Associations between Physical Activity and Fitness, Body Composition and Cognitive Skills during Growth and Maturation

Dear Colleagues,

We are organizing a Special Issue focused on the associations between physical activity and fitness, body composition, and cognitive development in childhood to expand our understanding of the complexity of growth and maturation in children. It is a rather well-established fact that physical activity plays a crucial role in promoting the physical and mental health of children, while increased sedentary lifestyles in recent years have negatively influenced physical fitness development and health. Physical activity has a positive role in the development of cognitive abilities. The positive influence of physical fitness parameters on cognitive competence has also been studied. Accordingly, we welcome manuscripts that offer novel insights into the associations between different measures of physical activity and fitness, body composition, and cognitive abilities in children from early age to adolescence. We are especially interested in manuscripts that describe the longitudinal influence of physical activity and fitness on cognitive development and different health markers later in childhood. This Special Issue is open to any subject area in the complex interaction of different health parameters during growth and maturation. The potential topics listed suggest just a few of the many possibilities.

Potential topics included, but are not limited to:

• Associations of physical activity and fitness with health parameters during growth and maturation;
• Associations of physical activity and fitness with cognitive abilities during growth and maturation;
• Associations of parental education and socio-economic status with health parameters during growth and maturation;
• Importance of parental education in the development of physical fitness and cognitive abilities during growth and maturation;
• Importance of physical activity and fitness in psychological well-being during growth and maturation;
• Importance of physical activity and fitness in motor skill development during growth and maturation.

Prof. Dr. Jaak Jürimäe
Dr. Eva Maria Riso
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• maturation
• physical activity
• sedentary time
• physical fitness
• body composition
• cognitive abilities
• obesity
• parental education