In a recent study published in EClinicalMedicine, researchers investigate the association between physical activity levels in young children and their development, socio-behavioral characteristics, and quality of life.
Study: Physical activity in young children across developmental and health states: the ActiveCHILD study. Image Credit: spass / Shutterstock.com
Background
The health and biopsychosocial well-being of children is closely related to their physical activity levels. In fact, this association has been widely recognized in various health guidelines, including those published by the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, studies show that children’s activity levels start declining as early as when they begin school, with few interventions currently available to address this decline in physical activity levels. Furthermore, some of the gaps in the research on physical activity levels in children include a reliance on parental reports of children’s activity levels rather than quantitative assessments using wearable devices that provide more precise