Optimal levels of sleep, sedentary behaviour, and physical activity needed to support cognitive function in children of the early years

Samah Zahran¹, Dylan P Cliff², Devan Antczak², Eivind Aadland³, Katrine N Aadland³, Jade Burley², Valerie Carson⁴, Catherine E Draper⁵, Dorothea Dumuid⁶, Nicholas Kuzik^{4

7

8}, Diego Augusto Santos Silva⁹, Esther M F van Sluijs¹⁰, Mark S Tremblay^{7

8}, Timothy S Olds⁶, Anthony D Okely², Rebecca Stanley², Rute Santos¹¹, Ian Janssen^{12

13}

Affiliations

¹ School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
² School of Education, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Wollongong, Early Start, Wollongong, Australia.
³ Department of Sport, Food and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Education, Arts and Sports, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, Norway.
⁴ Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁵ Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, SAMRC-Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁶ Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁷ Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁸ Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁹ Sports Center, Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
¹⁰ MRC Epidemiology Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ Institute of Education and Research Centre On Child Studies, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
¹² School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. ian.janssen@queensu.ca.
¹³ Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. ian.janssen@queensu.ca.

PMID: 39543525
PMCID: PMC11562365
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-024-05186-z

Optimal levels of sleep, sedentary behaviour, and physical activity needed to support cognitive function in children of the early years

Samah Zahran et al. BMC Pediatr. 2024.

. 2024 Nov 14;24(1):735.

doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-05186-z.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
² School of Education, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Wollongong, Early Start, Wollongong, Australia.
³ Department of Sport, Food and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Education, Arts and Sports, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, Norway.
⁴ Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁵ Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, SAMRC-Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁶ Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
⁷ Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁸ Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁹ Sports Center, Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
¹⁰ MRC Epidemiology Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹¹ Institute of Education and Research Centre On Child Studies, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
¹² School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. ian.janssen@queensu.ca.
¹³ Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. ian.janssen@queensu.ca.

PMID: 39543525
PMCID: PMC11562365
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-024-05186-z

Abstract

Background: Sleep, sedentary behaviour, physical activity, and the composition of these movement behaviours across the 24-h day are associated with cognitive function in early years children. This study used a Goldilocks day compositional data analysis approach to identify the optimal duration of sleep, sedentary behaviour, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity associated with desired cognitive function outcomes in early years children.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 858 children aged 2.8-5.5 years from the Sleep and Activity Database for the Early Years. 24-h movement behaviours (sleep, sedentary behaviour, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) were measured using ActiGraph accelerometers. Cognitive function was measured using three tasks from the Early Years Toolbox: visual-spatial working memory, response inhibition, and expressive vocabulary. A Goldilocks day compositional data analysis approach was used in R software to identify the optimal time-use compositions associated with the best 10% of the cognitive function scores.

Results: The movement behaviour composition and the relative time spent in sleep and sedentary behaviour but not different intensities of physical activity were significantly associated with working memory (P ≤ 0.01). The movement behaviour composition and relative time spent in sleep, sedentary behaviour, and different intensities of physical activity were not significantly associated with response inhibition or expressive vocabulary (P > 0.2). Therefore, optimal time use was only determined for working memory. Optimal daily durations for working memory were observed with 11:00 (hr:min) of sleep, 5:42 of sedentary behaviour, 5:06 of light physical activity, and 2:12 of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Conclusion: Working memory was the only cognitive function outcome related to the 24-h movement behaviour composition. Optimal sleep for working memory was consistent with current recommended durations, while optimal moderate-to-vigorous physical activity greatly exceeded minimal recommended levels. Optimal sedentary behaviour was longer and light physical activity was shorter than the sample average.

Keywords: Cognition; Compositional data analysis; Early childhood; Movement behaviours; Preschool; Time use epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The SADEY project was approved by the University of Wollongong Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee (2021/249) [28]. The studies included in this study were also ethically approved as follows: ACTNOW—Institutional Ethics Committee and the Norwegian Centre for Research Data—#248220; Jump Start—University of Wollongong Human Research Ethics Committee (HE14/137); PATH ABC—University of Wollongong Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee—#HE14/310); PROXDEV—University of Alberta Human Research Ethics Board (00081175). Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Flow chart illustrating exclusion of participants with missing data. PATH-ABC: the Preschool Activity Technology, Health, Adiposity, Behaviour and Cognition study; Jump start: the childcare-based intervention to promote physical activity in pre-schoolers study; ACTNOW: the Active Learning Norwegian Preschool(er)s study; ProxDev: the Movement behaviours and physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development in preschool study; SED: sedentary behaviour; LPA: light physical activity; MVPA: moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; EYT: Early Years Toolbox

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Optimal levels of sleep, sedentary behaviour, and physical activity needed to support cognitive function in children of the early years

Affiliations

Optimal levels of sleep, sedentary behaviour, and physical activity needed to support cognitive function in children of the early years

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical