Associations of Class-Time Sitting, Stepping and Sit-to-Stand Transitions with Cognitive Functions and Brain Activity in Children

Emiliano Mazzoli, Wei-Peng Teo, Jo Salmon, Caterina Pesce, Jason He, Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan and Lisa M. Barnett
Additional contact information
Emiliano Mazzoli: School of Health and Social Development, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong VIC 3220, Australia
Wei-Peng Teo: Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) Academic Group, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637616, Singapore
Jo Salmon: School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong VIC 3220, Australia
Caterina Pesce: Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Italian University of Sport and Movement, 00135 Rome, Italy
Jason He: Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong VIC 3220, Australia
Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan: Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education and Didactics, Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, 06081 Assisi, Italy
Lisa M. Barnett: School of Health and Social Development, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong VIC 3220, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: Previous research showed that children’s physical activity is positively related to executive functions, whilst screen time shows negative associations. However, it is unclear how school-based sitting time and transitions from sitting to standing relate to cognition. We investigated the relationship between class time sitting/stepping/sit-to-stand transitions and cognitive functions in Grade 1–2 children. Overall, 149 children (7.7 ± 0.6 years old, 54% boys) participated. Measures included class time sitting/stepping/sit-to-stand transitions and: (i) response inhibition (i.e., response time and accuracy); (ii) lapses of attention; (iii) working memory; and (iv) brain activity (cortical haemodynamic response). Linear mixed-models, adjusting for age, sex, and clustering at the classroom level, found that more sitting time was associated with higher lapses of attention ( β = 0.12, p < 0.05). Children who stepped more had quicker inhibition response time ( β = −0.95, p < 0.01); however, they were less accurate in their responses ( β = −0.30, p < 0.05) and this was also observed with sit-to-stand transitions ( β = −0.26, p < 0.05). No associations were found with brain activity. In conclusion, reducing and breaking up sitting may help keep children focused, but the evidence regarding response inhibition is unclear.

Keywords: sedentary behaviour; executive functions; attention; brain activity; children; school-based; class time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1482/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/9/1482/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:9:p:1482-:d:226150

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().