Correlations between Mental Health, Physical Activity, and Body Composition in American College Students after the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown.

Restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic had forced American college students to significantly reduce their daily energy expenditure and increase their sedentary behaviors, thus presumably increasing mental health symptoms, decreasing physical activity levels, and enhancing the promotion of unhealthy eating habits. This study aimed to explore the correlations between mental health symptoms, physical activity levels, and body composition in college students in the years following the pandemic, focusing on the lingering effects of lockdown measures. American college students completed pre-existing, well-validated surveys for both mental health (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form). Body composition was assessed in person with the use of an Inbody 570 device. Of the 90 American college students (M age = 22.52 ± 4.54, 50 females) who participated in this study, depressive and anxious symptom scores consistent with heightened symptomatology were reported by 58% of the participants (N = 52), moderate borderline symptomatology by 17% (N = 15), and asymptomatology by 25% (N = 23). In regard to physical activity, 79% (N = 71) of the students were highly physically active, 18% (N = 16) were moderately active, and 3% (N = 3) reported low levels of physical activity. Additionally, 46% (N = 41) of the students maintained an unhealthy body fat percentage based on the World Health Organization recommendations. Strong, significant relationships were found between anxiety and depression symptomatology and body fat percentage (positive correlation, p = 0.003) and between anxiety and depression symptomatology and skeletal muscle mass (negative correlation, p = 0.015), with said symptomatology increasing with added body fat and decreasing with added skeletal muscle mass. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions affected American college students through an increase in mental health symptomatology and a deterioration in overall body composition.

Community-Based Upper Extremity Power Training for Youth with Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study.

Aim: To examine the effects of an upper-extremity, community-based, and power-training intervention.Methods: Twelve participants with cerebral palsy (CP) [8 males, 4 females; mean age 14 years 6 months (SD 5 years 4 months), range 7-24] were randomly assigned to a rest-training (RT; n = 6) or training-rest (n = 6) group in this randomized, cross-over design. Training took place in participants' home or school, three times per week for 6 weeks. We examined changes in upper extremity average power output (Pavg) in watts (W) and changes in function via the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI).Results: Each participant completed at least 15 of the 18 total training sessions (91.2% adherence). Pavg increased 92.2% on average among participants (p < .05). There was a significant three-way interaction among treatment, sequence, and period with the data stratified by (Bimanual Fine Motor Function [BFMF]) level on the pain subscale of the PODCI (p = 0.0118). All participants decreased pain after training with the exception of individuals with lower functioning (BFMF II-V) in the RT group.Conclusion: A community-based upper extremity power-training intervention was feasible and effective at improving power among young people with CP and has the potential to improve pain.

Examining the effects of different teaching strategies on metacognition and academic performance.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different metacognitive interventions on knowledge and regulation of cognition, as well as academic performance (i.e., exam and final grades) in three sections of an undergraduate human anatomy and physiology course. All targeted classes were randomly assigned to one of three groups (reflection practice, passive acquisition of knowledge, and collaborative learning), and the interventions were implemented after exam 1. A pre- and posttest survey was administered during the semester (during week 2 and after exam 2), and exam and final course grades were collected at the end of the semester. The final sample included 129 students. A significant interaction of group and time was observed for knowledge of cognition: it increased in the reflection practice group, did not change in the collaborative learning group, and it decreased in the passive acquisition of knowledge. The interventions did not produce any significant interactions or main effects on regulation of cognition, exam scores, or final grades. Along with more research on metacognition in physiology education contexts, it is recommended to further examine the ways in which such data can be collected, as self-report measures only tell part of the story.