Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Patterns of Singaporean Adolescents

Adolescents require at least 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (PA) for optimum health benefits. Reduced active and increased sedentary time can adversely affect health independently. This study investigated the sedentary behavior and physical activity patterns of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physical activity & health 2015-09, Vol.12 (9), p.1213-1220
Main Authors: Ching Ting, Jamie Lye, Mukherjee, Swarup, Yong Hwa, Michael Chia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accelerometry - methods
Adolescent
Body Weight
Exercise
Exercise - physiology
Female
Habits
Health risk assessment
Humans
Male
Sedentary behavior
Sedentary Lifestyle
Singapore
Teenagers
Time Factors
Waist Circumference
Waist-Hip Ratio
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Summary:Adolescents require at least 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (PA) for optimum health benefits. Reduced active and increased sedentary time can adversely affect health independently. This study investigated the sedentary behavior and physical activity patterns of Singaporean adolescents. 233 adolescents aged 13 to 15 years participated in the study. Accelerometry was used to assess the daily PA patterns for 3 weekdays and 2 weekend days consecutively. Height, weight, BMI, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were determined as surrogate measures of health. None of the participants achieved the recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on all 5 days. Significantly more time was spent engaging in sedentary activity compared with MVPA on both weekdays and weekends. MVPA and sedentary time were positively associated on weekdays after controlling for gender (P < .001). Weekday MVPA was positively associated with waist circumference (P < .001) and waist-hip ratio (P < .001). Singaporean adolescents fall substantially short of meeting the daily PA recommendations. Separate strategies to promote PA may be necessary for adolescents of differing weight status and gender. Pragmatic rather than idealistic targets to promote PA need to be set based on population-specific baseline data.
ISSN:1543-3080
1543-5474
DOI:10.1123/jpah.2014-0207