Relación entre el tiempo de exposición a aparatos electrónicos, nivel de actividad física y sedentarismo con el sobrepeso y la obesidad en niños y adolescentes de 10-15 años

Abstract

Society is concerned about the time spent by students on electronic devices, which has been continuously increasing with the emergence of new technology. Time left to spend on outdoor activities, such as sports, has decreased. This problem leads to health risks. The objective of the research was to relate the time of exposure to electronic devices, the level of physical activity, and sedentary behavior to overweight or obesity, if its greater or lesser, according to the gender and the age of participants at the Juan Montalvo Educational Unit. The proposed methodology was of descriptive transversal type. The participants were 317 students: 157 males and 160 females, with ages ranging from 10 to 15 years old. To obtain the data, the IPAQ, PAQ-C questionnaires, and a prepared survey were used, and the body mass index was measured to discover the lifestyle of the students. The obtained results were analyzed with the SPSS software version 20.0, where it was found a predominance of males over females in the fields of: screen time, sedentary activities, and the physical activity level, while the level of obesity was higher in the females. In terms of age, the participants that were 12 years old spent more time on electronic devices, those of age 13 on sedentary activities, those of age 11 had the highest level of physical activity, and finally, the highest level of obesity corresponded to those of age 10. Lastly, it is shown that the values presented by the sample serve as a fundamental basis for opening new investigations with other authors who can include in their studies the different tools used