RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY FAT COMPOSITION AND MARKERS OF PHYSICAL FITNESS IN COLLEGE AGED STUDENTS WHO ENGAGE IN TELEVISION VIEWING LEISURE TIME ACTIVITY

Peter J. CHOMENTOWSKI III, James R. PETERSON, Emerson SEBASTIÃO, Clayton L. CAMIC, Rachel N. TAUBER, Rachel A. KOWAL, Kayla EMORY, Zachary WAHL-ALEXANDER

Abstract

Aim: Television viewing is one of the most popular sedentary activities in America, and with an increase in leisure time activity research has demonstrated a converse decrease in physical activity time. This increased sedentary behavior has been linked to increased risk of obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortalities. While many studies have focused on associations between children and middle aged to older adults, there is a dearth of literature regarding young college-aged students. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between body fat mass and physical fitness markers in individuals who engaged in high volumes of daily television leisure time activity. Methods: The sample population consisted of 171 Northern Illinois University young college-aged students. Subjects completed a screening visit that included IRB consent, inclusion criteria, a 7-day recall screen time viewing survey, and body composition assessment via bioimpedance analysis. Seven days later the subjects returned to complete the physical fitness testing which consisted of PACER test, vertical jump, pushups, sit ups, and sit-reach test, and provide their step count vie pedometer from the previous week. Results: Subjects were percentile ranked by volume of viewing time into infrequent TV viewer (IV), moderate TV viewer (MV), and frequent TV viewer (FV). Body fat mass in the frequent viewing group was more significantly negatively correlated with PACER test (-.610), vertical jump (-.525), pushups (-.542) and sit ups (-.416) compared to the other viewing groups. Conclusions: Students who engaged in a greater volume a daily TV viewing time (> 6.0 hours) displayed a greater negative association between body fat mass and decreased markers of physical fitness compared to individuals who engaging in a lower viewing time per day (< 2.0 hours).

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