Cardiorespiratory fitness levels and body mass index of pre-adolescent children and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction The social and behavioral effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the health and physiology of most people, including those never diagnosed with COVID-19. While the impact of the pandemic has been felt across the lifespan, its effects on cardiorespiratory fitness (commonly considered a reflection of total body health) of older adults and children may be particularly profound due to social distancing and stay-at-home advisories, as well as the closure of sport facilities and non-essential businesses. The objective of this investigation was to leverage baseline data from two ongoing clinical trials to determine if cardiorespiratory fitness and body mass index were different during COVID-19 relative to before COVID-19 in older adults and children.Methods Healthy older individuals (N = 593; 65-80 years) and 200 typically developing children (8-10 years) completed a graded maximal exercise test and had their height and weight measured.Results Results revealed that older adults and children tested during COVID-19 had significantly lower cardiorespiratory fitness levels than those tested before COVID-19 shutdowns (older adults: 30% lower; children: 53% lower; p's & LE; 0.001). In addition, older adults and children tested during COVID-19 had significantly higher BMI (older adults: 31.34 +/- 0.57 kg/m(2), p = 0.004; children: 19.27 +/- 0.44 kg/m(2), p = 0.05) than those tested before COVID-19 shutdowns (older adults: 29.51 +/- 0.26 kg/m(2), children: 18.13 +/- 0.35 kg/m(2)). However, these differences in BMI did not remain significant when controlling for cardiorespiratory fitness.Discussion Results from this investigation indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic, and behavior changes taken to reduce potential exposure, may have led to lower cardiorespiratory fitness levels in older adults and children, as well as higher body mass index. These findings provide relevant public health information as lower cardiorespiratory fitness levels and higher body mass indexes recorded during the pandemic could have far-reaching and protracted health consequences. Public health guidance is needed to encourage physical activity to maintain cardiorespiratory fitness and healthy body composition.United States Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) R01AG053952 United States Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) R01HD09405

Obesity, visceral adipose tissue, and cognition in childhood

There is an increasing prevalence of physical inactivity during childhood, concurrent with a rise in obesity rates, which are associated with a myriad of health complication. In addition to weight status, central adipose tissue is particularly dangerous, with visceral adipose tissue being linked to higher risks of metabolic diseases and cardiovascular complications. However, the relationship between central adiposity and brain health and cognition during childhood, and the influence of a physical activity on these relationships, is unknown. Accordingly, the aim of this investigation was to examine baseline behavioral and neuroelectric differences between healthy weight children and obese children, as well as the effect of a 9-month physical activity intervention on changes in body composition and cognition in preadolescent children. Obese children participating in a randomized controlled trial were matched with healthy weigh children participating in the same intervention. Following a 9-month physical activity intervention, children who participated in the intervention showed improved body composition, whereas those children in the waitlist-control condition, particularly obese children, gained central adipose tissue. Furthermore, obese children in the intervention showed greater changes in a cognitively demanding task, which were further related to changes in visceral adipose tissue. Beneficial changes in body composition were related to an increased capacity to allocate attentional resources and faster cognitive processing, particularly in obese intervention children. These findings highlight the benefits of physical activity, both in terms of body composition and cognitive health, particularly for obese children

"Goddesses Alive!: A Ritual with Masks." Program, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2015

"Goddesses Alive!: A Ritual with Masks." Program, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2015. 1 Electronic records. PDF/A. 33 pages. 250775 bytes.Goddesses Alive! A Goddess 2000 Ritual is "A processional and experiential ritual of masked, embodied goddesses to bring re-awareness of the Goddess into current Pagan practices." First performed in collaboration with 20 others and presented at PantheaCon 2000, San Francisco, CA, this exquisite ritual was expanded, polished and renamed A Rainbow of Goddesses with original music by Amy Luna Manderino, and performed at New College of California, under the sponsorship of the Women's Spirituality Program and The Lilith Institute. This is the program for the revised version for the 2015 Parliament of World's Religions, Salt Lake City, Utah and includes the script used for sacred dance as well as descriptions of the Goddesses revered throughout the World

Perceived quality and availability of fruit and vegetables are associated with perceptions of fruit and vegetable affordability among socio-economically disadvantaged women

