The changing relationship between rainfall and children's physical activity in spring and summer: a longitudinal study
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Weather conditions, along with day length, are proposed as the main drivers of the seasonal patterns in children's physical activity (PA), but little is known about how they affect children at different ages. This study examines the relationship between rainfall and PA in a longitudinal cohort of initially 9-10 year-old children in Norfolk, UK. METHODS: Participants were 283 children from the SPEEDY study who wore accelerometers ≤7 days on three occasions in the summer of 2007, 2008 and 2011 at ages 9-10, 10-11, and 13-14y. Daily weather data were obtained for two local weather stations. Relationships between rainfall and PA (moderate-to-vigorous-PA (MVPA; ≥2000) vigorous PA (VPA; ≥4000), counts per minute (cpm)) and sedentary time were assessed in multiple-membership multilevel models. PA was assessed over the whole day, and over parts of the school day; commute time (8 am-9 am and 3 pm-4 pm), lunchtime (12noon-2 pm), and after school (4 pm-9 pm). RESULTS: At ages 9-10 and 10-11y, PA declined with increasing rainfall, with an average of 14.0 (SE 2.9) and 11.4 (3.0) minutes less MVPA on the wettest days (≥1.7 mm rain) compared to dry days respectively. There was no significant trend in MVPA across rainfall categories at age 13-14 years. Between ages 9-10 and 13-14, MVPA decline was largest on dry days (-15.2 (2.7) minutes). These patterns were also apparent during school lunchtime and after school, however they were not seen during school commute times. Similar patterns were seen for other PA intensities. CONCLUSIONS: Increased rainfall is associated with significant decreases in PA among primary school children, but not secondary school children. PA declines most steeply between the ages of 9-10 and 13-14 on dry days. Interventions to increase activity on wet days may be most relevant at primary schools. Our results also highlight the importance of habitualising behavior to make children more resilient both to bad weather, and potentially age-related decline in activity.
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Interventions conducted over shorter durations (i.e., <12 weeks) could arguably be more subject to the impact of seasonal changes.
“Moreover, interventions conducted over shorter durations (i.e., <12 weeks) could arguably be more subject to the impact of seasonal changes.105, 106”
From A mixed-studies systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based interventions to promote physical activity and/or reduce sedentary time in children (2020) · cites this paper as [106]
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- Authors
- Harrison, F., van Sluijs, E. M., Corder, K., Ekelund, U., & Jones, A.
- Affiliations
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Venue
- International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
- Published
- 2015-03-21
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 41-41
- ISSN
- 1479-5868 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4377032
- OpenAlex
- W2018367623
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 2.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration
- Cancer Research UK
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (MC_UU_12015/3)
- British Heart Foundation
- Diabetes UK
- University of East Anglia
- Centre for Diet and Activity Research
- Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate
- Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12015/7, MC_UU_12015/4, MC_UU_12015, MR/K023187/1, MC_UU_12015/3)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
- World Cancer Research Fund
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Urban Transport and Accessibility
- Keywords
- rainfall, children's physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, high-intensity exercise, sedentary time, seasonal variation, elementary school students, high school students, age differences, school lunchtime
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Child, Child Behavior, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Motor Activity, Rain, Schools, Seasons, Exercise, Multilevel Analysis, Sedentary Behavior, Accelerometry
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