Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Families and Physical Activity......
The relationship between physical health and cognitive ability is quite glaring. The two often depend on each other. For instance, the ability to make good nutritional decisions must be learned by a person before they can adapt those healthy habits. Conversely, children who are physically fit tend to perform better in academics. It is this connection that represents a strong need to help children gain the knowledge necessary to help them because physically fit and healthy throughout their lifetime. This can only be done through early education of the child, and family simultaneously. Family education, access to nutritious foods, and opportunities for daily physical activity seem to be the main concepts that give people the best chance of not only strengthening their bodies, but also their minds.
Through the lens of cognitive theory, it makes sense to begin teaching about healthy habits while children are aged 2-7, also known as the preoperational stage. But it is in the concrete operational stage (7-11) that kids would most likely truly begin to understand the finer points of healthy lifestyles. “The preschool child still lacks the attention, memory capacity, and mental flexibility to employ” his or her increasing supply of symbolic representations in logical reasoning. (DeWolfe, 2021) Generally a pre-school child can be taught that it is good to eat a variety of brightly colored foods, but can not understand exactly why those foods are better to eat. A child who is in Piaget’s concrete operational stage…”becomes capable of keeping in mind and logically manipulating several concrete objects at the same time.”(DeWolfe, 2021) For instance, if learning about food groups from MyPlate, a child in the concrete operations stage is able to separate the foods into proper groups, but also know the benefits and make up of each food group. Also, being able to understand Piaget’s conservation of matter would prove very valuable to a student trying to understand portions while learning about MyPlate.
It would not surprise most people that most children are not intrinsically motivated to eat healthy foods. Children are often motivated by tastes, and how their brains react to those tastes. Sweet and salty snacks give kids instant gratification, which is why childhood nutrition is an uphill battle for parents and teachers. So how does one motivate a child to make healthy choices when a fruit or vegetable doesn’t give them the same instant gratification as a sweet snack? Or how does a child feel rewarded for exercising immediately? It depends on the child because all children are motivated differently. Parents and teachers can motivate their children to learn and practice healthy habits with sticker charts, play time incentives, trips to the toy store, extra screen time etc. Figuring out what motivates the children to learn is imperative in ensuring their learning and adopting of healthy habits. Parents starting to provide healthy nutrition from day one is very important to a child’s cognitive development.
Once a child starts eating solids, it is important for parents to provide a wide variety of tastes and smells to help their children enjoy different healthy foods. It is also important for parents to limit access to sweets and snacks as that could cause children to begin to crave those types of tastes. Creating healthy nutritional habits for kids early can have a very positive effect on cognitive development. “Brain development is enhanced from early childhood, having long-term effects on cognitive performance through adolescence.”(Nyaradi Et Al, 2015) “Poor quality foods, processed foods, fast foods, high carbohydrate and sugary foods are not associated with a healthy brain. Healthy fats have been extensively studied to be associated with overall health and brain and neurological development.” (Gershuni, 2018) This early effect on a child’s brain and cognitive development shows the importance of educating parents early. Giving them the knowledge and tools to help teach healthy habits at home is exponentially beneficial to the whole family.
Countless data suggests that physical activity has not only many physical benefits, but also many positive benefits on the brain. The book “Spark” references how exercise has positive benefits on a child’s academic performance, sleep patterns, mood, anxiety levels, depression etc. The author shows a great amount of data that concludes that our brain is like a muscle that needs to remain active to keep growing. (Ratey J., Hagerman E. (2008) Exercise has a similar effect on our brain that some prescribed drugs do. These benefits physically and cognitively make the importance of creating lifelong movers a very high priority. The facts are glaring, but how do families and schools help educate and motivate students and families to adopt these healthy habits?
Just like parents attend new parental classes about how to properly care for a baby, it would be very valuable to incorporate education on how to teach and instill healthy habits in a child. Since children do not get any formal nutrition education until at least elementary school, it is important to give parents the tools to teach early. “Poor parental food habits are passed on to their children. The long-term consequences of poor nutrition (from gestation through toddlerhood) and subsequent poor cognitive performance will cost society profoundly.” (Olivieri C., 2020). If parents are mirroring these healthy behaviors, then children will be much more inclined to learn more about the healthy habits that they are already starting to understand in the home. Exposure to the behavior gives children the ability to build around it while they gain knowledge about not only how to be healthy, but the lifelong benefits of healthy choices.