Objective Perceptions that fruit and vegetables are expensive have been found to be associated with lower consumption of fruit and vegetables among disadvantaged women; however, the determinants of these perceptions are relatively unknown. The purpose of the current paper is to examine whether perceived availability and quality of fruit and vegetables, and social support for healthy eating, are associated with perceptions of fruit and vegetable affordability among women residing in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.Design Cross-sectional self-report survey.Setting The study was conducted in Melbourne, Australia.Subjects An Australian sample of 4131 women, aged 18&ndash;45 years, residing in neighbourhoods ranked in the lowest Victorian tertile of relative disadvantage by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, an index that considers aspects of disadvantage such as residents&rsquo; income, education, motor vehicle access and employment.Results Results showed that irrespective of education, income and other key covariates, women who perceived poor availability and quality of fruit and vegetables in their local neighbourhood were more likely to perceive fruit and vegetables as expensive.Conclusions Our results suggest that perceptions of fruit and vegetable affordability are not driven exclusively by lack of financial or knowledge-related resources, but also by women\u27s psychological response and interpretation of their local nutrition environment.<br /

Acute exercise facilitates brain function and cognition in children who need it most: An ERP study of individual differences in inhibitory control capacity

AbstractThe present study examined the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on aspects of cognitive control in two groups of children categorized by higher- and lower-task performance. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were collected in 40 preadolescent children during a modified flanker task following 20min of treadmill walking and seated rest on separate occasions. Participants were bifurcated into two groups based on task performance following the resting session. Findings revealed that following exercise, higher-performers maintained accuracy and exhibited no change in P3 amplitude compared to seated rest. Lower-performers demonstrated a differential effect, such that accuracy measures improved, and P3 amplitude increased following exercise. Lastly, both groups displayed smaller N2 amplitude and shorter P3 latency following exercise, suggesting an overall facilitation in response conflict and the speed of stimulus classification. The current findings replicate prior research reporting the beneficial influence of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance in children. However, children with lower inhibitory control capacity may benefit the most from single bouts of exercise. These data are among the first to demonstrate the differential effect of physical activity on individuals who vary in inhibitory control, and further support the role of aerobic exercise for brain health during development

Temporal trends in leisure-time sedentary behavior among adolescents aged 12-15 years from 26 countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas

Abstract: Background: Multi-country studies examining trends in sedentary behaviors among adolescents have mainly focused on high-income or Western countries, and almost no data exists for the rest of the world. Thus, this study aims to examine temporal trends in adolescents’ leisure time sedentary behavior (LTSB) employing nationally representative datasets from 26 countries from five WHO-defined geographical regions. Methods: Data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey 2003–2017 were analyzed in 17,734 adolescents [mean (SD) age: 13.7 (1.0) years; 49.0% boys]. LTSB was self-reported and included all types of sedentary behaviors, excluding time spent at school or doing homework. The prevalence and 95%CI of high LTSB (i.e., ≥3 h/day) was calculated for the overall sample and by sex for each survey. Crude linear trends in high LTSB were assessed by linear regression models. Interaction analyses were conducted to examine differing trends among boys and girls. Results: Temporal variations in LTSB substantially diverged across countries, with results showing increasing (6/26 countries), decreasing (4/26) and stable trends. The sharpest increases in LTSB occurred in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Thailand. Some countries did not show an increase in LTSB prevalence over time but had very high levels of LTSB (i.e., > 40%) across multiple years. Most countries showed no differences in LTSB trends between boys and girls. Conclusions: Data from our study may serve as an important platform for policymakers, as well as local and national stakeholders, to establish country-specific and tailored strategies for reducing LTSB

Musical Instrument Practice Predicts White Matter Microstructure and Cognitive Abilities in Childhood

