Abstract
Day-to-day variability and stability of children’s physical activity levels across days of the week are not well understood. Our aims were to examine the day-to-day variability of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), to determine factors influencing the day-to-day variability of MVPA and to estimate stability of MVPA in children. The sample comprises 686 Portuguese children (10 years of age). MVPA was assessed with an accelerometer, and BMI was computed from measured height and weight. Daily changes in MVPA and their correlates (gender, BMI, and maturity) were modeled with a multilevel approach, and tracking was calculated using Foulkes & Davies γ. A total of 51.3% of boys and 26.2% of girls achieved 60 min/day of MVPA on average. Daily MVPA was lower during the weekend (23.6% of boys and 13.6% of girls comply with the recommended 60 min/day of MVPA) compared to weekdays (60.8% and 35.4%, boys and girls, respectively). Normal weight children were more active than obese children and no effect was found for biological maturation. Tracking is low in both boys (γ = 0.59 ± 0.01) and girls (γ = 0.56 ± 0.01). Children’s MVPA levels during a week are highly unstable. In summary, boys are more active than girls, maturation does not affect their MVPA, and obese children are less likely to meet 60 min/day of MVPA. These results highlight the importance of providing opportunities for increasing children’s daily MVPA on all days of week, especially on the weekend.
Highlights
Given the paucity of data on day-to-day variability and stability of physical activity, it seems relevant to study children’s compliance with recommended moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) daily levels, and how it fluctuates across a whole week, as this may prove helpful in identifying more precise intervention windows to better plan and promote more efficient interventions aiming to increase PA levels
Vale et al, studying children aged 2–6 years reported that 93.5% of them met the daily MVPA during the week days, and this percentage declined to 77.6%
Laguna et al [43], studying MVPA in 9-y old Portuguese children, found different results, where children spent more time in MVPA during the weekend when compared to week days
Summary
The positive associations between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and numerous health benefits in children and adolescents has been systematically shown [1,2], namely in bone density increases [3], risk reduction in obesity development [4] as well as in metabolic risk [5,6].There is some debate about the negative trends in children’s daily physical activity (PA) over the last decades [7,8,9], namely complying with Strong et al [10] and the World Health Organization [1]minimum of 60 min of daily MVPA for individuals aged 5–17 years. The positive associations between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and numerous health benefits in children and adolescents has been systematically shown [1,2], namely in bone density increases [3], risk reduction in obesity development [4] as well as in metabolic risk [5,6]. There is some debate about the negative trends in children’s daily physical activity (PA) over the last decades [7,8,9], namely complying with Strong et al [10] and the World Health Organization [1]. Minimum of 60 min of daily MVPA for individuals aged 5–17 years. Verloigne et al [11], using accelerometry data from five European countries (Belgium, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands and Switzerland), showed that only 4.6% of girls and 16.8% of boys complied with the 60 min/day of MVPA guideline. Batista et al [13] found in Portuguese children aged 10–11 years that
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