Search

Daily physical activity is essential for the motor development of children of all ages and may influence learning through movement. Thus, understanding the effects of physical activity on motor skills and cognitive development at this stage ends up having important implications for public health. Objective: to synthesize evidence from physical activity programs on motor skills and child development. Method: a literature review was carried out based on the electronic database of Lilacs, Medline, Scielo and Science Direct whose inclusion criteria were articles published in Portuguese and English that portray the subject under study, published and indexed in the referred databases in the last 15 years. Results: studies highlighted the positive influence of physical activity on motor skills, reporting significant improvements in children's motor performance and cognitive development. Conclusion: We suggest future directions for research on physical activities recommended for motor learning and the child's total development, which vary according to the child's characteristics and age at a given moment in his or her life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of exercise training on body composition, lipid and glucose and blood pressure in women with chronic degenerative diseases. The research was composed by 21 women mean age 60.3 (±9.42) years old, that showed some chronic degenerative disease. Initially they were subjected to measurements of biochemical and anthropometric measurements, measurement of blood pressure at rest. After data collection a 12-week intervention was performed, and the exercise protocol was applied three times a week with one hour each session. At the end of the intervention, the patients were subjected to the same initial evaluations. The results showed that after 12 weeks there were no significant changes in anthropometric variable, although there was a decrease in body weight. When compared blood pressure date, there was a significant change in systolic blood pressure (133.33±10.00 mmHg vs 121.11 ±13.64 mmHg, p<0.05). The lipidic profile showed considerable reduction in the level of LDL and increase of HDL, having a significant decrease in total cholesterol levels (255.14 ±36.85 mg/dl vs. 235.63 ± 37.26 mg/dl, p<0.05), the triglycerides levels (195.24 ±74.72 mg/dl vs. 134.76 ± 47.40 mg/dl, p<0.05) and VLDL cholesterol (39.05±14,94mg/dl vs 26.95 ± 9.48 mg/dl, p<0.05). In addition, fasting glucose showed a significant decrease (133.59±69.92 mg/dl vs. 117.34 ± 68.71 mg/dl). At the end of the study it was possible to conclude that the aerobic physical exercise is a well recommended conduct for women that presented chronic degenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]