Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026
Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training
Published on: July 27, 2022
Sleep, sedentary behavior, and physical activity: A compositional data analysis of 24-hour movement behaviors and
Ling Wang1, Wanhong Luo2, Yong Liu1
1College of Sports Science, Changsha Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
Insights
Shifting sedentary time to sleep improves executive functions like inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in preschoolers. This highlights the importance of sleep for cognitive development in early childhood.
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Behavioral Science
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Executive function (EF) is crucial for children's development.
- Understanding how daily movement behaviors influence EF is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between 24-hour movement behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep) and executive function in preschool children.
- To explore the impact of reallocating time between these behaviors on EF.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 266 preschoolers (ages 3-6).
- Measured physical activity and sedentary behavior using accelerometers.
- Assessed sleep duration via sleep logs.
- Evaluated executive function using the Early Years Toolbox.
- Applied compositional data analysis to examine associations.
Main Results:
- The distribution of 24-hour movement behaviors was significantly associated with inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory.
- Sedentary behavior was negatively linked to inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory.
- Sleep duration was positively associated with cognitive flexibility.
- Replacing 15 minutes of sedentary behavior with sleep increased inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility scores.
Conclusions:
- Reallocating time from sedentary behavior to sleep positively impacts executive function, especially cognitive flexibility.
- Findings suggest specific behavioral reorganization strategies focusing on increasing sleep may benefit preschooler EF.
- Further research is needed to explore other substitution pathways.
Objective:
This study aims to examine the relationship between 24-h movement behaviors and executive function in preschool children.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study included 266 preschool children (mean age: 3-6 years). Physical activity and sedentary behavior were measured using an accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X-BT), sleep duration was assessed using sleep logs, and executive function was evaluated using the Early Years Toolbox. Compositional data analysis was then applied to examine the associations among these variables.
Results:
(1) The relative distribution of 24-h movement behaviors was significantly associated with inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory (all p < 0.001), with a model explanatory power > 10%. The explanatory power was the highest for inhibitory control (16.3%). (2) After adjusting for other movement behaviors, sedentary behavior was negatively associated with inhibitory control [γ12 = -0.11 (-0.17, -0.05), p < 0.001], cognitive flexibility [γ12 = -1.45 (-2.29, -0.61), p = 0.001], and working memory [γ12 = -0.58 (-0.97, -0.19), p = 0.004]. In contrast, sleep was positively associated with cognitive flexibility [γ11 = 1.60 (0.26, 2.94), p = 0.020]. (3) When 15 min/day of sedentary behavior was isotemporally substituted with sleep, inhibitory control scores increased by 0.003 (0.0004, 0.006), and cognitive flexibility scores increased by 0.064 (0.021,0.106); conversely, replacing sleep with sedentary behavior resulted in a significant decline.
Conclusion:
Reallocating time from sedentary behavior to sleep was positively correlated with executive function, particularly cognitive flexibility. However, most other isotemporal substitution pathways did not show statistically significant effects, providing an important basis for future research to focus on specific behavioral reorganization strategies.
