Abstract
Students starting at university tend to adopt unhealthy behaviors. With students expected to sit during classes, their academic schedule may be responsible for their activity patterns. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between university students’ academic schedule and day-to-day variations in sedentary behavior (SB) and physical activity (PA). The activity of 317 first-year undergraduate students (mean age 19.6 ± 1.4 years, 69.4% female, 30.0% male, and 0.6% other) was measured with the activPAL3™ triaxial monitor for seven consecutive days. Each class hour was found to be associated with 9.0 additional minutes of SB (95% CI [4.9, 13.1]), 54 additional seconds of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA; 95% CI [12, 96]), and 12.2 min less time in bed (95% CI [−16.6, −7.8]). Active SB ratio (total duration of SB bouts < 30 min divided by total SB duration) decreased by 0.011 per hour of class scheduled for the students (95% CI [−0.016, −0.006]). Light PA (LPA) was not significantly associated with class duration. Students tend to cycle more on days with classes. Seated transportation was not significantly related to whether the students had classes or not. Overall, the academic schedule is associated with SB and PA in students.
Highlights
The final sample consisted of 317 participants
The current study explored the relationship between the academic schedule and day-to-day activity patterns of first-year undergraduate students at Maastricht University
Using the activPAL3TM, the current study revealed that the students were more sedentary than the median of five to six hours reported in previous studies employing self-reported measures [50], which is not unusual considering the tendency to underestimate one’s Sedentary behavior (SB) duration [51]
Summary
Sedentary behavior (SB) covers all activities carried out in a sitting, reclining, or lying posture (excluding sleep), while expending energy of up to 1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs; METs are multiples of oxygen consumption during seated rest [1], with one MET being approximately 3.5 mL/min/kg [2]). Reviews of longitudinal studies have consistently shown that SB is associated with cardiovascular diseases [3,4], type 2 diabetes [3,4,5,6,7], and all-cause mortality [3,5,6,8]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 2810; doi:10.3390/ijerph17082810 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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