The objective of the study was to determine the proportion of preschool children under 5 years old meeting the 24-h World Health Organisation guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep. Another objective was to examine the association between the health-related quality of life and meeting these guidelines among preschool children in Singapore. Parents completed an online and anonymous SMALLQ ® (Surveillance of digital Media hAbits in earLy chiLdhood Questionnaire) on children's physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep. Meeting the 24-h WHO guidelines meant, within a 24-h period, (i) having at least 180 min of physical activity (ii) engaging in less than 60 min of screen media and (iii) having 10-13 h of good quality sleep. Parent-reported health-related quality of life of the children was determined using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™, collected online at the same time. Parent-reported data showed that 12.6% met none while 9.6% of preschool children met all the WHO guidelines. 70.7%, 56.9% and 26.5%, of preschool children respectively, achieved the sleep, physical activity and screen media use guidelines within a 24-h period. 40.5% met two guidelines while 37.4% met one guideline. Significant differences were detected in the health-related quality of life among preschool children who met all, none, or met 1-2 of the WHO guidelines (i.e. total health score: 82.9 ± 12.4 vs. 76.4 ± 15.1 vs. 78.6 ± 14.5%, p < 0.05; ƞ 2 = 0.008-0.11). Our results show that the health-related quality of life of preschool children increased with the number of WHO guidelines accomplished.

Digital media engagement in families in Singaporean society is increasing at an unprecedented pace. Limited research in the last five years in Singapore shows that young children experience significant amounts of screen time from television, computers and other forms of mobile digital devices, even before primary school. For children, digital media use can aid with learning, but its overuse has inimical effects on learning and health. As digital media use in children increases faster than research on its impact, it is essential to develop a tool that can monitor changes in digital media habits of children over time. This study aimed to develop an online questionnaire for parents to report on the digital media habits of children. An online questionnaire bundle, Surveillance of digital-Media hAbits in earLy chiLdhood Questionnaire (SMALLQ™), organized into sections ((I) Digital-media use of parent and child, (II) Non-digital media behaviour of the child, (III) Parent and child information) was developed for the purpose of charting digital media use and changes over three years (2018, 2019, and 2020). The results showed that SMALLQ™ has face and content validity and was practicable for Singapore. Furthermore, based upon a similar methodology for developing the SMALLQ™, the development of Child-SMALQ (Surveillance of digital MediA use in chiLdhood questionnaire) and Adolescent-SMALQ (Surveillance of digital MediA use in adoLescence questionnaire) are directions for future research.

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We investigated whether a 4-min sprint interval training (SIT) protocol had an acute effect (15 min after) on improving alertness, mood, and memory recall in female students. Sixty-three children and 131 adolescents were randomly assigned to either a SIT or control (CON) group by the class Physical Education (PE) teachers. The SIT intervention was delivered twice a week for 3 weeks. SIT participants performed three, 20-s ‘all-out’ effort sprints interspersed with 60-s intervals of walking while CON group sat down and rested. PE lessons were arranged such that the first two sessions were to familiarise participants with the SIT protocol leading to acute assessments conducted on the third session. On that occasion, both groups rated their alertness and mood on a single-item hedonic scale and underwent an adapted memory recall test. The same assessments were administered to both groups fifteen minutes after delivery of SIT intervention. A 4-min SIT involving three, 20 s ‘all-out’ effort intensity sprints did not have an acute main effect on improving alertness, mood and, memory recall in female children (ηp2 = 0.009) and adolescents (ηp2 = 0.012). Students’ exercise adherence and feedback from PE teachers are indicatives of the potential scalability of incorporating SIT into PE programmes. Different work-to-rest ratios could be used in future studies.

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