Promoting physical activity and sports has become one of the most important goals of schools in most of the developed countries, due to the large number of sedentary lifestyle among people. Nowadays, society understands that physical exercise and sport have a very important role in the preservation and development of health in humans and. Besides, beneficial contributions of physical activity and sport, performed under certain parameters of frequency, intensity and duration, are universally known. For this reason, physical activity is related to a healthy lifestyle (Vílchez-Barroso 2007).
Physical activity can produce benefits in different health parameters of children and adolescents, like physical self-concept, muscular strength and aerobic endurance (Borrego-Balsalobre et al. 2012, 2014, 2015a, b), body composition and heart rate variability (López-Sánchez et al. 2013, 2015c). Physical activity is also very beneficial in people with special needs, such as individuals with Down syndrome (López-Sánchez and López-Sánchez 2013) and schoolchildren with ADHD (López-Sánchez et al. 2014, 2015a, b, d, e, 2016a, b, c, d), and can improve health parameters such as physical fitness, body image, heart rate, blood pressure, body fat, general and segmentary motor coordination, sleep quality and life quality.
However, the positive effects of the practice of physical activity and sport do not correspond to the frequency of the practice by the schoolchildren. In this regard, some researches indicate a significant decrease in the practice of physical activity and sport from childhood to adolescence (Moreno et al. 2007; Perula-de-Torres et al. 1998; Román et al. 2006).
This contradiction has provoked that the promotion of healthy habits and lifestyles is now a priority in developed societies. Surprisingly, the higher rate of sociocultural development, the worse living conditions: poor quality diet, sedentary lifestyle, acquisition of habits harmful to health, among others (Perula-de-Torres et al. 1998).
According to global recommendations on physical activity for health established by the World Health Organization (WHO 2010), for children and adolescents aged 5–17 years, physical activity includes play, games, sports, transportation, chores, recreation, physical education, or planned exercise, in the context of family, school, and community activities. In order to improve cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, bone health, and cardiovascular and metabolic health biomarkers: (1) children and youth aged 5–17 should accumulate at least 60 min of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity daily. (2) Amounts of physical activity greater than 60 min provide additional health benefits. (3) Most of the daily physical activity should be aerobic. Vigorous-intensity activities should be incorporated, including those that strengthen muscle and bone, at least three times per week.
Likewise, according to the physical activity guidelines for children from birth to age 5 established by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America 2009), the preschoolers (ages 3–5) should accumulate at least 60 min of structured physical activity each day and besides, they should engage in at least 60 min—and up to several hours—of unstructured physical activity each day.
The latest studies on habitual physical activity in Spanish schoolchildren show that more than 65 % of schoolchildren in Spain do physical activity (Castells et al. 2006; García-Cantó 2011; Hernández et al. 2007; Romero et al. 2008; Vera-Lacárcel 2006). However it is also clear that the physical activity they do is not enough, according to WHO recommendations, as it has been indicated in the studies by Romero et al. (2008), Martínez-Gómez et al. (2009), García-Cantó (2011) and López et al. (2016a, b, c, d). Therefore, according to recent studies, Spanish schoolchildren do physical activity, but not enough.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the current level of habitual physical activity in children and adolescents from the Region of Murcia (Spain), by age and gender, paying particular attention to the percentage of active and inactive schoolchildren, and to the average number of days in which schoolchildren perform the level of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization.