The Canadian 24-Hour Exercise Behavior Guidelines suggest limiting screen time, adequate levels of physical activity, and adequate sleep to ensure optimal health and quality of life for children and adolescents. A new study looked at how well children with autism spectrum disorders adhered to these guidelines and found that those who adhered had much better quality-of-life indicators. This research Sports Health Science Journal.
Autism spectrum disorders are a group of developmental conditions characterized by impaired social interaction, impaired development of language and communication skills, and repetitive patterns of activity, behavior, and interests. It affects less than 1% of his children worldwide and is slightly more common in males.
Previous research has shown that children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders have a poorer quality of life compared to their peers with typical mental development. Research into why this is so is limited, but these differences are attributed to factors such as inclusion in school activities, level of social disability, and severity of the disability itself.
There is also evidence that lifestyle interventions such as the introduction of regular physical activity may improve the quality of life of these children. behavior, and lack of adequate sleep may be associated with adverse effects.
To study the relationship between lifestyle and quality of life in children with autism spectrum disorders, study authors referred to the Canadian 24-Hour Physical Activity Guidelines (24-HMB). These guidelines were developed in response to the recognition that low levels of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and poor sleep quality are associated with poor overall quality of life. The behavior is more common in children with autism spectrum disorders than in children without them.
This study used data from the US 2020 National Child Health Survey of 956 children ages 6 to 17 who were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder at the time of the survey. The study assessed interest in learning (“How often does this child show interest and curiosity in learning new things?”), adaptability (“What does your child do when it comes to dressing and bathing?”). Do you have a problem?”) used data on several quality of life indicators. ), victimization of bullying (“In the last 12 months, how often was your child bullied, teased, or excluded by other children?”), behavioral problems ( “Has a doctor, other health care provider, or educator told you?”) Does your child have a behavior or conduct problem?”), and adherence to 24-hour exercise guidelines Also.
The guidelines state that “(a) children aged 5 to 13 years sleep 9 to 11 hours, adolescents aged 14 to 17 sleep 8 to 10 hours, and (b) children and adolescents sleep at least 60 hours. Accumulating moderate sleep for a minute was ”. – Vigorous physical activity per day, and (c) recreational screen time should be limited to no more than 2 hours per day. This adherence he divided into four categories according to the number of guidelines the child met.
“Overall, 452 participants (45.34%) met one of the three recommendations, 216 (22.65%) met two recommendations, while 39 participants (5.04%) only met all three recommendations,” the researchers wrote.
Results showed that children who adhered to at least one of the guidelines showed interest and curiosity in learning more than twice as often as children who did not meet any of the guidelines.
“Meeting both screen time and physical activity recommendations, or both sleep duration and physical activity recommendations, was associated with lower odds of withholding grades,” the researchers wrote. “Regarding adaptive capacity, participants who met only physical activity recommendations were less likely to have difficulty dressing and bathing than those who did not.”
“Participants who met all three recommendations were less likely to be victims of bullying. Participants who adhered to both sleep duration and physical activity recommendations did not meet these guidelines.” They were less likely than participants to present with serious behavioral problems.
This study provides an important contribution to our knowledge about the factors associated with the quality of life of children with Autism Specter Disorder. However, it should be taken into account that the design of this study does not yield causal conclusions and that most of the major factors were assessed using only one of her questions.
The study, “24-hour exercise guidelines and associations with quality of life in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders” was authored by Chuidan Kong, Aiguo Chen, Sebastian Ludyga, Fabian Herold, Sean Healy, Mengxian Zhao, and Alyx Taylor. rice field. Notger G. Muller, Arthur F. Kramer, Sitong Chen, Mark S. Tremblay, Liye Zou.
