Combinations of physical activity, screen time and sleep, and their association with subjective wellbeing in children

Globally there are more than 1.3 billion children, representing 16% of the whole world population [1,2]. Although childhood and adolescence are considered as critical stages of healthy development, 6.64 million children die every year due to transport, self-harm, interpersonal violence and other factors [3], resulting into more children experiencing a variety of diseases and injuries [4]. There has been a remarkable improvement in the overall health of children in recent decades, but the burden of nonfatal health losses has increased over the past decades [4]. Therefore, mental health problems are a major global health burden in children [5]. Substantial evidence illustrates that mental health problems during childhood and adolescence can affect their future physical and mental health [[6], [7], [8], [9], [10]]. Subjective wellbeing (SWB) reflects the positive aspects of mental health, and therefore SWB is an important indicator of mental health research [11].

Previous studies have demonstrated that higher levels of depression and anxiety are associated with lower SWB [[12], [13], [14]]. Moreover, higher SWB is associated with enhanced immune status, as well as reduced inflammation, musculoskeletal pain, and risk of mortality [[15], [16], [17]]. Therefore, SWB is an important element related to overall health. Previous research has illustrated that healthy movement behaviours are associated with SWB in children [18,19], and evidence on the association between movement behaviours and SWB in children is increasingly accumulating [[20], [21], [22]]. Movement behaviour compositions, physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB) and sleep, are independently associated with SWB. Previous evidence demonstrates the benefits of sufficient PA [23,24], limited SB [25,26], and adequate sleep [27] on physical and mental health. Emerging evidence indicates that all 24-h movement behaviours' compositions should be considered concurrently [28], because studying one movement behaviour in isolation would neglect the impact of other movement behaviours on health outcomes [29]. Consequently, Canada launched the first evidence-based 24-h movement guidelines in 2016 [30], which was subsequently followed by Australia, South Africa, and other countries [31]. In these guidelines, children are recommended to engage in at least 60 min of moderate to vigorous PA per day, limit recreational screen time (ST) to less than 2 h per day, and maintain a sleep duration of 9–11 h (5–13 years old) or 8–10 h (14–17 years old) [30]. However, previous studies have reported a low prevalence of the compliance of 24-h movement guidelines among children [[32], [33], [34]]. Meanwhile, due to the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic, the prevalence of compliance of the guidelines is now significantly lower than that before the outbreak [[35], [36], [37]].

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the relationship between the compliance of 24-h movement guidelines and SWB in children. A previous systematic review found that, in children, greater PA was associated with higher SWB, while more SB was associated with lower SWB [38]. Furthermore, a relationship between longer sleep duration and higher SWB was reported in a systematic review [27]. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the compliance of 24-h movement guidelines and SWB in children since the COVID-19 pandemic. One study from Switzerland investigated the relationship between the compliance of 24-h movement guidelines and SWB in 2534 children aged 5–16 years, and found that participants who met the 24-h movement guidelines had higher levels of SWB [42]. Moreover, even meeting any one or a combination of any two recommendations of the guidelines was associated with higher SWB compared to meeting none of the 24-h movement guidelines [[42], [43]]. Furthermore, there is also a lack of demographically representative studies investigating the relationship between the compliance of 24-h movement guidelines and SWB.

Consequently, the present study aimed to explore the association between the compliance of 24-h movement guidelines and SWB in a sample of Chinese children.

留言 (0)

沒有登入
gif