boys were physically active from 1.9 hours per day to 3.5 hours and girls from 1 hour per day to 2.7 hours per day. From this perspective, we can state that all the members of the ES presented in the initial evaluation standard volume of physical activity required by WHO [28].

Table 4

Changes in the volume of physical activity in Experimental selection (n = 23)

Gender	Girls (n = 6)		Boys (n = 17)
Day	Input, hours	Output, hours	Input, hours	Output, hours
Monday	17.9	22	42.6	40.3
Tuesday	14.3	15.3	25.5	27.2
Wednesday	14.2	12.8	22.9	22.1
Thursday	21.5	13.3	25.4	24.9
Friday	8	8.2	24.4	25.4
SUM	75.9	71.6	140.8	139.9
Hours / day	15.2	14.3	28.2	27.9

Conclusion

The aim of the research was to extend the knowledge about the impact of selected components of a content standard of teaching module “Healthy lifestyle” during the teaching of the Physical Education on exercise regime of high school pupils. We observed changes in the indicator of pupil daily participation in the physical activity. Output rating showed in “3 times per week” physically active pupils the increase of 17.6 %, in ES (input 17.7 % output 35.3 %) compared to almost stabile 29.8 % pupils from control selection. The action of theoretical training as a form of experimental agent increased the number of high school pupils, who take part in physical activity. Similarly, we´ve noticed the increase in the volume of daily physical activity. Analysis of output records of exercise regime, in terms of volume of physical activity per day showed a larger volume expressed as increased frequency of physical activity each day in experimental selection. At the same time, we have come to a finding that there wasn´t overall increase in the number of hours per day within ES. Based on our findings we recommend enriching the content of physical education at school and emphasizing the need for application of new physical activities in the healthy mode of life “outside” of the school and educational process.

This project was supported by VEGA 1/0242/17.