Stay in or play out? The influence of weather conditions on physical activity of grade 5 children in Canada

Abstract

Objectives Regular physical activity (PA) in children is essential for their development and prevention of overweight and obesity. Little is known about the effect of day-today variations in weather conditions on PA levels in school-aged children, particularly with regard to school compared to non-school days and girls compared to boys. Methods Daily step count (7:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.) from 972 grade 5 students aged 10-11 years from 60 schools across Alberta, Canada, was collected using time-stamped pedometers (minimum wear time of two school and one non-school days) during March-June 2013. Time-matched weather conditions (actual and feels-like temperature, cloud coverage, and precipitation amount) were obtained from local weather stations in Alberta during the same period. Multilevel mixed-effect regression models were used to estimate the effect of each weather condition on daily step count. Results A 1°C increase in feels-like temperature was associated with 26 more steps/day (p < 0.05), while 1-unit increase in cloud coverage was associated with 61 fewer steps/day (p < 0.01). Compared to no precipitation, heavy precipitation (> 5 mm/day) was associated with 1022 fewer steps/day (p < 0.01). Students' PA levels were associated with weather conditions more on nonschool vs. school days and more among girls vs. boys. Conclusion Results suggest that daily weather conditions can affect PA in school children, particularly outside school hours, and should be considered when evaluating PA levels or designing interventions to promote PA in children. Findings provide support for increased investment toward creating weather-appropriate physical activity opportunities for wet and colder days to prevent PA decline in children during inclement weather conditions.

Cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents before and after the COVID-19 confinement: a prospective cohort study

“…Consequently, longer confinement periods, with less opportunities to do physical activity outdoors, might lead to more detrimental effects over VO 2 max than those observed in the present study. Also, the influence of warm weather during the de-escalation phase could have contributed to the increase levels of physical activity, since children, particularly girls, tend to be more physically active in such conditions [ 25 ]. Finally, even though BMI has been observed to affect levels of VO 2 max in adolescents [ 26 ], our analyses did not identify any important pattern concerning this issue beyond the fact that it was participants from the second tertile who showcased higher VO 2 max values in both assessments as well as the higher reductions.…”

Potential health-related behaviors for pre-school and school-aged children during COVID-19 lockdown: A narrative review

“…Outdoor play has been also underscored as a critical point in relation to increase physical activity, decrease sedentary behavior and improve weight status (i.e. lower weight), reinforced by the fact that rainy days associate with less overall physical activity in children (Larouche et al, 2016;Rahman et al, 2019;Stone and Faulkner, 2014).…”

Basic Psychological Needs, Physical Self-Concept, and Physical Activity Among Adolescents: Autonomy in Focus

“…To avoid the impact of seasonal variation on PA levels (Carson and Spence, 2010;Rahman et al, 2019), all PA measurements were carried out at the same time of year (autumn 2019). Weather conditions can also have a significant influence on PA levels (Rahman et al, 2019), so provision was made for the elimination of data recorded on days when conditions were especially adverse (e.g., intense rain or cold). However, no data were required to be removed on these grounds.…”