Risk activities and pre-travel health seeking practices of notified cases of imported infectious diseases in Australia Patterns, predictors and effects of texting intervention on physical activity in CHD – insights from the TEXT ME randomized clinical trial Determinants of car travel on daily journeys to school: cross sectional survey of primary school children Physically Active Lessons Improve Lesson Activity and On-Task Behavior: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of the “Virtual Traveller” Intervention Active8! Technology-Based Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Hospital Employees Cross-sectional and prospective associations between sleep, screen time, active school travel, sports/exercise participation and physical activity in children and adolescents Increasing active travel to school: are we on the right track? A cluster randomised controlled trial from Sydney, Australia. Normal weight children have higher cognitive performance – Independent of physical activity, sleep, and diet
Background Travellers are at risk of acquiring infectious diseases during travel , with risks differing by destination , travel and traveller characteristics . A pre-travel health consultation may minimize this risk . However , uptake of pre-travel health advice remains low . We investigated pre-travel health preparations and disease-specific risk behaviours among notified cases of selected travel-associated infectious diseases imported into Australia . Methods Prospect i ve enhanced surveillance of notified cases of typhoid , paratyphoid , measles , hepatitis A , hepatitis E , malaria and chikungunya was conducted in two Australian states between February 2013 and January 2014 . Details of pre-travel health preparation and disease-specific risk behaviours were collected . Results Among 180 cases associated with international travel , 28 % were < 18 years , 65 % were VFR travellers and 22 % were frequent travellers , having travelled ≥5 times in the past 5 years . 25 % had sought pre-travel advice from a healthcare provider , and 16 % reported a pre-travel vaccine . Seeking pre-travel health advice did not differ by immigrant status ( P = 0.22 ) or by reason for travel ( P = 0.13 ) but was more commonly sought by first time travellers ( P = 0.03 ) . Travellers visiting friends and relatives were more likely to report at-risk activities of brushing teeth with tap water ( P < 0.001 ) and eating uncooked food ( P = 0.03 ) during travel compared to other travellers . Conclusions Pre-travel health advice seeking practice s and vaccine uptake was suboptimal among cases of notified disease . The results of this study highlight the need for a better underst and ing of barriers to pre-travel health seeking , particularly among high risk travellers , to reduce the importation of infectious diseases into Australia Background Mobile phone text message interventions are used to support behaviour change including physical activity , but we have less insight into how these interventions work and what factors predict response . Aims To study the effect of TEXT ME ( Tobacco EXercise and dieT Messages ) text message intervention on physical activity domains , consistency of effects across sub-groups and its additive value in patients that received traditional cardiac rehabilitation programme . Methods This is a secondary analysis of the TEXT ME , a r and omized clinical trial of lifestyle-focused text message intervention compared with usual care in patients with coronary heart disease . A quarter of the messages were design ed specifically to encourage physical activity . Sedentary time and physical activity were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Question naire . Results At baseline , 85 % of the 710 participants reported low physical activity levels . At six months , compared with controls , the intervention arm reported higher recreational physical activity ( 471 vs. 307 metabolic equivalent-min/week , p = 0.001 ) and travel physical activity ( 230 vs. 128 MET-min/week , p = 0.002 ) , similar work-related physical activity and lower sedentary times ( 494 vs. 587 min , p < 0.001 ) . Male gender , high baseline physical activity , cardiac rehabilitation participation and text message intervention predicted physically active status at six months . Subjects that received both cardiac rehabilitation and text messaging intervention were more likely to achieve target physical activity levels compared with cardiac rehabilitation alone ( odds ratio 7.07 vs. 1.80 , p < 0.001 ) . Conclusions The TEXT ME intervention improved recreational and travel physical activity , reduced sedentary times but had no effects on work-related physical activity . It had incremental benefits at achieving target physical activity levels even in patients participating in the traditional cardiac rehabilitation programme The annual distance walked by children  has fallen 28 % since 1972 , partly because car travel has replaced walking on many school journeys.1 Increasing car use has been linked with obesity , adverse health effects in later life , limitations on children 's independence , traffic congestion , and pollution . 