Objective. The objective of this study was to compare the levels of sedentary behaviour and physical activity in relation to sociodemographic variables of Chilean schoolchildren before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. This retrospective study considered a non-random sample of 83 boys and 232 girls, and their respective parents, who attended public schools (n = 119) and private schools (n = 196) in Chile. A self-report instrument was applied that included sociodemographic variables, sedentary behaviour (SB), and physical activity (PA) in the second period of the pandemic in 2021. Results. The main results show that pre-pandemic SB had significant differences when compared between sexes, except for television time. During the pandemic, there was no significant difference in television time or telephone time. There were no significant differences by sex before and during the pandemic. When comparing the SB scores, video game time in boys decreased (p < 0.001), as did video game time in girls (p < 0.001), and computer time in boys (p < 0.001) and girls (p < 0.001). Telephone time increased in boys (p < 0.001) and girls (p < 0.001), as did television time (p < 0.001). Likewise, PA increased in boys (Δ + 9.51min) and girls (Δ + 3.54 min) during the pandemic (p < 0.001). Conclusions. Both PA and SB underwent changes according to sex before and during the second period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chilean schoolchildren.

In this study, we investigated the impact of a 10-week free weight resistance training (RT) program on cognitive function in healthy young adults. In this randomized controlled trial, 18 participants were assigned to either an experimental or control group. We assessed cognitive function by using eye-tracking (ET) technology during text processing tasks. First-pass reading times (FPRTs) and total reading times (TRTs) were measured. Results revealed a significant three-way interaction between group, moment, and syntactic complexity in FPRTs, demonstrating training effects on cognitive processing. The experimental group showed a distinctive shift in processing patterns: from longer times in low complexity pre-intervention to increased times in high complexity post-intervention, particularly in early processing measures (FPRTs). Complementary analyses of strength improvements showed that increased strength was associated with enhanced attention allocation to complex structures and improved processing efficiency for simpler texts, suggesting RT’s potential to modulate cognitive function.

Recent studies have reported important benefits of Resistance Training (RT) in cognitive function; however, there are certain aspects concerning the study of this relation between RT and cognition that still remain unexplored. Some of these aspects encompass populations, programming parameters, and outcome measures. Our interest is unveiling the potential benefits of RT on cognitive function among healthy young adults engaged in complex cognitive tasks, shedding light on RT's impact on cognitive processing through innovative methodology like Eye Tracking. Hence, this study aims to explore the impact of chronic RT, specifically with free weights (FW), on cognitive function among healthy young adults, employing Eye Tracking (ET) technology. We adopted an experimental design including both experimental and control groups. Participants (18) were randomly assigned to either group. The experimental group engaged in a 10-week program of free weight strength training. Cognitive function was operationalized as written text processing and assessed through ET metrics (including First Pass Reading Times and Total Reading Times). The results show significant improvements in eye-tracking measures: Total Reading Times and First Pass Reading Times. These improvements can be attributed to RT, as it has been shown to enhance executive functions, which in turn influence reading performance.