Comportamiento sedentario y su relación con la estructura del cerebro, cognición y rendimiento académico en niños con sobrepeso/obesidadProyecto Activebrains

Résumé

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health problems. In addition, children are increasing time spent in low-energy activities, especially screen time. Sedentary behaviors may increase the risk of developing overweight/obesity, and in turn, both may have a negative influence on brain health. The structure of the brain is the result of an interaction between environmental and genetic factors, which may influence cognition. Childhood is a key life stage for development, and sedentary behaviors might negatively affect brain structure and cognition. In this context, examining how the time spent in specific sedentary behaviors may influence brain and cognition, specifically in overweight / obese children, is of great relevance. Therefore, the objective of this doctoral thesis was to study the association of time spent in different sedentary behaviors with brain structure and in turn with intelligence (chapter I), executive functions (chapter II) and academic performance (chapter III) in children with overweight/obesity. The results showed that longer time spent in different sedentary behaviors was associated with lower grey matter volume in specific regions of the brain, and in turn intelligence (chapter I); watching television was the only sedentary behavior associated with executive function, specifically with poorer planning ability and working memory and with better cognitive flexibility (chapter II), and that none of the sedentary behaviors were associated with academic performance (chapter III). The results of the present doctoral thesis improve our understanding about the associations of time in different sedentary behaviors such as watching television, playing video games and total sedentary time with brain structure, cognition and academic performance in overweight/obese children.