Measuring Physical Activity in Preschool aged children

Due to increasing rates of childhood obesity, it is important to investigate the relationship between motor skill development, physical activity, body composition and sleep patterns. Previous research in this area has focused on school-aged children and adults, when daily habits have already formed and are difficult to modify. The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between energy expenditure (obtained using accelerometers), motor skill development and body composition in children aged 3-6 years. We expect that children with higher motor skills will have increased physical activity and body composition measures (i.e. increased fat free mass). A secondary purpose is to investigate algorithms used to determine sleep from raw accelerometer data and analyze the relationship between physical activity and sleep. It is predicted that children with higher levels of physical activity will have less movement or wake time periods during sleep.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lori Vallis

Student:

Partner:

Universität Bremen

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Biotechnology; Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Other

University:

University of Guelph

Program: