When Are Children Most Physically Active? An Analysis of Preschool Age Children’s Physical Activity Levels

Abstract

The levels of physical activity (PA) in the population have decreased, especially at an early age. The aims of the study were: to evaluate the percentage of children meeting PA recommendations for both genders, and to measure steps and PA level at different time intervals during the week. This was an observational cross-sectional study. Seventy-three schoolchildren (36 boys and 37 girls), aged two years (2.12 ± 0.46), were selected to participate in this study. Participants wore an “Actigraph GT3X” accelerometer for seven days to measure the minutes engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and step volume. The results show 100% of the children studied met the recommended 60 min/day of MVPA, and 50% achieved 120 min/day MVPA and 13,000 steps per day. No gender differences were found. The results of the analysis show a propensity for higher step volumes and PA values from Monday to Friday. In addition, subjects achieved higher step volumes and PA values during “School Time” than “Out-of-School Time”. Given that during “School Time” children showed higher PA and step values, schools represent an important place to help facilitate PA milestones. This study shows the need for further studies and interventions aimed at understanding and improving children’s PA levels at an early age.

Análisis bibliométrico sobre los estudios de medición de la actividad física por medio de dispositivos inteligentes en edad escolar (Bibliometric analysis of studies measuring physical activity through smart devices at school age)

“…En relación a las variables relacionadas con los dispositivos inteligentes para la medición de la AF, se aprecia el predominio de los acelerómetros, instrumento indudablemente más objetivo (Martínez-Vizcaino y Sánchez-López, 2008;Calahorro et al, 2015). De hecho, existen estudios que comienzan a valorar la AF con acelerometría desde los dos años de edad (Díaz-Quesada et al, 2022). Es cierto que, si se analiza la marca de estos dispositivos inteligentes, el abanico es muy amplio, no existiendo un predominio marcado ni concreto por uno de ellos (Wijndaele et al, 2015).…”

“…Sin embargo, lo que se está observando es que la inactividad física es el cuarto factor de riesgo en lo que respecta a la mortalidad mundial (OMS, 2020). Y esa falta de cumplimentación de recomendaciones saludables comienza a manifestarse en población escolar (Díaz-Quesada et al, 2022).…”

Wearable Artificial Intelligence for Assessing Physical Activity in High School Children

“…To compare groups, a series of inferential statistical tests was performed. The t-test was then computed for independent samples to compare gender (boys vs. girls), In addition, the Student's paired samples t-test was employed to examine the differences between various moments (midweek vs. weekend and school time vs. out-of-school time), in line with previous similar studies [19,30]. A p-value of less than 0.05 was deemed statistically significant.…”

“…Most children spend approximately one-third of the day at school, making school an ideal place to encourage PA from an early age using known daily recommendations to implement PA programs and study PA levels [18,19]. Research examining PA behavior at various times of the day shows that around half of the necessary daily MVPA time should occur during "school time" [20,21].…”

Correlates of Toddlers’ Physical Activity Levels and Sedentary Behavior During Unstructured Outdoor Play in Early Childhood Education and Daycare Settings

“…Preschool and daycare settings are considered contexts in which toddler PA can be effectively promoted (Daly-Smith et al, 2020). In these settings, patterns and correlates of PA and sedentary behaviors (SB) have been described by others with some limitations (Díaz-Quesada et al, 2022; Hunter et al, 2019; Kelly et al, 2022; Vega-Perona et al, 2022), and adequate PA levels have been reported among toddlers (aged 2–3 years) during school hours (Díaz-Quesada et al, 2022; Vega-Perona et al, 2022).…”