Physical exercise has been shown to improve balance, gait, and cognitive function in older adults. Interactive cognitive-motor training (ICMT) combines physical exercise and cognitive stimulation, but few studies have focused on the effect of ICMT on static and dynamic balance in older adults. This study aims to improve the balance of older adults to reduce fall-related injuries for sustainable development goals. We randomly assigned 38 older adults to either the ICMT group (n = 22) or the control group (n = 16). The ICMT group participated in 60-min exercise sessions three times a week for 12 weeks, while the control group maintained their regular activities. The static and dynamic balances were assessed before and after the intervention. The results indicated the ICMT group demonstrated significant improvements in static balance, specifically in swing path and velocity (V) in the medial-lateral (M-L) direction with eyes open (p < 0.05). With eyes closed, the ICMT group showed significant improvements in total swing path and area compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In dynamic balance, there was a significant difference in the lateral (L) angle limit of stability (LOS) between the ICMT group and the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, ICMT effectively enhances static balance and maintains dynamic balance in older adults. Full article

Urbanization is a global trend that is expected to continue, and by 2025, it is estimated that almost 60% of the world’s children will live in urban areas. Urban community pocket parks provide a solution to the need for parks in high-density urban communities due to their flexible location, small size, and patchy distribution. This paper aims to examine and optimize the construction of urban community pocket parks from a child’s perspective to encourage children’s participation in these parks. The first step was to conduct a literature review to identify key evaluation indicators for assessing the child-friendliness of pocket parks. Then, the AHP-entropy TOPSIS approach was used to establish an indicator system to effectively evaluate the child-friendliness of pocket parks in urban communities. The system included physical space, cognitive ability, emotional development, environmental perception, and social interaction. Finally, suggestions for optimization were made based on the weighting of influencing factors. The results show that freedom of movement (6.2%) significantly affects the child-friendliness ratings of community pocket parks. Additionally, Hefei residents are not sufficiently influenced by the diversity of play (2.29%) and play facility planning (2.58%) in pocket parks. Therefore, consideration should be given to focusing on the degree of nature adaptation in park construction and renewal projects, as well as understanding children’s perception of nature. Full article

This study examined the variations in self-efficacy, self-esteem, and assertiveness levels among pregnant women engaging in sustainable exercise compared to those performing no physical activity. The study also explored the connection between these changes and the number of pregnancies. The sample included 220 pregnant women engaging in sustainable exercise and 210 pregnant women performing no physical activity. Sustainable exercisers were chosen from those engaged in physical activity for at least 30 min, twice a week. The participants were in the fourth to seventh month of their pregnancy. A simple random sampling technique was used to choose participants and a total of 430 pregnant women volunteered to participate in the study. The mean age of the participants was 31.45 ± 12.11 years. Data collection tools were the Self-Efficacy Scale (SES), the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI), and the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (RAS). In data analysis, the impact of independent variables on self-efficacy, self-esteem, and assertiveness was evaluated by one-way ANOVA in groups of more than two, t-test in paired groups, the relationship between some independent variables and scales was evaluated by correlation, and descriptive features were shown as percentages. In cases where variance analyses were significant at 0.05 (p < 0.05), Tukey’s test was used as a post hoc test. The study’s results indicated a significant disparity between the mean self-efficacy and self-esteem scores of women engaged in sustainable exercise compared to those who were not. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of assertiveness levels. The mean scores of self-efficacy, self-esteem, and assertiveness differed significantly in respect to the number of pregnancies in exercising women. However, there were no significant differences in mean scores of self-efficacy, self-esteem, and assertiveness scores in terms of the number of pregnancies in women who did not exercise. Full article

Background: The policy of the Physical Education (PE) Entrance Examination for Senior High School (PEESHS) is an operable and measurable educational policy proposed by the Chinese government to solve the youth’s physical health problems and promote health in middle school students. In recent years, the reform of PEESHS policy has brought youth sports to a new climax, and determining how to achieve the maximum benefit of health promotion with the PEESHS policy is the current focus of the Chinese government, society, schools, and families. The primary purpose was to investigate the health promotion benefits of PE on junior high school students under PEESHS policy and clarify the differences and correlation of overall health, physical fitness, sports participation, social adaptation, and learning facilitation. The secondary aim was to assess the practical value of PEESHS policy implementation on health promotion. Methods: The questionnaire of this study was compiled in four steps, and 31 provincial capitals across China were selected as sampling areas, using the convenience sampling method and snowball sampling method, respectively. The number of questionnaires collected was 11,373 (5703 online; 5670 offline), of which 8574 were valid, with an efficiency rate of 75.4%. Ultimately, 8574 students (4199 girls; 4375 boys) were recruited from junior high schools in 31 provinces and municipalities. Data analyses were performed using ANOVA, t-test, and Pearson bivariate correlation. Results: The results showed that the PEESHS significantly improved participants’ physical fitness, interpersonal relationships, exercise participation, learning efficiency, and psychological health after preparing for PEESHS. Exercise participation and physical fitness showed the most significant positive correlation. Excessive sports intensity was detrimental to health promotion. Conclusion: The PEESHS policy has significantly impacted the health of students participating in PEESHS. Full article

