In two studies published in a special issue of the journal Early Child Development and Care devoted to “Parental Influences of Childhood Obesity”, researchers examine how parenting style – whether a strict but loving parent or a less-involved and more permissive parent – was associated with sedentary behaviour.

Overall, they found that children who had “neglectful” parents, or ones who weren’t home often and self-reported spending less time with their kids, were getting 30 minutes more screen time on an average week day.

“A half hour each day may not seem like much, but add that up over a week, then a month, and then a year and you have a big impact,” says lead author David Schary. “One child may be getting up to four hours more active play every week, and this sets the stage for the rest of their life.”

Some might wonder whether parents who were less participatory during the week days made up for it during the weekends. Actually, just the opposite happened. Sedentary time increased nearly one hour each weekend day.

Bradley Cardinal, who co-authored both papers with Schary and Paul Loprinzi, says sedentary behaviour goes against the natural tendencies of most preschool-age children.

“Toddlers and preschool-age children are spontaneous movers, so it is natural for them to have bursts of activity many minutes per hour,” he said. “We find that when kids enter school, their levels of physical activity decrease and overall, it continues to decline throughout their life. Early life involvement is imperative for establishing healthy, active lifestyles, self-awareness, social acceptance, and even brain and cognitive development.”

In their second study, it was also found that parents who actively played with their kids had the most impact, but that any level of encouragement, even just watching their child play, made a difference.

“When children are very young, playing is the main thing they do during waking hours, so parental support and encouragement is crucial,” Schary said. “So when we see preschool children not going outside much and sitting while playing… we need to help parents counteract that behaviour.”

Both these studies were published in Early Child Development and Care 182:8 (2012), and are now available to read online:

Parenting style associated with sedentary behaviour in preschool children

David P. Schary, Bradley J. Cardinal & Paul D. Loprinzi

Parental support exceeds parenting style for promoting active play in preschool children

David P. Schary, Bradley J. Cardinal & Paul D. Loprinzi
The entire special issue contents can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gecd20/182/8.

ᔥTaylor and Francis

The study, funded by National Institutes of Health, was conducted among 1,690 overweight and obese women and men between 40 and 60 years old.

“Daily well-being” motivates women to exercise, while “weight loss” and “health” are more motivational for men. Researchers investigated whether reading a one-page advertisement featuring one of those three reasons would influence intrinsic motivation for exercising, and whether men and women respond differently.

“Exercise is frequently prescribed as a way to lose weight,” said Michelle Segar, associate director for the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center for Women and Girls and research investigator at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

“But promoting activity primarily for weight loss may backfire among overweight women. Our findings suggest that featuring weight loss as the reason to exercise not only decreases intrinsic motivation, it also worsens body image. This is not true for men.”

To optimally motivate both men and women to be physically active, public health marketing and messages may need to target gender, she said.

“For men, promoting exercise for weight loss or better health may be effective. But for women, messages might be more motivating if they highlighted the connection between exercise and well-being. We should consider rebranding exercise for women,” Segar said.

This exercise marketing study extends research on participation showing that intrinsic motivation for exercising – finding pleasure in exercise – helps people stick with it.

The study also builds upon previous research suggesting that overweight women who exercise for immediately experienced benefits, such as well being, participate more than those who exercise for weight loss or health benefits.

ᔥ University of Michigan

Scientists from the University of South Florida and Fudan University in Shanghai found increases in brain volume and improvements on tests of memory and thinking in Chinese seniors who practiced Tai Chi three times a week, reports an article published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Findings were based on an 8-month randomized controlled trial comparing those who practiced Tai Chi to a group who received no intervention. The same trial showed increases in brain volume and more limited cognitive improvements in a group that participated in lively discussions three times per week over the same time period.

Previous trials have shown increases in brain volume in people who participated in aerobic exercise, and in one of these trials, an improvement in memory was seen. However, this was the first trial to show that a less aerobic form of exercise, Tai Chi, as well as stimulating discussion led to similar increases in brain volume and improvements on psychological tests of memory and thinking.

The group that did not participate in the interventions showed brain shrinkage over the same time period, consistent with what generally has been observed for persons in their 60s and 70s.

Numerous studies have shown that dementia and the syndrome of gradual cognitive deterioration that precedes it is associated with increasing shrinkage of the brain as nerve cells and their connections are gradually lost.

“The ability to reverse this trend with physical exercise and increased mental activity implies that it may be possible to delay the onset of dementia in older persons through interventions that have many physical and mental health benefits,” said lead author Dr. James Mortimer, professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida College of Public Health.

Research suggests that aerobic exercise is associated with increased production of brain growth factors. It remains to be determined whether forms of exercise like Tai Chi that include an important mental exercise component could lead to similar changes in the production of these factors. “If this is shown, then it would provide strong support to the concept of “use it or lose it” and encourage seniors to stay actively involved both intellectually and physically,” Dr. Mortimer said.

One question raised by the research is whether sustained physical and mental exercise can contribute to the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common dementing illness.

“Epidemiologic studies have shown repeatedly that individuals who engage in more physical exercise or are more socially active have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Mortimer said. “The current findings suggest that this may be a result of growth and preservation of critical regions of the brain affected by this illness.”

Full bibliographic information
James A. Mortimer, Ding Ding, Amy R. Borenstein, Charles DeCarli, Qihao Guo, Yougui Wu, Qianhua Zhao, Shugang Chu. Changes in Brain Volume and Cognition in a Randomized Trial of Exercise and Social Interaction in a Community-Based Sample of Non-Demented Chinese Elders, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2012; 30 (4), published by IOS Press.

ᔥ IOS Press BV