Association between Chronotype, Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: The aim of this systematic review is to compile and assess the scientific evidence about the relationship between chronotypes and physical activity (PA). Methods: A systematic review was executed using a structured electronic search in PubMED, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo and Trip Database. The searches employed keywords such as chronotype, sleep, acrophase, chronotype preference, morningness, physical activity and sedentary, using MeSH terms. JBI critical tools were used to appraise methodological aspects. Results: This systematic review includes 23 studies and a total of 505,375 participants. The results show that evening chronotypes are associated with less PA and more time in sedentary activities. It occurs independently of the instruments used to collect information about chronotype and PA. Nevertheless, this association could be mitigated in young populations and university stages. Conclusions: The chronotypes are clearly associated with the PA level and the sedentary behaviour, especially in the population over their mid-twenties. Evening chronotypes are associated with less PA and more time in sedentary activities compared to morning chronotypes.

Morning chronotype and digestive tract cancers: Mendelian randomization study

“…Two extreme types of chronotype, termed morningness (an early bird) and eveningness (a night owl), means having an advanced and delayed sleep period, respectively. Evening chronotype associates with less physical activity 6 and unhealthy dietary habits 7 and thus could potentially have adverse health effects and increase the risk of cancer 8 . A matched case‐control study revealed that patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors had more commonly an evening chronotype compared to healthy controls 9 .…”

Highlighting the importance of healthy sleep patterns in the risk of adult asthma under the combined effects of genetic susceptibility: a large-scale prospective cohort study of 455 405 participants

“…Besides, some systematic reviews showed that the evening chronotype was usually viewed as a potential risk factor while the early chronotype was protective for health-related outcomes (more healthy). [25][26][27] Additionally, healthy sleep duration was defined as 7-9 hours/day according to the National Sleep Foundation's recommendations. 28 Therefore, the five healthy sleep behaviours were defined as (1) early chronotype, (2) 7-9 hours sleep duration per day, (3) never or rare insomnia, (4) no snoring and (5) no frequent daytime sleepiness.…”

Physiological Rhythms and Biological Variation of Biomolecules: The Road to Personalized Laboratory Medicine

“…M-types and E-types are also subdivided into moderate and extreme types [ 176 ]. N-types have no circadian preference and can be considered as an intermediate type between M and E-types [ 176 , 177 ]. In comparison to M-types, the E-types have less physical activity and more sedentary time [ 177 ].…”

“…N-types have no circadian preference and can be considered as an intermediate type between M and E-types [ 176 , 177 ]. In comparison to M-types, the E-types have less physical activity and more sedentary time [ 177 ]. It should be noted that although sleep is an important dimension, chronotype has multiple dimensions and other factors such as environmental and social influences shape the chronotypes of individuals [ 178 ].…”