Abstract
Background24-hour movement guidelines recommend a healthy balance of high levels of physical activity, low levels of sedentary behaviour and appropriate sleep duration each day. At present, surveillance data on how Australian adolescents are performing against these guidelines are lacking. This study aims to describe the extent to which Australian secondary school students are adhering to the physical activity, sedentary recreational screen time and sleep duration recommendations outlined in the national 24-hour movement guidelines for children and young people. It also examines whether there are socio-demographic differences in levels of compliance and if there have been significant changes in these behaviours over time.MethodsA repeated national cross-sectional survey of students in grades 8 to 11 (ages 12-17 years) was conducted in 2009-2010 (n=13,790), 2012-2013 (n=10,309) and 2018 (n=9,102). Students’ self-reported physical activity, screen time and sleep behaviours were assessed using validated instruments administered in schools via a web-based questionnaire.ResultsIn 2018, around one in four students (26%) did not meet any of the 24-hour movement guidelines, while only 2% of students met all three. Adherence to the sleep duration recommendation was highest (67%), with substantially smaller proportions of students meeting the physical activity (16%) and screen time (10%) recommendations. Differences in adherence by sex, grade level and socio-economic area were apparent. Students’ compliance with the screen time recommendation has declined over time, from 19% in 2009-2010 to 10% in 2018. However, there has been no significant change in the proportion meeting the physical activity (15% in 2009-2010 cf. 16% in 2018) and sleep duration (69% in 2009-2010 cf. 67% in 2018) recommendations. Compliance with all three guidelines has remained very low (<3%) across each survey round.ConclusionsThere is considerable scope to improve Australian adolescents’ physical activity and sedentary behaviours in line with the national 24-hour movement guidelines. Policy proposals and environmental interventions, particularly those focused on replacing sedentary screen time with physical activity (e.g. promotion of active commuting to/from school), are needed to better support Australian adolescents in meeting the 24-hour movement guidelines.
Highlights
Policy proposals and environmental interventions, those focused on replacing sedentary screen time with physical activity, are needed to better support Australian adolescents in meeting the 24-hour movement guidelines
In recent years, the Australian Government has released age-specific 24-hour movement guidelines that focus on achieving a healthy balance of high levels of physical activity, low levels of sedentary behaviour and appropriate sleep duration each day [1, 2]
A lower proportion of females met the combination of physical activity and screen time recommendations (OR=0.53, 95% CI: 0.33-0.84, p=0.007) as well as the combination of physical activity and sleep duration recommendations (OR=0.48, 95% CI: 0.38-0.61, p
Summary
The Australian Government has released age-specific 24-hour movement guidelines that focus on achieving a healthy balance of high levels of physical activity, low levels of sedentary behaviour and appropriate sleep duration each day [1, 2]. Using accelerometer data and parent reports, these studies have found that between 15-20% of pre-schoolers are meeting all three guidelines set out for their age group, with high adherence to the physical activity and sleep duration recommendations (89-93%) and substantially lower adherence to the screen time recommendation (17-23%) [9, 10]. Prior to Australia shifting to this integrated movement behaviour model, a cross-sectional, multinational study of children aged 9 to 11 years conducted between 2011 and 2013 found that 15% of the 451 Australian participants met 24-hour movement guidelines for children and young people, defined as at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, no more than two hours of recreational screen time per day and 9 to 11 hours of sleep per night (ages 5 to 13 years; 8 to 10 hours per night for ages 14 to 17 years) [6]. Surveillance data on how older children are performing relative to these guidelines are lacking, with the only published study identified in the literature limited to data collected from grade 5 to 12 students attending a single independent school in Perth, Western Australia [12]
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