School Children Who Meet Movement Guidelines Report Better Health

The results from research conducted by Assistant Professor Kyan Akira, Professor Takakura Minoru, and Professor Miyagi Masaya from Kobe University and the University of the Ryukyus’ has found links between the self-reported health of elementary and junior high school students and how well they met the 24-hour movement guidelines for sleep, physical activity and screen time. This is thought to be the first study of its kind to look specifically at these associations in a Japanese population. The findings emphasize the importance of measures to improve children's and adolescents’ health that take into account the interconnected relationships between these three behaviors.

In order to ensure that the results of this study were accurate and not biased, data was collected from 2,408 fifth-grade students all 10 or 11 years old ( 52.2% girls, 47.8% boys ) via cluster sampling with schools as the unit. This data was collected from 31 different elementary schools and 4,360 13 to 14-year-old eighth-grade students (49.9% girls, 50.1%) via the same method from 30 different junior high schools. The schools included were chosen through probability proportional sampling so that no particular school’s students or schools in one region were overrepresented.

Other variables such as weight (BMI), social economic status, parental support, satisfaction with school, and academic pressure were also examined in the study to see what other factors could be influencing the result outcomes. Results showed that in elementary school students, good self-reported health was linked with meeting the 'screen time and sleep' guidelines. On the other hand, for junior high school students, good self-reported health was associated with meeting any one of the following combinations: 'physical activity only', 'sleep only', 'screen time and sleep', 'physical activity and sleep', or all three guidelines.

The results from this experiment suggest that by recommending a good night's sleep and incorporating physical activity during the day, the health of adolescents can be improved.

References

Kobe University. (2022, December 6). School children who meet movement guidelines report better health. EurekAlert! Retrieved December 19, 2022, from https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/973475