Newbury Victoria Kin355 Discussion Section 4 9 17 13 Critical Analysis Attempt 2 Trends in Body Fat BMI and Physical Fitness Among Male and Female College Students This study o In response to the decline in physical fitness Drop in average VO2 max 5101 College students o 13 year longitudinal study o Conducted at Andrews University private Seventh day Adventist school concentration on healthy lifestyle o Used FDA approved automated medical assessment tool called MicroFit Flexibility body composition height weight body fat blood pressure o systolic o diastolic muscular strength resting heart rate VO2 max Results of the study o Indirect correlation between VO2 max and body fat o Indirect correlation between VO2 max and BMI was not as significant BMI is not as strong an indicator of poor physical fitness Ex a person with high BMI may have high muscle mass or a low BMI may have high fat mass o The data showed that there is a general decline in physical fitness in college students There was a slightly greater decline in men than women o Students were placed in one of four categories poor fair fit and excellent based off of their fitness scores o Backs up that the college lifestyle is unhealthy condones bad habits meal skipping snacking fast food consumption reduction in physical activity beginning of sedentary lifestyle o The researchers suggested that strategies should be implemented to counter the trend and help students improve physical fitness Primary strengths o it improved upon previous studies that tested physical fitness level in college students Previous studies used the number of steps walked per day amount of time spent on physical activity VO2 max is a better indicator when determining physical fitness direct measurement correlates with aerobic fitness level o observed the same students for 13 years This is a large time frame possible to observe changes in physical fitness level data is very conclusive The primary limitations o population of Andrews University not likely not to be a completely randomized sample Seventh day Adventist school many of the students are already very health conscious and therefore might not follow the same trends as at other colleges It would have been better if had been conducted at a school where there are people with more religions A school with more religions may show different results in the data o the study didn t inform the reader of lifestyle after college Because the study followed students for 13 years more than half of the study was conducted when they were no longer in school Future research o perform the same tests at a public university By doing this people of different religions would be tested and therefore greater randomize the data This could give the study more generizability o perform this test on high school students It was said within the article that there is a drop in physical activity from high school to college This follow up could show how extreme this drop in physical activity is as well as possibly show the reasons behind this
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