Abstract / Summary
This cross-sectional study examined associations between 24 h movement behavior composition and creative thinking in school-aged children, using accelerometers, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, compositional linear regression, and compositional isotemporal substitution analysis. A total of 319 school-aged children (168 boys, 151 girls; mean age = 10.06 ± 1.37 years; Grades 1–5) from Shanghai, China, were included. Relative time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA; β = 16.019, 95%CI [9.472, 22.578], p < 0.001) and sleep (SLP; β = 6.374, 95%CI [3.263, 9.492], p < 0.001) was significantly positively associated with total creative thinking scores, whereas sedentary behavior (SED; β = −11.621, 95%CI [−19.345, −3.906], p < 0.01) was significantly negatively associated; light physical activity (LPA; β = −4.284, 95%CI [−8.771, 0.207], p = 0.062) was negatively but nonsignificantly associated. Reallocating time from LPA or SED to MVPA or SLP was associated with significant increases in creative thinking, and reverse reallocations with significant decreases. These associations were asymmetric: scores rose gradually with the former reallocations but fell rapidly with the latter. For both MVPA and SLP, replacing SED yielded greater model-estimated gains than replacing LPA. These findings suggest that promoting creative thinking may benefit from an integrated approach to 24 h movement behaviors: increasing MVPA, ensuring sufficient SLP, reducing SED, and managing LPA. Time may be reallocated from SED and LPA to MVPA and SLP, while guarding against reverse reallocations. Future longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to determine whether reallocating time causally changes creative thinking.