Aims: Insufficient physical activity (PA) is one of the largest public health challenges of our time and requires a multisectoral public-health response. PA recommendations state that all children and adolescents should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) daily and carry out vigorous PA (VPA) three times weekly. While participation in sports club activities is known to enhance the probability of reaching the recommended overall PA level, less is known about the contribution of sports club participation to VPA, and few cross-national comparisons have been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to study whether participation in sports club activities is associated with meeting the overall PA and VPA recommendations among children and adolescents across six European countries, namely Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland and Sweden. Methods: Analyses were carried out on existing self-reported national data sets using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Results indicate that approximately two-thirds of children and adolescents take part in sports club activities in the given countries. Sports club participants were more likely to meet the overall PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4) and VPA recommendation (OR 2.8–5.0) than non-participants. Conclusions: The extent to which overall PA and/or VPA is gained through sports club participation versus other settings needs to be further studied. Nonetheless, it can be argued that sports clubs have an important position in PA promotion for younger populations.

Many researchers and authorities have recognized the important role that sports clubs can play in public health. In spite of attempts to create a theoretical framework in the early 2000s, a thorough understanding of sports clubs as a setting for health promotion (HP) is lacking. Despite calls for more effective, sustainable, and theoretically grounded interventions, previous literature reviews have identified no controlled studies assessing HP interventions in sports clubs. This systematic mapping review details how the settings-based approach is applied through HP interventions in sports clubs and highlights facilitators and barriers for sports clubs to become health-promoting settings. In addition, the mapped facilitators and barriers have been used to reformulate previous guidelines of HP in sports clubs. Seven databases were searched for empirical research published between 1986 and 2017. Fifty-eight studies were included, principally coming from Australia and Europe, describing 33 unique interventions, which targeted mostly male participants in team sports. The settings-based approach was not yet applied in sports clubs, as more than half of the interventions implemented in sports club targeted only one level of the socio-ecological model, as well as focused only on study participants rather than the club overall. Based on empirical data, the analysis of facilitators and barriers helped develop revised guidelines for sports clubs to implement settings-based HP. This will be particularly useful when implementing HP initiatives to aid in the development of sports clubs working with a whole setting approach.

Health-enhancing physical activities (PA) performed outdoors could markedly contribute to the adoption of a healthy lifestyle in adolescence. The differences between PA preferences and actual opportunities for these PA are an issue that has received frequent attention. To date, the extent to which these differences are reflected in adolescents meeting PA recommendations and their well-being has not been explored. In total, 10,086 respondents took part in an on-line research project regarding PA preferences. Of them, 2446 also completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Long Form) and the World Health Organization (WHO) W-5 questionnaire to assess well-being. Finally, 1278 of these respondents were involved in objective PA monitoring using pedometers. The study aimed to explore the prevalence and trends regarding outdoor PA. Moreover, we assessed whether the agreement between preferred PA and PA actually undertaken was associated with higher odds for meeting PA recommendations and achieving a higher level of well-being. Of a selection of outdoor activities, Czech and Polish boys preferred cycling, swimming, and downhill skiing, while girls preferred swimming activities, skating, and cycling. The agreement between preferred and PA actually undertaken was associated with higher odds for meeting the weekly PA recommendations and higher levels of well-being both in boys and girls. Evaluation of outdoor PA preferences and taking these preferred activities into account when forming conditions for them was important in the efficient promotion of the physical and mental health of adolescents.

This study aimed to explore differences in rates of achieving the weekly physical activity (PA) recommendation between adolescents who preferred fitness PA and those who did not. Furthermore, we investigated the types of PA practiced by adolescents. In total, 9513 participants from the Czech Republic and Poland, aged 15-18 years took part in the study between 2009 and 2016. Out of this source sample, 4977 self-reported their weekly PA using the IPAQ-Long Form, and 1348 objectively monitored their weekly PA using pedometers and recorded the type of PA. Boys ranked fitness PA third, after team and individual sports. For girls, the preference for fitness PA grew at the expense of dance and outdoor PA. Among Czech and Polish boys as well as Czech girls, those who preferred fitness PA were more likely to achieve the recommended weekly PA level than those who did not prefer fitness PA. We did not find a significant difference in other types of PA and rates of achieving the recommendation of 11,000 steps/day. Preference for fitness PA was associated with an increased likelihood (OR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.12-1.52; p < 0.001) of achieving the recommendation for PA. When promoting adolescents' PA, it is necessary to consider preferred PA types. The PA recommendation was met by almost 33% of adolescents who indicated a preference for fitness PA, but only by 22% of those not preferring fitness activities. Organized PA is also important for meeting PA recommendations.

Introduction and objective: Increasing mental load and inadequate stress management significantly affect the efficiency, success and safety of the educational/working process in adolescents. The objective of this study is to determine the extent that adolescents compensate for their school mental load by physical activity (PA) on weekend days and, thus, to contribute to the objective measurement of mental load in natural working conditions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2013 and April 2014. A set of different methods was employed—self-administered questionnaire (IPAQ-long questionnaire), objective measurements—pedometers, and accelerometers (ActiTrainers). They was distributed to 548 students from 17 high schools. Participants’ mental load was assessed based on the difference between PA intensity and/or physical inactivity and heart rate range. Results: The participants with the highest mental load during school lessons do not compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. Conclusions: Adolescents need to be encouraged to be aware of their subjective mental load and to intentionally compensate for this load by PA on weekend days. It is necessary to support the process of adopting habits by sufficient physical literacy of students, as well as teachers, and by changes in the school program.