School Day Physical Activity Levels In Children: Active Commuting Day Vs Non-active Commuting Day

Abstract

Previous studies have found that children who actively commute to school are more active throughout that day. It is not known whether the increase is because more active children actively commute or that the active commute causes an increase in activity. PURPOSE: To compare active vs non-active commuting to school on total daily MVPA within the same children. METHODS: All children in school years 4 (ages 8-9), 8 and 10 within a provincial city in the UK were selected and only those who (a) returned a complete data set and (b) who actively commuted to school between 1-4 days per week were used for the analysis (n=1377, 674 females). A 7-day diary recorded MVPA (mins) in 5 school day segments; (1) before school; (2) walking/ cycling to/ from school; (3) in school; (4) before/ after school clubs and (5) after school. Paired sample t-tests identified differences between the segments and total daily MVPA on active commuting (n=3909) versus non-active commuting school days (n= 2976). RESULTS: Total daily MVPA was significantly higher on active commuting days (99.4±86.3,) compared to non-active commuting days (63.3±89.9, p<0.001,). Even when the contribution of active commuting (16.2±16.6) was removed, significantly more minutes of MVPA were undertaken on an active commuting day compared to a non-active commuting days (83.1±82min v 63.3±89.9min, p<0.001). This resulted from significantly more minutes of MVPA being accumulated on active commuting days across the remaining four segments of the day; before school (4.6±9.9 v 3.04±8.9, p<0.001), school day (31.1±30.2 v 20.7±31.3, p< 0.001), before/ after school clubs (9.9±26.4 v 6.36±27.8, p<0.001), after school (37.6±52.4 v 33.3±66.9, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Active commuting on school days leads to an increase in MVPA in the school day. When the same children undertake two different commuting behaviours different physical activity patterns result. This supports the notion that active commuting does increase levels of MVPA at other points during the school day.