Polar Active User Manual

According to ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), children and youth should do one hour or more of physical activity daily. Activity should be mostly aerobic, moderate to vigorous, physical activity but should also include muscle-strenghtening and bone-strengthening activities.

The health benefits of an active lifestyle are, for instance, better cardiovascular condition and blood pressure control, and improved glucose tolerance and bone health. Increased physical activity also helps control weight and promote psychological well-being. Studies show that more active children report higher levels of self-esteem, happiness, and life satisfaction and lower levels of anxiety, depression, stress, and peer victimization.

Some authorities recommend that sedentary activities, for instance, television watching, surfing the internet, playing video games, should be limited to two hours per day.

Sleep is important to children’s health, development and well-being. Children aged 5-11 need 10-11 hours of sleep and children and adolescents aged 12 or over need 8-9.5 hours. Poor or inadequate sleep can lead to mood swings, behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, and cognitive problems that impact on children’s ability to learn in school.

Activity Zones and Activity Bar

There are five different activity zones in the Polar Active: vigorous+, vigorous, moderate, easy, and very easy. The activity bar displays achieved time in the moderate to vigorous+ zones. This helps you to easily check when the daily activity target is fulfilled.

Activity in the other activity zones is visible in the activity diary. Sleeping time can be seen only in the polargofit.com web service.

In the chart below you can see the recommendations and benefits of being active in different zones:

Activity Zone	Example Activities	Benefits	Recommendation
Vigorous+	Fast running	Improves maximum performance and cardiovascular fitness Helps improve speed	Be active for more than one hour every day! Being active in moderate to vigorous+ zones fills up the activity bar in your Polar Active.
Vigorous	Basketball, soccer, rollerblading, jumping rope, dancing	Improves cardiovascular endurance Promotes bone health Helps increase power
Moderate	Playground games, gymnastics	Helps maintaining a healthy body weight Helps increase flexibility
Easy	Playing catch, slow walking, stretching	It’s better to get up and move than sit still!
Very easy	Playing video games, watching TV	Avoid sitting for long periods of time!
Sleeping Can be seen only at the polargofit.com web service.		Improves learning ability Gives your body a rest	9 hours of sleep every night will keep your mind fresh!

Daily Activity Target

The teacher can set a daily activity target for the students. The default target in the activity monitor is 60 minutes. The target can be increased into 90 or 120 minutes in polargofit.com web service.

	In the time view, the activity bar quickly shows you how active you have been.
	To see more detailed feedback on your daily activity, press the GREEN button in the time view. If you have not reached the daily activity target, the Polar Active tells how much time you still have to go. When you have reached the activity target, the Polar Active boosts you with Active day. Well done!
	The moment you reach your activity target, Active time: 60 minutes / 1 h 30 min. / 2 hours. Well done! is displayed.

After you have been active for two hours, Polar Active rewards you with a nice blinking animation that is visible in the time view. The animation is visible once a minute until the next day.