Stephen Heung-Sang Wong
Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Physical activity (PA) is associated with numerous health benefits in children. Excessive sedentary behavior has emerged as a risk factor for cardio-metabolic disease independent of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). The generally accepted public guidelines recommend at least 60 minutes per day of MVPA and reducing screen time to less than 2 hours a day for school-aged youth. However, many children do not achieve these recommendations and age-related decline in PA and increase in sedentary time (ST) during childhood and adolescence have been documented in recent systematic reviews. PA declines by 7 % every year during adolescence and objectively assessed daily ST increases by 30 minutes each year during childhood and adolescence. It is noteworthy that current evidence with regard to longitudinal changes in PA and ST is mainly from Western countries. Many studies have focused on overall PA, but PA levels may vary according to specific time segments of the week. For school-aged children, notable differences in PA levels have been found between weekdays and weekends. Few studies have compared the magnitude of longitudinal changes in PA and ST between weekdays and weekends, and the findings are equivocal. Comparing the magnitude of behavioural change between school days and weekends may be helpful in suggesting intervention strategies to hinder the age-related decline in PA and increase in ST. This presentation will focus on the global trend of leisure-time PA and sedentary behavior in schoolchildren and make recommendations for strategic policy-making.
(Presented in the conference : 2017 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Culture of Leisure – Balance of Life, 7-8 August 2017, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand)