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Objective: This study examined the unique and interactive effects of PA volume and within-person fluctuations in PA volume (i.e., intraindividual variability in PA volume; PA-var) on preschoolers' ( N  = 141; 47.5% girls) ADHD symptoms., Method: Preschoolers wore accelerometers during the school day over a 2-week period. Teachers reported on children's hyperactive, impulsive, and inattentive symptoms on the ADHD Rating Scale-IV Preschool Version., Results: In the context of regression models, higher levels of PA-var were linked with lower levels of impulsive symptoms. Higher levels of PA volume were linked with higher levels of hyperactive and inattentive symptoms, but only when PA fluctuation (i.e., PAvar) was relatively low. Post hoc analyses with teacher-reported impairment as the outcome revealed a significant interaction such that the positive association between PA volume and impairment was stronger at lower, as compared to higher, levels of PA-var., Conclusion: Larger fluctuations in preschoolers' PA volume may indicate lower risk for displaying impulsive symptoms. Moreover, preschoolers with high levels of PA that remain relatively consistent throughout the day may be at increased risk for exhibiting hyperactive and inattentive symptoms and related impairment, suggesting they are unable to regulate their activity to meet expectations in the school environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Abstract: The Exercise is Medicine On Campus (EIM-OC) program began in 2009 at Chatham University by Dr. Robert Sallis, Dr. Carena Winters, and ACSM leadership. The vision of EIM-OC is "to see all campus and community members across multiple disciplines discover, share, and adopt the principles of EIM that will help change the culture of physical activity and chronic disease prevention and management campus wide." Although EIM-OC maintains close track of programmatic details, such as the number of registered and recognized institutions, a comprehensive review of EIM-OC publications has not been previously reported. The purpose of this scoping review was to 1) identify and examine all peer-reviewed evidence of EIM-OC, including scholarly articles and published abstracts of presentations; 2) analyze the key themes of EIM-OC implementation and outcomes; and 3) identify gaps in the literature. The scoping review covered all peer-reviewed publications, including scholarly articles and published abstracts, from 2009 to December 2021. In total, 9 scholarly articles and 46 published abstracts were included in this review. The articles and abstracts covered a wide range of topics, including gold level (physical activity assessment and exercise referral), silver level (physical activity education), and bronze level (physical activity awareness and promotion) activities, as well as evaluation of EIM-OC programming. Now that EIM-OC programming is firmly established, we now call on campuses and leaders to strengthen their reporting of EIM-OC outcomes at all levels: gold, silver, and bronze. Publishing research evidence will strengthen EIM-OC programming and initiatives. Specifically, we encourage publishing scholarly articles and using broad means for increasing dissemination., (Copyright © 2022 by the American College of Sports Medicine.)

This study evaluates if the Kiddie Children and Teachers on the Move physical activity (PA) program improves the proportion of days meeting the Institute of Medicine (IOM) PA guideline, and whether meeting the guideline is correlated with improvement in school readiness. Thirteen Head Start-affiliated pre-kindergarten classrooms participated in this study. Minutes per hour of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and proportion of days meeting the IOM PA guideline were examined across three types of intervention days: days during a non-intervention period, non-program days during the intervention period, and program days during the intervention period. Children displayed increasingly more MVPA and a greater proportion of days meeting the IOM guideline from non-intervention days to non-program days, and from non-program days to program days. Proportion of days meeting the guideline significantly predicted improvement in school readiness in five of six domains. Examination of program fidelity indicated the program was run with high fidelity.

Background: Preschool ADHD symptoms have predictive utility for later presence of ADHD diagnoses (Harvey, Youngwirth, Thakar, & Errazuriz, 2009, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 349; Lahey et al., 2004, American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(11), 2014), yet some level of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are present even in typically developing preschoolers. Physical activity (PA) is known to have a broad spectrum of positive effects on the brain in school-age typically developing children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010, The association between school based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), including functions impaired by ADHD (Halperin, Berwid, & O'Neill, 2014, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 23, 899), yet links between PA and ADHD levels and impairments have rarely been studied in either typically developing or at-risk preschool children. Importantly, impaired processing speed (PS), though not a symptom of ADHD, is a robust neuropsychological correlate (Willcutt & Bidwell, 2011, Treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Assessment and intervention in developmental context. Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute) that may indicate additional risk for ADHD. Hence, we examined whether baseline PS moderates the association between preschoolers' PA, specifically moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and changes in ADHD levels and related behaviors., Method: Eighty-five preschoolers (49.4% female; M age  = 4.14, SD age  = .64) were drawn from a larger study of the effects of the Kiddie Children and Teachers (CATs) on the Move PA program on school readiness. The sample was largely Head Start eligible (68.2%) and ethnically diverse. Hierarchical regressions were utilized to examine links between MVPA, averaged over a school year, and changes in inattention (IA), hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI), oppositional behaviors, moodiness, and peer functioning, and whether these associations varied based on baseline PS., Results: Results indicated that for IA, HI, and peer functioning, higher amounts of MVPA were associated with greater adaptive change for those with lower (but not higher) levels of PS., Conclusions: Preschool MVPA may be a viable method of reducing ADHD levels and impairments for those with lower PS., (© 2020 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

