PA and SB in relation to physical and mental health and cognition

Question 1

why are systematic reviews important

Answer 1

gold standard form of evidence

summarises all research in that area to come to a consensus

stronger evidence bc increased number of total participants

allows robust suggestions about best practice

Question 2

What are some findings of reviews looking at the association between PA and health

Answer 2

Associated with numberous health benefits e.g adiposity, metabolic syndrome, blood pressure

also beneficial for mental health, fitness and bone health

observational studies = dose response relationship between increased PA and better health

even modest amounts of PA can be beneficial for obese and overweight

Question 3

why may benefits of PA be harder to demonstrate in normal weight children

Answer 3

may not have had sufficient time to develop disease markers for things such as metabolic syndrome unless particually obese or overweight

Question 4

what is the main limitation of studies between PA and health

Answer 4

observation therefore cannot infer causality

Question 5

give a critique of the cliff paper reviewing the link between SB and health

Answer 5

Used accelerometer data so is actually measuring sedentary time, not SB

Question 6

What were the main findings of the cliff review paper looking at SB and health

Answer 6

No relationship between adiposity and SB

No assocation between SB and many commonly studied health outcomes

metabolic health is worse if do sitting in long bouts rather than breaking up into shorter periods

Question 7

Give some reasons where there may have been limited findings in the Cliff paper

Answer 7

could have been sedentary but otherwise healthy

children may not have had sufficient time to spend enough time sedentary to cause a negative impact on health

most data is from v young people so is less likely that sitting will be deleterious at this age

Newer area of study, further work may find a link

Question 8

What factors need to be considered when considering the risk of bias in a trial

Answer 8

Was sample representative and randomly selected?

did enough participants have complete data

was the measure of SB valid, e.g cut points used shown to be valid

Was MVPA included as a covariate in analysis

Question 9

What were the findings of tremblay’s review into the asssociattions betwen TV time and health

Answer 9

> 2 hrs a day was associated with unfavourable:

body composition 
fitness 
self-esteem
pro-social behaviour 
academic achievment

Question 10

what is a limitation with the Tremblay review

Answer 10

96% of data was self report so risk of bias and under reporting etc

Question 11

Give examples of how cognitive function can be measured

Answer 11

reaction time to a stimulus

D2 attention test

EEG

Question 12

What were the results from the Donnely review into PA and cognition

Answer 12

increased physical fitness or single bouts of PA or participation in PA interventions were beneficial to cognitive functioning

effect depended on what was being measured

Question 13

give some possible reasons as to why increased PA is beneficial to cognition

Answer 13

increased release of neurotransmiters

increased blood flow to brain

socialisation and participation requires the use of cognitive functioning

Question 14

What are some of the findings from the ODC review into PA and cognition

CDC review

Answer 14

50% of associations were positive
48% non-significant

therefore no real negative impact being shown

Question 15

what were the findings of studies looking at classroom PA and academic achivement

In the CDC review

Answer 15

8/9 studies into active breaks or lessons showed positive effects

better engagement and recall of the lessons

Question 16

what were the findings of the Singh review into PA and academic achievement

Answer 16

strong evidence of a positive relationship

high quality observational and intervention studies suggest that being more physically active is related to improved academic performance

Question 17

What were some findings from a review into physically active lessons

Answer 17

educational outcomes were improved or no different

so evidence of improved outcomes with PAL

Question 18

what is a limitation of the review into the impact of PAL

Answer 18

only 3/11 studies included educational outcomes

Question 19

what were the results from the intervention study into PAL

Answer 19

2 years of 3 active lessons per week in maths and spelling = 4 months of learning gains in standardised tests

Question 20

what are some limitations of the Singh review into PA and academic achievement

Answer 20

Small number of studies
small sample size
observational data so can’t infer causality

Question 21

what were the findings from the prospective study into associations between PA, SB and exam results

Answer 21

PA not associated to academic performance

extra hour of screen time at 14.5 was associated with 2 fewer GCSE grades

screen time still assocaited with poorer scores when adjusted for PA/SED and reading/homework

inverse ‘u’ relationship between non-screen time SB and academic performance, peaking at 4 hrs/day

Question 22

what are possible reasons for the increased academic achievment demonstrated with physically active lessons

Answer 22

more enjoyment of lessons

engaged in lessons more

paid more attention to lessons

testing employed wasn’t robust

Question 23

what are the overall summarised findings of the assocation between PA and SB and cognition

Answer 23

depends on what’s being measured

single bouts can benefit cognitive function
(either due to immidiate increased perfusion or chronic blood flow adaptation)

relationship between daily PA and cognition is still ambiguous

Question 24

what are the overal sumarised findigns of the association between PA/SB and academic achievment

Answer 24

no harm

can cause improvement in some subjects

inverse association between TV time and academic achievement

relationship between daily PA and academic achievement unclear

Question 25

in the cliff review reading, what reasons were given for the lack of association found

Answer 25

cut off points used may not always have been valid

accelerometers can’t tell difference between standing and SB so may over-estimate SB

SB, light activity and MVPA are codependant

lower exposure and shorter lifetime exposure vs adults to cause negative consequences

children may have higher levels of PA, more MVPA and generally healthier cardio-metabolic profiles than adults

Question 26

what were the main findings from this weeks reading

Answer 26

limited evidence of association between vol or pattern and health

association weaker if low risk of bias or MVPA accounted for

association with adiposity or cardiometabolic health may be stronger in overweight/obese children

more breaks in sitting time was associated with lower adiposity

Question 27

give some strengths of the findings from the reading

Answer 27

only used objective measures
wide range of health outcomes included
adjusted for ROB and MVPA
catagorised evidence levels for studies

Question 28

give some limitations from this weeks reading

Answer 28

<50% were classified as having low ROB
largely based on cross sectional evidence
meta analyisis couldn’t include all studies reviewed
used accelerometer data rather than inclinometer
leniant criteria for risk of bias

Question 29

What were the aims of the cliff review paper

Answer 29

determine if objectively measured SB is associated with adverse health and development

determine if pattern of SB is also associated

Are the associations independant of MVPA

what are the moderators of the associations

Question 30

Give an overview of the methods of the Cliff review paper

Answer 30

studies included that objectively measured patterns and amount of SB in children, and outcomes

evidence was catagorised for strength

and was also adjusted for ROB and MVPA`

Question 31

What key future directions did the Cliff review paper highlight

Answer 31

Longitudal or experimental evidence