Outdoor Physical Activity And Noon Napping Of Kindergarteners: A Pilot Study

Outdoor Physical Activity and Noon Napping of Kindergarteners: A Pilot Study While sleeping length and quality has been a key factor for young children’s healthy growth. Little is studied on their noon napping time and quality, as well as their relationship with outdoor physical activity (OPA). PURPOSE: To examine the time and quality of noon napping of kindergarteners and their relationships with OPA. METHOD: Noon napping time and quality of xx kindergarteners (boys = 53%; M ± SD: Age = 4.67 ± 0.47, Height in cm = 112.40 ± 3.83, Weight in kg = 19.76 ± 2.95, BMI = 15.58 ± 1.66) were accessed using a wearable accelerometer device designed specifically for young children for 18 days. RESULTS: While no correlation between overall OPA and sleep time and quality (, e.g., r ranged from -.08 to .08, some differences were observed between sunny, fog or rain days in both OPA, outdoor physical education (OPE) , sleep time and quality (M ± SD): - OPA (min) OPE (min) Light Sleep (NREM-N2, min) Deep Sleep (NREM-N3, min) Sunny Day 121 ± 39.41 80 ± 35.1 10 ± 8.0 134 ± 11.81 Fog or Rain Day 33 ± 11.58 20 ± 9.09 15 ± 14.22 119 ± 14/22 CONCLUSION: Weather clearly showed an impact on both outdoor PA/PE and young children’s noon napping time and quality. Future studies should examine the impact of different intensities of PA/PE on kindergarteners’ noon napping time and quality.