Resumo

CORNEJO-BARRERA, Judith; LLANAS-RODRIGUEZ, José Daniel  e  ALCAZAR-CASTANEDA, Carlos. Actions, programs, projects and policies to diminish sedentarism and to promote physical activity in children. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2008, vol.65, n.6, pp.616-625. ISSN 1665-1146.

Innate physical activity in children is a lifestyle that we should conserve, promote and strengthen, mainly nowadays when sedentarism is favored. As a consequence, the prevalence of chronic illnesses such as overweight, obesity, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease is increasing. In Mexico, according to data of the ENSANUT 2006, overweight and obesity occur in 26.5% of the children of 5-11 years. Therefore, it is necessary to design and to implement programs and actions that lead to a decrease of sedentarism similar to those implemented in countries like Canada, United States, Chile, Brazil, Australia, and other countries. Such programs have proven the beneficial effects of exercise, including adiposity loss, muscle mass increase, increase of energy expense and oxygen consumption, decrease of insulin resistance and triglycerides, increase of HDL-cholesterol, and improvement in self-esteem. These programs should be included in local and regional projects, in tune with different age groups, habits and population customs. It is important to measure the intensity of the physical activity with instruments validated such as questionnaires, pedometers, accelerometers, etc. Finally, to achieve the objectives and to impact in the decrease of the morbility and mortality of chronic illnesses the whole population should be included in this type of programs.

Palavras-chave : Life style; sedentarism; physical activity; child; programs.

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