Elsevier

Annals of Epidemiology

Volume 19, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 180-186
Annals of Epidemiology

Influence of Weather Conditions and Season on Physical Activity in Adolescents

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2008.12.008Get rights and content

Purpose

Little is known about how seasonal variation in physical activity relates to declining physical activity in adolescence. We quantified how each of daily weather conditions and season affect physical activity during adolescence.

Methods

We followed 1293 students, initially aged 12 to 13 years over 5 years. Participants completed a 7-day physical activity recall checklist every 3 months. Data on daily weather conditions were obtained from Environment Canada. The association between the number of physical activity sessions per day, and each of season, and daily weather conditions was assessed in Poisson regressions.

Results

Adjusting for age, sex, and month, the average number of physical activity sessions per day was 2% to 4% lower for every 10 mm of rainfall and 1% to 2% higher for every 10 °C increase in temperature. Although every 10 cm of snow accumulation was associated with 5% higher activity rates, days with snowfall had lower physical activity. Physical activity was lower during winter and increased during warmer months. However, the warm-month increases did not compensate for winter decreases so that activity decreased by 7% yearly.

Conclusions

Declines in physical activity during adolescence may be partly explained by declines during winter. Increasing opportunities for physical activity during poor weather, in particular during winter, may mitigate declines in physical activity during adolescence.

Introduction

Although average physical activity levels of youth are already below recommendations worldwide (1), children generally go through a period marked by a sharp decrease in participation in physical activity when they become adolescents 2, 3. Studies that describe this decline and identify factors that influence physical activity are needed to develop evidence-based public health practices that help youth maintain healthy levels of physical activity. Although some reports indicate that physical activity levels decrease during winter and increase in summer 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, few population-based interventions take seasonal differences into account (9).

Potential consequences of seasonal variation in physical activity levels include decreases in fitness levels, but also the possibility of acquiring an increasingly sedentary lifestyle since periods of infrequent participation in physical activity are linked to becoming physically inactive 10, 11. However, little is known about how lower physical activity levels during winter relate to declines in physical activity participation during adolescence. Moreover, we have little information on factors that relate to less activity during winter. Seasonal variation in physical activity may be the result of changes in weather conditions. Several studies among adults report that poor weather is perceived as a barrier to the practice of physical activity 12, 13, 14 and that daily physical activity levels increase as ambient temperature rises, and decrease with rain and snowfall 15, 16. However, seasonal variation in physical activity levels have been noted in locations with little variation in weather conditions between seasons 4, 8, 17, suggesting that weather may not be the only determinant of seasonal change in physical activity levels.

Unlike most known determinants of physical activity, weather conditions can change rapidly and could therefore contribute to explaining short-term (daily) as well as long-term (seasons) variation in physical activity levels. Because even a few days of increased physical activity are linked to beneficial health outcomes, increased understanding of factors explaining short-term variation in physical activity is needed 18, 19. The value of both sustained and short-term participation in physical activity is recognized in several national and international guidelines, with the recommendation that physical activity be practiced almost every day 1, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.

Considering that health outcomes can be influenced by both habitual and short term physical activity, the links between physical activity level, season, and weather deserve further attention. To our knowledge, there are no studies that describe how seasonal variation in physical activity relates to declining physical activity levels during adolescence or how weather conditions affect daily physical activity participation in this population. In this analysis we examined the effect of season and daily weather conditions on physical activity over 5 years during adolescence.

Section snippets

Study Population

Data for this analysis were obtained from the Natural History of Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study, a prospective study of 1,293 students initially aged 12 to 13 years. Students were recruited from grade 7 classes in a convenience sample of 10 Montreal secondary schools. Schools were selected to include a mix of French and English language schools; urban, suburban, and rural schools; as well as schools located in high, moderate, and low socioeconomic neighborhoods. All subjects and a

Results

Of 2,300 eligible students, 1,293 (56%) agreed to participate, and 94% of those eligible completed questionnaires at each follow-up. The average age of participants at baseline was 12.8 (standard deviation, 0.6) years and 53% were girls. Data on past-week moderate and vigorous physical activity participation were available for a median (interquartile range [IQR]) of 18 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 time points per participant. On average, over the 20 survey cycles, participants reported

Discussion

Consistent with previous studies reporting that rain and cold are barriers to physical activity in the general population 12, 13, 14 and that adults and the elderly are less active on days with inclement weather 15, 16, we showed that adolescents were less physically active on rainy or snowy days. The effect of specific weather conditions was more important during specific periods of the year. For example, the link between physical activity and temperature was significant only in April and

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