Formal nutrition education for teachers can help give them the tools to properly teach about how to be healthy. P.E. is cut in many states, and a large majority of students in the United States only receive about an hour of P.E. classes per week. “In a study conducted in Oregon in 2015, teachers were asked how to incorporate nutritional knowledge into current curriculum. Most teachers reported that current approaches to nutritional education during childhood and adolescence have been largely ineffective in changing current students’ food choices. (Perera Et Al. 2015) It must be a cooperative effort between classroom teachers and P.E. teachers to give quality education about healthy lifestyles. More importantly, it is vital to understand what types of rewards are going to motivate the children to learn and practice these behaviors. Nutrition based before or after school exercise programs would definitely help not only facilitate learning, but also allow students to feel the long-term positive effects of healthy eating and exercise. The book Spark referenced how a “Zero-Hour P.E.” class vastly improved academic performance and physical fitness levels. Finding ways to incorporate nutrition into physical activity would prove very beneficial to allowing students to acquire new information. Especially because it is known that after short bouts of exercise, our brains are able to retain and recall information more effectively.
The direction that the country is going is the opposite of where it should be. With obesity on the rise, and academic achievement also seeing a decline, it is important that the nation gets ahead of these continuing issues. Through early intervention, education, and access to quality nutrition, Americans can start to turn the tables on their lifestyles. The brain and the body work in unison to not only learn, but to also understand and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
References
Olivieri C., 2020. Childhood Obesity, Health and Nutrition and its Effects on Learning. Journal
of Leadership and Instruction. (19)31-37.
Cooper S., Simson D. Move more, Learn more? Exercise and Cognitive Function in Adolescents.
Education and Health. 35(3), 7-9
DeWolfe T.. Jean Piget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. (2021). Salem Press Encyclopedia
Of Health.
Nyraradi, A. Oddy, W. H., Hickling, S., Li, J., & Foster, J. K. (2015). The relationship between
nutrition in infancy and cognitive performance during adolescence. Frontiers in
Nutrition, 2, 1-8.
Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (Collaborator). (2008). Spark: The revolutionary new
science of exercise and the brain. New York, Little, Brown and Co.
Perera, T., Frei, S., Wong, S., & Bobe, G. (2015). Improving nutrition education in US
elementary schools: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Education and
Practice, 6(30),41-50.
A deeper look at screen time......
Screen time amongst children is becoming a major obstacle for kids in relation to the amount of physical activity that children are getting each day. The lessened amount of physical activity correlates to the rising issue with obesity in children. Studies have shown that reduced screen time along with increased physical activity and quality sleep patterns help to create healthier kids. “Screen-related physical activities like television watching are very common among adolescents particularly in modern societies; it is reported that adolescents spend about 3h per day on screen activities.” (Haghjoo, P et al., 2022) This screen time is the culprit for taking away time for daily moderate to vigorous physical activity for 60 minutes a day, which is proven to improve a child’s health and well-being across the board. This literature review aims to discover the correlation between screen time, physical activity, and obesity to unfold how much, and what type of screen time is detrimental to a child’s physical activity and overall health. Questions to be answered will address the amount of time that screens take away from PA, if socioeconomic status, age and location play a role, and which types of screen time are most directly correlated with reduced physical activity. Participating in a literature review aid in proving the problem hypothesis that more than 2 hours per day of screen time is directly correlated with inadequate amounts of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity in children ages 6-14, and is contributing to obesity in children. The specific problem lies in the fact that very few children aged 6-14 participate 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, but a vast majority participate in excessive screen time. This contribution to a lack of physical activity leads to many health risk factors in childhood and through adulthood such as stroke, diabetes and heart disease.
The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the impact of excess screen time on children’s physical activity. The review examines recent literature that examines 3 main themes-(1) Amount of screen time, (2) Type of screen time, and (3) Socio-economic status/location.
· Amount of screen time
- Almaqhawi and Albarqi (2022) found 88 (31.8%) children reported up to 5 hours of screen time daily, while 189 (68.2%) reported 6 hours or more (Figure 1). Based on the CPAQ , 131 (47.3%) children recorded a low level of physical activity, 96 (34.7%) recorded moderate level physical activity, and 50 (18.1%) recorded high-level physical activity. This shows a negative correlation of increased screen time, and lessened physical activity.
