Journal
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & HEALTH
Volume 9, Issue 8, Pages 1105-1116Publisher
HUMAN KINETICS PUBL INC
DOI: 10.1123/jpah.9.8.1105
Keywords
youth; seasonal variation; public health; daylight
Categories
Funding
- National Institute for Health Research [PDF-2010-03-15] Funding Source: researchfish
- National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) [PDF-2010-03-15] Funding Source: National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR)
- Department of Health [PDF-2010-03-15] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: Children in primary school are more physically active in the spring/summer. Little is known about the relative contributions of day length and weather, however, or about the underlying behavioral mediators. Methods: 325 British children aged 8 to 11 wore accelerometers as an objective measure of physical activity, measured in terms of mean activity counts. Children simultaneously completed diaries in which we identified episodes of out-of-home play, structured sports, and active travel. Our main exposure measures were day length, temperature, rainfall, cloud cover, and wind speed. Results: Overall physical activity was higher on long days (>= 14 hours daylight), but there was no difference between short (< 9.5 hours) and medium days (10.2-12.6 hours). The effect of long clay length was largest between 5 PM and 8 PM, and persisted after adjusting for rainfall, cloud cover, and wind. Up to half this effect was explained by a greater duration and intensity of out-of-home play on long days; structured sports and active travel were less affected by day length. Conclusions: At least above a certain threshold, longer afternoon/evening daylight may have a causal role in increasing child physical activity. This strengthens the public health arguments for daylight saving measures such as those recently under consideration in Britain.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available