Applying the visualized bibliometric analysis method, we explored the overall distribution characteristics, research progress, and hotspots of current research on the effect of the built environment on the physical activity of children and adolescents from 2003 to 2022. The research results indicate that the United States, Canada, Australia, and other Western countries are the primary forces of relevant research and have a solid foundation in the research on the impact of the built environment on the physical activity of children and adolescents. Sallis, Saelens, Gile-Corti, and other early authors have had a long-term, important role in this area. The research results have continuously guided new scientific research output for a long time, and emerging research forces have also played a directional role in future research trends, represented by publications such as American Preventive Medicine and Preventive Medicine. Obesity, health behaviors, home–school environment, and various correlations are the research hotspots in this field. This study systematically summarizes and analyzes research on the built environment’s promotion of physical activity among children and adolescents, and it provides valuable guidance and reference for follow-up research in the near future. Full article

Lack of sleep causes central fatigue in the body, which in turn affects brain function, and similarly, intense exercise causes both central and peripheral fatigue. This study aims to characterize the brain state, and in particular the functional changes in the relevant brain regions, after intense exercise in sleep-deprived conditions by detecting EEG signals. Thirty healthy adolescents were screened to participate in the trial, a sleep-deprivation model was developed, and a running exercise was performed the following morning. Meanwhile, pre-exercise and post-exercise Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected from the subjects using a 32-conductor electroencephalogram acquisition system (Neuroscan), and the data were analyzed using MATLAB (2013b) to process the data and analyzed Phase Lag Index (PLI) and graph theory metrics for different brain connections. Compared with the control group, the pre-exercise sleep-deprivation group showed significantly lower functional brain connectivity in the central and right temporal lobes in the Delta band (p < 0.05), significantly lower functional brain connectivity in the parietal and occipital regions in the Theta band (p < 0.05), and significantly higher functional brain connectivity in the left temporal and right parietal regions in the Beta2 band (p < 0.05). In the post-exercise sleep-deprivation group, functional brain connectivity was significantly lower in the central to right occipital and central regions in the Delta band (p < 0.05), significantly higher in the whole brain regions in the Theta, Alpha2, and Beta1 bands (p < 0.05 and 0.001), significantly higher in the right central, right parietal, and right temporal regions in the Alpha1 band (p < 0.05), and in the Beta2 band, the functional brain connections from the left frontal region to the right parietal region were significantly lower (p < 0.05). The results of the brain functional network properties showed that the clustering coefficients in the Delta band were significantly lower in the pre-exercise sleep-deprivation group compared to the control group (p < 0.05); the characteristic path length and global efficiency in the Theta band were significantly lower (p < 0.05 and 0.001). The post-exercise sleep-deprivation group showed significantly higher clustering coefficients, input lengths, and local efficiencies (p < 0.001), and significantly lower global efficiencies in the Delta and Theta bands (p < 0.001), and significantly higher clustering coefficients and local efficiencies (p < 0.001) and significantly lower input lengths and global efficiencies in the Alpha1 band compared with the control group (p < 0.001). After sleep deprivation, the pre-exercise resting state reduces the rate of information transfer in the functional networks of the adolescent brain, slowing the transfer of information between brain regions. After performing strenuous exercise, sleep deprivation leads to decreased athletic performance in adolescents. After a prolonged period of intense exercise, brain activity is gradually suppressed, resulting in even slower work efficiency and, eventually, increased information transfer in adolescents. Full article