- Korcs et al. (2023) found A total of 8% of children reported meeting PA guide lines of 60min on 7days per week. On average, children reported achieving at least 60min of PA on 3.3 ± 1.7days per week. This same study reported that only 22% of children met screen time requirements of less than 2 hours per day. This correlates the link between increased screen time and decreased amounts of PA.
- Dahlgren et al. (2020) reports that no correlation was observed between objectively measured smartphone screen time and objectively measured physical activity for the entire study population of children and adolescents (r= 0.15,p = 0.21. This data was self-reported by adolescents.
· Location/socioeconomic status/age
- Mollborn, S et al. (2020) found the total number of weekly hours spent using
technology did not vary significantly by social class in bivariate or multivariate analyses, with weekly averages falling between 25 and 29 h for all groups. This study mentioned that technology use saturated all groups in regards to socio-economic status, but higher SES groups had higher access to different types of technologies.
- Jain S. et al. (2022) found that that SVT among junior high school children was higher than that among elementary school children, and it decreased after 15 years of age. This is likely due to increased responsibilities in the form of school work, jobs, and extra-curricular activities. It was also found that “increasing age was found to be significantly correlated with excessive SVT (OR: 1.63,95% CI: 1.36–1.91;p< 0.001) in the present study (Table 3). The results are similar to those of a study conducted in rural Western India, which showed that the odds of excessive SVT are 1.3 and 1.9 times greater in children aged 3–5 years and 5–6 years, respectively, than in children aged 2–3 years. Multiple studies show that after pre-school years, screen time shows increases until about the age of 15-16.
· Screen time type
- Sanders T. et al. (2019) found that educational screen time (e.g., homework on electronic devices) showed the most benefits in unadjusted and adjusted models, with positive effects on children’s persistence and educational outcomes, and no significant effects on psychological or health outcomes. Interactive screen time (e.g., video games) showed similar trends as total screen time. However, unlike total screen time, interactive screen time was associated with positive educational outcomes. Passive screen time (e.g., TV) was associated with worse psychological outcomes, poorer health outcomes, and lower educational outcomes in unadjusted and adjusted models. These findings are of much value as they uncover which types of screens are the most detrimental to children. According to this study, TV time should be monitored by parents.
- Norozi, K. et al. (2020) conducted a study that demonstrated that select AVGs (Active video games) successfully elicited MVPA in children and determined that player engagement was important for attaining and maintaining MVPA. Several game design elements were identified that resulted in increased MVPA, leg movements, and freedom to choose movements in particular, as well as elements that negated MVPA, such as the ability to circumvent game mechanics. This study shows that engagement is an important thing to consider when trying to use screens to increase MVPA.
The most effective research methodology for this research proposal would be quantitative one with a correlational research design as it aims to measure and correlate screen time use and its effects on physical activity and obesity.
This literature review uncovered quality information in regards to screen time and physical activity. Many studies show that excessive screen time negatively influences physical activity levels in children. It was also found that there was a negative correlation between increased TV time and lower levels of MVPA. Finally, socio-economic status did not show a strong correlation to increased screen-time, but age definitely did as it was shows that from age 5-14 screen time increases, but then decreases after age 15. All of these studies help paint a clearer picture for educators and parents to allow children and students the right amounts of screen time on a daily basis
References
Almaqhawi, A., & Albarqi, M. (2022). The effects of technology use on children’s physical
activity: a cross-sectional study in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Medicine & Life, 15(10), 1240–1245. https://doi.org/10.25122/jml-2022-0148
Dahlgren, A., Sjöblom, L., Eke, H., Bonn, S. E., & Trolle Lagerros, Y. (2021). Screen time and
physical activity in children and adolescents aged 10-15 years. PLoS ONE, 16(7), e0254255. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254255
Haghjoo, P., Siri, G., Soleimani, E., Farhangi, M. A., & Alesaeidi, S. (2022). Screen time
increases overweight and obesity risk among adolescents: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. BMC Primary Care, 23(1), 161. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-022-01761-4
Hardy LL, Dobbins T, Booth ML, Denney-Wilson E, Okely AD. Sedentary
behaviors among Australian adolescents. Aust New Zealand. J Public
Health. 2006;30(6):534e540.
Jain, S., Shrivastava, S., Mathur, A., Pathak, D., & Pathak, A. (2023). Prevalence and
Determinants of Excessive Screen Viewing Time in Children Aged 3-15 Years and Its Effects on Physical Activity, Sleep, Eye Symptoms and Headache. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043449
Saturday, November 4, 2023
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