Total Play Time Needed for Preschoolers to Reach Recommended Amount of Non-Sedentary Activity.

Andrew E Koepp,Darla M Castelli,Elizabeth T Gershoff,Amy E Bryan

doi:10.3390/ijerph19063354

Andrew E Koepp, Darla M Castelli + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063354

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Abstract

Health guidelines suggest that caregivers provide preschoolers with opportunities to be physically active for 3 h per day (roughly 15 min per waking hour), but because children are not continuously active, it is unclear what amount of time is needed to reach this goal. This naturalistic study enrolled 67 children (M = 4.5 years, 46% female) who wore accelerometers to measure their activity during indoor and outdoor free -play (N = 315,061 s). An hour of indoor play was insufficient for most children to reach 15 min of physical activity. When outside, most children reached 15 min of physical activity after slightly more than 30 min. Children engaged in outdoor activity sporadically (1.7 starts/stops per minute). Most physical activity occurred in bouts shorter than 20 s. Indoor free-play does not, on its own, provide sufficient opportunity for preschoolers to engage in physical activity consistent with health guidelines. As a result, outdoor play for at least 30 min at a time has a key role in meeting these guidelines.

Highlights

Guidelines from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) [6] suggest that children should be physically active throughout the day and that adult caregivers should encourage active play across a range of activities
Because children may spend several hours per day in preschool or childcare, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) [1] recommends that educators provide opportunities for children to engage in physical activity for at least a quarter of the time that they are in care (i.e., 15 min per hour)
This study demonstrated that preschool preschool children children are arenot not continuously continuouslyactive activeduring during

Summary

Introduction

Children under six years of age who are physically active show better weight status and bone health [4] as well as improved cognitive development and psychosocial health [5]. Given these health benefits, guidelines from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) [6] suggest that children should be physically active throughout the day and that adult caregivers should encourage active play across a range of activities. Guidelines from the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology suggest that preschool-aged children engage in three hours of light, moderate, or vigorous physical activity per day [7].

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