Funding outcome

The importance of children's daily activities among Canadians has grown since the introduction of Canada's 24- hour movement guidelines. The new guidelines recommend that for children aged 5-13 years, an optimal 24-hour day include: at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity, several hours of light physical activity, no more than 2-hours of screen time, and 9-11 hours of good quality sleep (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology). Unfortunately, only 17% of Canadian children and youth meet the new 24-hour guidelines, placing them at risk for negative health and developmental outcomes. Considerations for the benefits or harms of engaging in movement behaviours across the whole day (24-hours) on development has been poorly examined in schoolaged children. The aim of our proposed project is to examine the influence of whole day movement behaviours on emergent mental health symptoms in children. We propose to follow a birth cohort of 700 children participating in the national Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study, at the Edmonton site, to 8 years of age. The proposed study will not only help increase our understanding of movement behaviours and child development, therefore increasing insights into prevention and intervention initiatives and ultimately promote positive child development outcomes.