Abstract
BackgroundThe new Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years recommend that, for preschoolers, a healthy 24-h includes: i) ≥180 min of physical activity, including ≥60 min of energetic play, ii) ≤1 h of sedentary screen time, and iii) 10–13 h of good quality sleep. Using an Australian sample, this study reports the proportion of preschool children meeting these guidelines and investigates associations with social-cognitive development.MethodsData from 248 preschool children (mean age = 4.2 ± 0.6 years, 57% boys) participating in the PATH-ABC study were analyzed. Children completed direct assessments of physical activity (accelerometry) and social cognition (the Test of Emotional Comprehension (TEC) and Theory of Mind (ToM)). Parents reported on children’s screen time and sleep. Children were categorised as meeting/not meeting: i) individual guidelines, ii) combinations of two guidelines, or iii) all three guidelines. Associations were examined using linear regression adjusting for child age, sex, vocabulary, area level socio-economic status and childcare level clustering.ResultsHigh proportions of children met the physical activity (93.1%) and sleep (88.7%) guidelines, whereas fewer met the screen time guideline (17.3%). Overall, 14.9% of children met all three guidelines. Children meeting the sleep guideline performed better on TEC than those who did not (mean difference [MD] = 1.41; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.36, 2.47). Children meeting the sleep and physical activity or sleep and screen time guidelines also performed better on TEC (MD = 1.36; 95% CI = 0.31, 2.41) and ToM (MD = 0.25; 95% CI = −0.002, 0.50; p = 0.05), respectively, than those who did not. Meeting all three guidelines was associated with better ToM performance (MD = 0.28; 95% CI = −0.002, 0.48, p = 0.05), while meeting a larger number of guidelines was associated with better TEC (3 or 2 vs. 1/none, p < 0.02) and ToM performance (3 vs. 2, p = 0.03).ConclusionsStrategies to promote adherence to the 24-Hour Movement Behaviour Guidelines for the Early Years among preschool children are warranted. Supporting preschool children to meet all guidelines or more guidelines, particularly the sleep and screen time guidelines, may be beneficial for their social-cognitive development.
Highlights
The new Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years recommend that, for preschoolers, a healthy 24-h includes: i) ≥180 min of physical activity, including ≥60 min of energetic play, ii) ≤1 h of sedentary screen time, and iii) 10–13 h of good quality sleep
Systematic reviews indicate that physical activity [1], recreational screen time [2] and sleep [3] are individually associated with health and developmental outcomes among young children
Of the 490 children recruited to the PATH-ABC study, 161 were missing parent-reported screen time data, 34 were missing ToM data, 21 were missing physical activity data, 13 were missing vocabulary data, 9 were missing parent-reported sleep data, 4 were missing suburblevel socio-economic status data, and 5 additional children were missing TEC data
Summary
The new Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years recommend that, for preschoolers, a healthy 24-h includes: i) ≥180 min of physical activity, including ≥60 min of energetic play, ii) ≤1 h of sedentary screen time, and iii) 10–13 h of good quality sleep. The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years [11] and the concurrent adolopment of these guidelines in Australia [12], published in this special issue of BMC Public Health, promote the integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep for health benefits among young children. These guidelines recommend that, for preschoolers, a healthy 24 h includes: i) at least 180 min of physical activity, of which at least 60 min is energetic play, ii) no more than 1 h of sedentary screen time, and iii) 10 to 13 h of good quality sleep. The systematic review in this special issue conducted by Kuzik and colleagues [13] of studies examining the combined effects of these movement behaviours on health indicators in young children indicates that no studies have examined the potential benefits for other important areas, such as cognitive or social development
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