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 had a huge impact on daily life. It greatly reduced our physical activity (PA) and caused an increase in negative emotions. The emotions of different ages and sexes were impacted during the pandemic but the most severely influenced were adolescents. Therefore, the study’s main purpose was to explore the influence of age and gender on adolescent physical activity and emotions during the pandemic. Methods: The subjects of the present study were 14,045 adolescents aged 10–18 years from the Yan’an Shaanxi province. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) was used to investigate the PA and Profile of Mood States (POMS) was used to investigate adolescents’ mood states. Results: we found that girls and boys have significant differences in total PA and moderate PA (p < 0.01). The adolescents’ PA levels of different ages had significant differences (p < 0.01). Meanwhile, boys had higher negative emotion scores (anger, fatigue, depression, confusion) than girls. Girls, in contrast, had higher positive emotion scores (self-esteem, vigor) (p < 0.01). With increasing age, the increase in emotional states seems to diminish (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Results show long-term social isolation causes reduced PA and increased negative mood states. Girls’ PA was higher than boys, and boys had higher levels of mood disturbances. PA and levels of mood disturbances were significantly associated with age from 10 to 18 years old. This research study aimed to help the correlation department understand the relationship between PA and mood states of adolescents of different ages and sexes during COVID-19. Providing health promotion and preventative advice for different sex and age groups has expanded globally. Full article

Background: As the population ages, cognitive impairment and dementia have become one of the greatest health threats in older adults. Prior studies suggest that exergaming could improve cognitive function in older adults. To date, few long-term exergames intervention studies on older adults during the COVID-19 epidemic exist. This study aimed to investigate the effects of exergame on cognitive function in Chinese older adults, and to examine whether exergame was more effective than aerobic dancing for executive function and working memory. Methods: 55 participants (mean age = 65.4 ± 3.7 years) were randomly assigned to an exergame training (ET) group, an aerobic dancing training (ADT) group, or a control (CON) group. The ET and ADT groups received 36 sessions (three 75-min training sessions per week, exercise intensity = 65 to 75% HR_max) during a 12-week period. The outcome measures for cognitive function included working memory measured by the N-back test, and executive function measured by the Stroop test. Results: The ET group showed a significantly positive effect in working memory, relative to the ADT (accuracy in 1-back test: ES = 0.76, p < 0.01), and CON group (accuracy in 1-back test: ES = 0.87, p = 0.02). Moreover, the performance in the Stroop test showed some improvements in executive function after intervention in the ET and ADT groups (Stroop intervention effect: ES = 0.38; p = 0.25). Conclusions: Exergame had a positive benefit in improving cognitive functions in older adults without cognitive impairment. Long-term exergame training could improve working memory in older adults. Exergame and aerobic dancing can efficiently improve inhibitory control of executive function in older adults. Maintaining an active lifestyle is protective of cognitive health in older adults. Full article

Only one decade since the emergence of the first sports-related mobile app, although there is a large amount of fitness software, the quality is uneven, and some people still have concerns about whether to use fitness software. College students account for a large proportion of the number of people using fitness software; through empirical research on the factors affecting the use of fitness software, it is of great significance to further promote people’s healthy behavior. This study investigates the factors that influence the user behavior of fitness software in college students and then addresses the promotion of better health behaviors among college students. Using a Likert scale, 994 college students (51.3% male, 48.7% female) in five universities (each university accounted for about 20% of students) were given questionnaires. Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), assumptions were proposed, and a structural equation model (SEM) was constructed. The maximum likelihood method was used to analyze data and verify hypotheses. The results of the study show that social influence, performance expectancy, and effort expectancy significantly affect college students’ behavioral intention. Behavioral intention and gender have a significant positive effect and a moderating effect on user behavior. The development of fitness software should consider the factors mentioned above to enhance the health levels of college students. Full article

Suffering during events such as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens the quality of life (QoL) of older adults with physical and mobility disabilities. This study aims to determine the QoL of older Thai adults with such disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and its predictor. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 360 older adults with physical and mobility disabilities. Data were collected by structured interview questionnaires. Data analyses comprised Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The mean age of the participants was 73.52 years; a total of 58.6% of them were female and 97.8% had completed only primary education. More than half of them had a moderate QoL (63.3%). Self-esteem, age, and perception of the benefits of disability were found to be associated with the participants’ QoL (p < 0.05) and capable of predicting it with 54.7% accuracy. As self-esteem and the perception of the benefits of disability were found to be indicators of the QoL of older adults with physical and mobility disabilities, the healthcare providers of such older adults should organize activities that could enhance their self-esteem and the perception of the benefits of disability to improve their QoL, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of built environment (BE) elements on older people’s (OP) leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and leisure-time walking (LTW) level in the city of Ningbo. Older participants numbering 312 were randomly recruited using cross-sectional survey in 2019. International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short version (IPAQ-S) and Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale—abbreviated (NEWS-A)—were used to gather LTPA data and the perceive scores of BE, respectively. Liner regression analysis was performed to investigate the association relationship between the perceived scores of BE and OP’s LTW and LTPA. The study’s results showed that, when not considering different sex groups, OP’s LTW was significantly related with the perceived scores of access to services (AE, p = 0.045), walking/cycling facilities (W/CF, p = 0.007), aesthetics, and land use mix diversity (LUMD, p = 0.04). OP’s LTPA was significantly related with AE (p = 0.04) and aesthetics (p < 0.001). The association relationships of BE with LTW and LTPA varied in different sex groups. Three elements (AE, W/CF, and LUMD) and one element (pedestrian/traffic safety and P/TS) of BE were found be related with older male and older female’s LTW, respectively. One element (aesthetics) and two elements (aesthetics, LUMD) of BE were found be related with older male and older female’s LTPA, respectively. The results indicated that the effects of BE on OP’s LTW and the effects of BE on OP’s LTPA were different. The effect also varied in different sex groups. More studies are needed to confirm the effect of BE on OP’s LTW and LTPA in different sex groups to globally enrich the scientific data base. Full article

