Individual and day‐to‐day differences in domain‐specific physical activity of 10‐ to 11‐year‐old children in Denmark—Measured using GPS and accelerometry

Abstract

AbstractObjectivePhysical activity (PA) and the achievement of 60 min of moderate‐to‐physical‐activity daily is declining in school‐aged‐children, and effective strategies to increase PA is needed. We aimed to examine the individual and day‐to‐day distribution of PA on schooldays among children aged 10–11 in 4 domains—school, home, transport, and other.MethodsData were collected from August to September 2020 using accelerometer and GPS data to measure daily PA‐levels and to locate in which domain PA occurs. Daily PA‐levels were assessed in each domain, and analyses of the individual and day‐to‐day differences in PA‐levels were calculated.ResultsThe school domain contributed the most to children's daily MVPA with 47% of average MVPA, followed by the home domain with 26% of daily average MVPA, the other domain with 19% of daily average MVPA and the transport domain with 8% of daily average MVPA. Our results showed individual differences in where PA occurs, day‐to‐day differences in total MVPA and day‐to‐day differences in the MVPA‐levels across domains.ConclusionsThe school domain contributed the most to children's MVPA‐levels followed by the domains of home, other, and transport. Our study indicated that PA‐levels and the distribution of PA across domains differ from day‐to‐day. Future interventions should target more than one domain to accommodate these individual‐ and day‐to‐day differences in the goal of increasing PA‐levels and to reduce the decline in PA seen from childhood to adolescence.