ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
This article is part of the Research TopicIntegration of physical activity for academic excellence and health promotion in adolescents and school childrenView all 6 articles
Investigating the Impact of Physical Activity on BMI, Motor Skills, and Sleep Patterns in Elementary School Children
Provisionally accepted
Xin Li*
Bin Ma- College of Sports Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: This research examines how interschool physical activity (PA) interventions affect children's BMI, motor skills, and sleep behaviors. Methods: In this investigation, a stratified random sampling method was implemented to choose 40 physically and mentally healthy fifth-grade students (average age of 10.72±0.56 years) from an elementary school in Tianjin, China, after stratification by gender, randomly divided into experimental group (EG, n = 20,10 boys and 10 girls) and control groups (CG, n = 20,10 boys and 10 girls). The EG participated in 320 minutes of physical activity (PA) weekly, comprising 200 minutes of standard physical education classes and 120 minutes of supplementary intervention activities. The CG adhered to the standard timetable, consisting of 200 minutes of physical education and 120 minutes of non-PA weekly. BMI, motor skills (evaluated through standardized assessments like the 50m run, 50m×8 back-and-forth run, 1-minute jump rope, sit-and-reach and 1-minute sit-ups), PA (moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) and sedentary time), and sleep patterns (duration and efficiency) were measured at weeks 0, 6, and 12. Results: After the intervention, the BMI of the EG was significantly reduced by 0.26 kg/m² (p < 0.05), all the indexes of motor skills were significantly improved (p < 0.05) compared to the CG. The EG significantly increased MVPA time by 30.28 min (p < 0.05), while significantly reducing sedentary time by 60.22 min (p < 0.01). Regarding sleep patterns, the EG slept an additional 44.83 min (p < 0.01), with sleep efficiency improving by 5.62% (p < 0.01). No significant variations were observed in any of these indicators within the CG. Concerning gender differences, boys and girls in the EG displayed similar trends in BMI, motor skills, PA levels, and sleep quality,with no notable differences. Conclusion: Enhancing interschool PA by 120 minutes weekly over a 12-week period has been shown to significantly improve BMI, motor skills, PA levels, and sleep quality among 10-to-11-year-old children. This intervention offers a practical foundation for promoting children's health and developing school physical education standards.
Keywords: PA, Body Mass Index, Motor Skills, Sleep patterns, Children
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xin Li, xin_lili@126.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.