Background: According to the US Institute of Medicine guideline, preschool-aged children should participate in ≥15 minutes of physical activity (PA) per hour or 3 hours per day over 12 hours. Examinations of PA guideline compliance to date averaged time spent in PA over several days; however, children could exceed the guideline on some days and not on others. Therefore, this cross-sectional study examined PA guideline compliance in preschool children based on number of minutes per hour (average method) and percentage of days the guideline was met (everyday method)., Methods: PA was measured by accelerometry during the preschool day for up to 10 days in 177 children (59.3% males, Mage = 4.23). Minutes per hour and percentage of time in light, moderate to vigorous, and total PAs were calculated. Percentage of days in compliance was determined by number of days in compliance (defined as the child active on average ≥15 min/h) divided by total accelerometer days., Results: Children engaged in PA, on average, 17.01 minutes per hour, suggesting that on average, children are meeting the guideline. However, children were only in compliance with the PA guideline 62.41% of assessment days., Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the importance of examining compliance with both the average and everyday methods to more accurately portray level of Institute of Medicine PA guideline compliance.

Background: The Western diet increases risk of metabolic disease., Objective: We determined whether lowering the ratio of saturated fatty acids to monounsaturated fatty acids in the Western diet would affect physical activity and energy expenditure., Design: With the use of a balanced design, 2 cohorts of 18 and 14 young adults were enrolled in separate randomized, double-masked, crossover trials that compared a 3-wk high-palmitic acid diet (HPA; similar to the Western diet fat composition) to a low-palmitic acid and high-oleic acid diet (HOA; similar to the Mediterranean diet fat composition). All foods were provided by the investigators, and the palmitic acid (PA):oleic acid (OA) ratio was manipulated by adding different oil blends to the same foods. In both cohorts, we assessed physical activity (monitored continuously by using accelerometry) and resting energy expenditure (REE). To gain insight into a possible mood disturbance that might explain changes in physical activity, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) was administered in cohort 2., Results: Physical activity was higher during the HOA than during the HPA in 15 of 17 subjects in cohort 1 (P = 0.008) (mean: 12% higher; P = 0.003) and in 12 of 12 subjects in the second, confirmatory cohort (P = 0.005) (mean: 15% higher; P = 0.003). When the HOA was compared with the HPA, REE measured during the fed state was 3% higher for cohort 1 (P < 0.01), and REE was 4.5% higher in the fasted state for cohort 2 (P = 0.04). POMS testing showed that the anger-hostility score was significantly higher during the HPA (P = 0.007)., Conclusions: The replacement of dietary PA with OA was associated with increased physical activity and REE and less anger. Besides presumed effects on mitochondrial function (increased REE), the dietary PA:OA ratio appears to affect behavior. The second cohort was derived from a study that was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as R01DK082803.

Background: Physical inactivity has been deemed a significant, contributing factor to childhood overweight and obesity. In recent years, many school systems removed recess and/or physical education from their curriculum due to growing pressure to increase academic scores. With the vast majority of children's time spent in school, alternative strategies to re-introduce physical activity back into schools are necessary. A creative yet underutilized solution to engage children in physical activity may be in before-school programs. The objective of the proposed study is to examine the effect of an unstructured, moderate to vigorous, before-school physical activity program on academic performance, classroom behavior, emotions, and other health related measures., Methods/design: Children in 3rd-5th grade will participate in a before-school (7:30-8:15 a.m.), physical activity program for 12 weeks, 3 days a week. Children will be able to choose their preferred activity and asked to sustain physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity with individual heart rate monitored during each session., Discussion: The proposed study explores an innovative method of engaging and increasing physical activity in children. The results of this study will provide evidence to support the feasibility of an unstructured, moderate to vigorous, before-school physical activity program in children and provide insight regarding the ideal physical activity intensity and duration necessary to achieve a positive increase in academic performance., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01505244.