Musical training has been associated with advantages in cognitive measures of IQ and verbal ability, as well as neural measures including white matter microstructural properties in the corpus callosum (CC) and the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). We hypothesized that children who have musical training will have different microstructural properties in the SLF and CC. One hundred children aged 7.9–9.9 years (mean age 8.7) were surveyed for their musical activities, completed neuropsychological testing for general cognitive abilities, and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) as part of a larger study. Children who play a musical instrument for more than 0.5 h per week (n = 34) had higher scores on verbal ability and intellectual ability (standardized scores from the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities), as well as higher axial diffusivity (AD) in the left SLF than those who did not play a musical instrument (n = 66). Furthermore, the intensity of musical practice, quantified as the number of hours of music practice per week, was correlated with axial diffusivity (AD) in the left SLF. Results are not explained by age, sex, socio-economic status, or physical fitness of the participants. The results suggest that the relationship between musical practice and intellectual ability is related to the maturation of white matter pathways in the auditory-motor system. The findings suggest that musical training may be a means of improving cognitive and brain health during development

Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity, Indices of Cognitive Control, and Academic Achievement in Preadolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether preadolescents' objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is associated with cognitive control and academic achievement, independent of aerobic fitness. STUDY DESIGN: A sample of 74 children (Meanage = 8.64 years, SD = .58, 46% girls) were included in the analyses. Daily MVPA (min/d) was measured over 7 days using ActiGraph wGT3X+ accelerometer. Aerobic fitness was measured using a maximal graded exercise test and expressed as maximal oxygen uptake (mL*kg(-1)*min(-1)). Inhibitory control was measured with a modified Eriksen flanker task (reaction time and accuracy), and working memory with an Operation Span Task (accuracy scores). Academic achievement (in reading, mathematics, and spelling) was expressed as standardized scores on the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement. The relationships were assessed using hierarchical regression models adjusting for aerobic fitness and other covariates. RESULTS: No significant associations were found between MVPA and inhibition, working memory, or academic achievement. Aerobic fitness was positively associated with inhibitory control (P = .02) and spelling (P = .04) but not with other cognitive or academic variables (all P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Aerobic fitness, rather than daily MVPA, is positively associated with childhood ability to manage perceptual interference and spelling. Further research into the associations between objectively measured MVPA and cognitive and academic outcomes in children while controlling for important covariates is needed.This study was funded in part by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development HD069381 to Charles Hillman and Arthur Kramer, which also funded the work of Bonnie Hemrick and Jeanine Bensken. Lauren Sherar and Dale Esliger were funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Diet, Lifestyle & Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit, University Hospitals of Leicester; the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care – East Midlands (NIHR CLAHRC – EM); Lauren Raine was funded by the National Institute for Agriculture under the Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Program grant (2011-67001-30101); the Hatch Project #ILLU-971-358. The manuscript formed a part of a PhD research by Dominika Pindus funded by the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University. No industry relations were noted for Bonnie Hemrick or Jeanine Bensken. Conflict of interests: Neither authors nor individuals listed in the acknowledgements report any potential, perceived or real conflict of interests in relation to this manuscript.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.02.04

Physical activity for cognitive and mental health in youth: A systematic review of mechanisms

Context: Physical activity can improve cognitive and mental health, but the underlying mechanisms have not been established. Objective: To present a conceptual model explaining the mechanisms for the effect of physical activity on cognitive and mental health in young people and to conduct a systematic review of the evidence. Data Sources: Six electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, Ovid Medline, SportDiscus, and Embase) were used. Study Selection: School-, home-, or community-based physical activity intervention or laboratory-based exercise interventions were assessed. Studies were eligible if they reported statistical analyses of changes in the following: (1) cognition or mental health; and (2) neurobiological, psychosocial, and behavioral mechanisms. Data Extraction: Data relating to methods, assessment period, participant characteristics, intervention type, setting, and facilitator/delivery were extracted. Results: Twenty-five articles reporting results from 22 studies were included. Mechanisms studied were neurobiological (6 studies), psychosocial (18 studies), and behavioral (2 studies). Significant changes in at least 1 potential neurobiological mechanism were reported in 5 studies, and significant effects for at least 1 cognitive outcome were also found in 5 studies. One of 2 studies reported a significant effect for self-regulation, but neither study reported a significant impact on mental health. Limitations: Small number of studies and high levels of study heterogeneity. Conclusions: The strongest evidence was found for improvements in physical self-perceptions, which accompanied enhanced self-esteem in the majority of studies measuring these outcomes. Few studies examined neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms, and we were unable to draw conclusions regarding their role in enhancing cognitive and mental health