BACKGROUND
Understanding variation in physical activity (PA) and sleep is necessary to develop novel intervention strategies targeting adolescents' health behaviors. We examined the extent to which PA and sleep vary by aspects of the physical environment.
PARTICIPANTS
We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 669 adolescents in the Project Viva cohort.
METHODS
We estimated total PA, sleep duration, sleep efficiency and sleep midpoint timing from wrist accelerometers. We used multivariable linear regression models and generalized estimated equations to assess associations of PA and sleep with season and daily weather conditions obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration archive.
RESULTS
Mean age was 12.9 (SD 0.6) years; 51% were female and 68% were white. Mean sleep duration was 466 (SD 42) minutes per night and total PA was 1652 (SD 431) counts per minute per day. Sleep midpoint time was 41 (95%CI: 27 to 54) minutes later in summer and 28 (95%CI: -41 to -14) minutes earlier in spring and 29 (95%CI: -43 to -15) minutes earlier in autumn compared to winter. Higher temperature and longer day length both were associated with small reductions of nightly sleep duration. Adolescents were less physically active during winter and on rainy and short sunlight days. There was an inverse U-shaped relationship between PA and mean temperature.
CONCLUSIONS
Season was associated with large changes in sleep timing, and smaller changes in other sleep and PA measurements. Given the importance of sleep and circadian alignment, future health behavioral interventions may benefit by targeting "season-specific" interventions.