[Physical exercise and health promotion in childhood and youth]

The "new health consciousness" that emerged in the developing countries in the 70s and 80s, has contributed to consider exercise as an element of health promotion. But it can establish simplistic relationships between exercise and health, particularly critical for professionals who develop promotion programmes. In this paper, five problematic aspects linked, to exercise and health relationships both in children and youngsters, are discussed and should be taken into account when promoting health programmes. We refer to: 1) the problematic role of exercise in health promotion and in physical education curriculum as an area of privileged action in children and youngsters; 2) the automatic relationship between fitness and health, when the former addresses to high levels of performance and the later is linked to moderate, regular and frequent exercise; 3) problems of fitness tests as a measure of health-related physical activity; 4) the assumption that any kind of physical activity is health-related; and 5) the quantity of exercise necessary for health as a practical problem. From the discussion different proposals are offered in order to develop health-related exercise promotion programmes such as to consider the risks of doing physical activity as a criteria to select exercises; to emphasize the qualitative instead of quantitative aspects of practice; to reconceptualize fitness and sport towards a health focus; to include a broad range of activities which offer the opportunity to every child and youngster to participate; to reduce the importance of testing in evaluation programmes; and other educational considerations which can help to maintain exercise practice beyond the schooling period.