- Jul 2018
-
europepmc.org europepmc.org
-
On 2013 Oct 24, Tom Kindlon commented:
Extremes In Activity Levels Of Those With Persistent Fatigue Were Not Investigated
I question the claim in Viner et al<sup>1</sup> that "being highly sedentary or highly active independently increased the risk of persistent fatigue, suggesting that divergence in either direction from healthy levels of activity increases the risk for persistent fatigue."
The authors themselves point out that their "definition of being physically active (1 hour of exercise on >=2 days per week) is roughly similar to the current recommendations for adolescents of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education: “teens should do at least 20 minutes of vigorous activity 3 days a week and 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 days a week”.<sup>2</sup> So why is this level of activity, which was reported by 48.7% of the young people, being presented as being excessive? If they wanted to investigate being "highly active" (as opposed to simply being “active”), activity levels should not have been dichotomized at level they were in this study.
The question about sedentary activities was: “Outside school hours, on average, how many hours a day do you usually watch TV or videos, play video games, or play on the computer?” If a young person was sedentary for >4 hours a day, it does not mean they was necessarily inactive; indeed in phase 1, 23% of active young people were sedentary for more than 4 hours per day (compared with 30% of inactive young people). Such a lifestyle could be associated with fatigue for other reasons; for example, it could result in a shortage of sleep, rather than it necessarily causing unhealthily low levels of activity.
1 Viner RM, Clark C, Taylor SJ, Bhui K, Klineberg E, Head J, Booy R, Stansfeld SA. Longitudinal risk factors for persistent fatigue in adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008 May;162(5):469-75.
2 Corbin CB, Pangrazi RP, Le Masurier GC. Physical activity for children: current patterns and guidelines. Res Dig. 2004;5(2):1-8.
This comment, imported by Hypothesis from PubMed Commons, is licensed under CC BY.
-
- Feb 2018
-
europepmc.org europepmc.org
-
On 2013 Oct 24, Tom Kindlon commented:
Extremes In Activity Levels Of Those With Persistent Fatigue Were Not Investigated
I question the claim in Viner et al<sup>1</sup> that "being highly sedentary or highly active independently increased the risk of persistent fatigue, suggesting that divergence in either direction from healthy levels of activity increases the risk for persistent fatigue."
The authors themselves point out that their "definition of being physically active (1 hour of exercise on >=2 days per week) is roughly similar to the current recommendations for adolescents of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education: “teens should do at least 20 minutes of vigorous activity 3 days a week and 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 days a week”.<sup>2</sup> So why is this level of activity, which was reported by 48.7% of the young people, being presented as being excessive? If they wanted to investigate being "highly active" (as opposed to simply being “active”), activity levels should not have been dichotomized at level they were in this study.
The question about sedentary activities was: “Outside school hours, on average, how many hours a day do you usually watch TV or videos, play video games, or play on the computer?” If a young person was sedentary for >4 hours a day, it does not mean they was necessarily inactive; indeed in phase 1, 23% of active young people were sedentary for more than 4 hours per day (compared with 30% of inactive young people). Such a lifestyle could be associated with fatigue for other reasons; for example, it could result in a shortage of sleep, rather than it necessarily causing unhealthily low levels of activity.
1 Viner RM, Clark C, Taylor SJ, Bhui K, Klineberg E, Head J, Booy R, Stansfeld SA. Longitudinal risk factors for persistent fatigue in adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008 May;162(5):469-75.
2 Corbin CB, Pangrazi RP, Le Masurier GC. Physical activity for children: current patterns and guidelines. Res Dig. 2004;5(2):1-8.
This comment, imported by Hypothesis from PubMed Commons, is licensed under CC BY.
-