Seasonal variations in physical activity among elementary school children in Arctic regions

Interventions aimed at increasing PA should be implemented throughout the year in the Arctic region, both during school hours and leisure time.

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) during childhood has a positive effect on cardiometabolic risk and other health markers, which tracks into adulthood. It is recommended that children spend an average of ≥ 60 min∙day-1 in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The aim of this research was to describe PA across Polar Night (PN) compared to the Polar Day (PD) among elementary school children in the Arctic region of Norway. We hypothesized that children’s PA is level is larger in the summer than in the winter in the Arctic region of Norway.

Method: Hundred and seventy-eight schoolchildren from 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th grade (aged 5 – 12 years) participated in the study. Physical activity was measured for seven consecutive days with an ActiGraph GT3X-BT accelerometer. PA is expressed as total PA (counts per minute (cpm)) and moderate to- vigorous activity (MVPA) (min∙day-1).

Results: During PN, 51% of boys and 33% of girls, met the PA recommendations, whereas 36% of boys and 34% of girls met the recommendations during PD. Time spent doing MVPA did not differ between the two seasons (all p ≥ 0.073). Children in all grades accumulated more time doing MVPA during weekdays compared with weekend days during PN (p < 0.04) and PD (p < 0.001). Overall, the children accumulated 613 (SD: 154) cpm during PN, which was lower than during PD (704 (SD: 269) cpm, p < 0.001). However, in stratified analyses on grade and sex, only girls in 1st (137 (SD: 111) cpm) and 3rd grade (190 (95) cpm) performed more total PA during PD than PN (both p < 0.001).

Discussion: A larger proportion of boys than girls met the PA recommendations during PN compared with PD. However, our findings did not show any clear seasonal variation for MVPA or total PA among children in the Arctic region of Norway, except for some differences within sexes in different grades. This study indicates that interventions aimed at increasing PA should be implemented throughout the year in the Arctic region, both during school hours and leisure time.