Restricting opportunities to be active during school time: Do children compensate by increasing physical activity levels after school?

Opportunities for children to be physically active during school time are s parse and becoming increasingly so. The purpose of this investigation was t o determine if children would compensate for school days (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) of restricted physical activity opportunities by increasing activity levels a fter school (3 p.m.-7:30 p.m.). Third and fourth grade children (N = 76) ea ch wore a CSA accelerometer of 4 nonconsecutive days. Two days were categor ized as active-during school, all children participated in outdoor recess a nd physical education class. Two days were categorized as restricted-all ch ildren spent their recess time outdoors at a computer terminal, and no phys ical education class. Two days were categorized as restricted-all children spent their time indoors at a computer terminal, and no physical education class was scheduled. Dependent t tests revealed that children did not compe nsate for a sedentary school day by increasing their levels of physical act ivity after school. In fact, average movement counts per minute were higher in the 3 p.m.-7:30 p.m. following the active day (525 counts.min(-1)) vers us the restricted day (186 counts.min(-1)). These findings suggest cause fo r concern if children's opportunities to be active within school time are l imited. Several reasons are given as to why children did not compensate or "make up" for the physical activity opportunities missed during the restric ted school day.