Implementation intentions (II) have demonstrated their efficacy in promoting physical activity (PA) among various populations, including adults, the general population, and those with chronic conditions. However, there is a dearth of meta-analyses examining this efficacy among university students. This meta-analysis aims to determine the effectiveness of II interventions in improving PA among university students. Six online databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, PsycINFO, and PsycArticle) were comprehensively searched. Recursive searching and grey literature collection strategies were employed to identify relevant studies. The meta-analysis employed a random-effects model to combine effect sizes for different PA outcomes. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies, and sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the robustness of the results. Twelve studies involving 1916 participants met the inclusion criteria. The findings indicated that II interventions significantly increased PA among university students compared to control groups (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.31, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.12, 0.50, p < 0.001). Subgroup analyses revealed larger effect sizes in the following groups: publication year after 2013, inactive university students, the reinforcement group, the action planning group, and the intervention period of fewer than six weeks. The above findings offer compelling evidence that II interventions can effectively promote PA among university students. The integration of IIs with e-health platforms and the implementation of individualized and multifaceted intervention models exhibit promising sustainability for promoting PA on campus. Full article

To explore the effect of exercise intervention on fundamental movement skills (FMS) of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Following the principle of PICOS, randomized controlled trials of the effect of exercise intervention on the FMS of ADHD/ASD children were searched. A total of 12 articles and 396 participants were included. Review Manager5.4 and Stata16.0 software were used to process and analyze the data. The results revealed that (1) exercise intervention can improve the gross motor skills of children with ADHD/ASD (p < 0.00001). Aquatic therapy (SMD = 56.54, 95% CI = 38.83–74.25) has a better effect on stability skills, and FMS intervention (SMD = 17.58, 95% CI = 1.78–33.38) has a better effect on locomotor skills and object control skills. (2) Exercise intervention can improve the fine motor skills of children with ADHD/ASD (p = 0.001). Table tennis exercise (SMD = 9.91, 95% CI = 0.23–19.59) and horse-riding program (SMD = 9.50, 95% CI = 5.20–13.80) have better effects on fine manual control and hand–eye coordination. (3) The closed-skill intervention for 60 min each time, twice a week, for at least 12 weeks had the best effect on the improvement in the FMS in children with ADHD/ASD (p < 0.00001). Exercise intervention may effectively improve FMS in children with ADHD/ASD. Intervention form, time, frequency, and duration are important moderator variables that positively impact the FMS of children with ADHD/ASD. Full article

Developing physical activity guidelines based on the life cycle concept is conducive to accelerating the realization of the goal of “all-round, full-cycle maintenance and protection to greatly improve people’s health” in the Healthy China 2030 Planning Outline. Based on a policy tools perspective, this study uses the text analysis method to collect and analyze physical activity guidelines based on the life cycle concept from five economically developed countries: the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the UK. The policy tools, country data, and stages of the life cycle were used to develop physical activity guidelines in China to accelerate the realization of the Healthy China 2030 strategy based on the following principles: (1) Strengthen sectoral cooperation and establish a system of policy instruments; (2) increase publicity and scientific awareness of physical activity and exercise; (3) focus on talent cultivation and improve guideline research and development; and (4) mobilize the power of all sectors to promote the implementation of physical activity guidelines. Full article

The positive deviance approach assumes that a community’s problems have already been solved. ‘Positive deviants’ succeed despite sharing many of the same constraints as others. Positive deviance, which has its roots in international public health, is increasingly being applied to healthcare, with a various-stage process proposed depending on the setting. However, the quality of current healthcare applications varies, and at each stage of the process, different study designs and methods are used. This paper aims to identify the definition and process of the positive deviance approach and summarize this approach in healthcare and health promotion to promote young adults’ and adolescents’ health. Additionally, examples of interventions based on a positive deviance approach to improve young adults’ and adolescents’ health and recommendations for further studies are also presented. Full article