The Physical Development, Eating Habits, and Physical Activity of Children Attending Music School

Introduction. Obesity is a multifactorial disorder affecting the energy balance in the body, in which the energy ingested exceeds the energy used by the body over a certain period of time. Some of the key causes of obesity in children include inappropriate eating habits and an insufficient amount of physical activity. The aim of the study presented in this article was to describe the level of physical development, nutritional status, and physical activity of children attending music school, whose free time is more limited than that of their peers.Material and methods. The materials used in the study were anthropometric data and data concerning the body composition of children aged 11-13 years who attended music school and those of their peers who attended regular state school. For the purposes of the study, several nutritional status indicators were established and a questionnaire concerning the eating habits and physical activity of the children was designed. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The statistical significance of the differences between the values obtained for the two groups was then measured using a t-test.Results. The children who attended music school were found to be more corpulent and to have more body fat than their peers. It was also determined that the former had irregular meals and an unbalanced diet, and they did not participate in organised out-of-school sports activities.Conclusion. The high amount of body fat found in students of music school was most likely due to their unhealthy eating habits and limited physical activity.