2 3 To inform the development of strategies to reduce school related car travel , we surveyed the travel patterns of urban primary school children . The survey was conducted in the inner London boroughs of Camden and Islington . The question naire — based partly on published surveys 4 5 and prepared in English , Bengali , Turkish , Greek , and Cantonese ( first language s of 85 % of eligible pupils)—asked about that day 's school journey , children 's independent travel , and parental concerns . From the sampling frame of all primary schools ( excluding pilot , boarding , and special schools ) , 31 of the 100 eligible schools were r and omly selected . We weighted sampling probability by combined class sizes in year 2 ( ages 6 - 7 years ) and year Background . Physically active lessons have not often been assessed with r and omized controlled trials . Aims . Evaluate the effects of the “ Virtual Traveller ” ( VT ) intervention delivered using classroom interactive whiteboards on physical activity , on-task behavior , and student engagement . Methods . Participants were 219 children aged 8 to 9 years from 10 schools in Greater London , assessed in a cluster-r and omized controlled trial between March 2015 and May 2016 . For 6 weeks , intervention children received 10-minute VT sessions three times a week during math and English lessons ( VT group : n = 113 ) . Children in control schools received regular teaching ( COM group : n = 106 ) . Outcomes were school-day , weekend-day , and lesson-time sedentary behavior ( SB ) , light physical activity ( LPA ) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( MVPA ) , and on-task behavior and student engagement , assessed at baseline ( T0 ) , 2 weeks ( T1 ) , and 4 weeks ( T2 ) during the VT intervention and 1 week ( T3 ) and 3 months ( T4 ) postintervention using multilevel modeling . Results . VT pupils engaged in significantly more school-day MVPA at T1 only , with no other significant differences between groups in overall school-day or weekend-day activity . VT pupils engaged in significantly less SB and more MVPA during lesson time than COM pupils . More on-task behavior was shown in VT pupils than COM pupils but there was no difference in student engagement . Discussion . VT  reduced sedentary behavior and increased physical activity during lesson time but not across overall school or weekend days . VT improved on-task behavior but had no effect on student engagement . Conclusion . Physical activity can be integrated into teaching using interactive whiteboards with no detriment to educational outcomes Purpose . Increase physical activity in health care employees using health messaging , and compare e-mail with mobile phone short-message service ( SMS ) as delivery channels . Design . R and omized controlled trial Setting . U.K. hospital workplace . Subjects . Two hundred ninety-six employees ( 19–67 years , 53 % of study Web site visitors ) . Intervention . Twelve-week messaging intervention design ed to increase physical activity and delivered via SMS ( n = 147 ) or e-mail ( n = 149 ) ; content tailored using theory of planned behavior ( TPB ) and limited to 160 characters . Measures . Baseline and 6 , 12 , and 16 weeks . Online measures included TPB constructs , physical activity behavior on the Global Physical Activity Question naire , and health-related quality of life on the Short-Form 12 . Analysis . General linear models for repeated measures . Results . Increase in duration ( mean h/d ) of moderate work-related activity and moderate recreational activity from baseline to 16 weeks . Short-lived increase in frequency ( d/wk ) of vigorous recreational activity from baseline to 6 weeks . Increase in duration and frequency of active travel from baseline to 16 weeks . E-mails generated greater changes than SMS in active travel and moderate activity ( work and recreational ) . Conclusion . Minimal physical activity promotion delivered by SMS or e-mail can increase frequency and duration of active travel and duration of moderate intensity physical activity at work and for leisure , which is maintained up to 1 month after messaging ends . Both channels were useful platforms for health communication ; e-mails were particularly beneficial with hospital employees Background The aim of this study was to investigate how sleep , screen time , active school travel and sport and /or exercise participation associates with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ( MVPA ) in nationally representative sample s of Norwegian 9- and 15-y-olds , and whether these four behaviors at age nine predict change in MVPA from age nine to 15 years . Method We pooled cross-sectional accelerometer and question naire data  from 9- ( n = 2366 ) and 15-y-olds ( n = 1554 ) that participated in the first ( 2005/06 ) and second ( 2011/12 ) wave of the Physical Activity among Norwegian Children Study to investigate cross-sectional associations . To investigate prospect i ve associations , we used data from a sub- sample that participated in both waves ( at age nine and 15 years , n = 517 ) . Results Cross-sectional analyses indicated a modest , inverse association between screen time and MVPA among 9- ( − 2.2 min/d ( 95 % CI : -3.1 , − 1.3 ) ) and 15-y-olds ( − 1.7 min/d ( 95 % CI : -2.7 , − 0.8 ) ) . Compared to their peers with 0–5 min/d of active travel to school , 9- and 15-y-olds with ≥16 min/d accumulated 7.2 ( 95 % CI : 4.0 , 10.4 ) and 9.0 ( 95 % CI : 3.8 , 14.1 ) more min/d of MVPA , respectively . Nine-y-old boys and 15-y-olds reporting ≥8 h/week of sports and /or exercise participation accumulated 14.7 ( 95 % CI : 8.2 , 21.3 ) and 17.9 ( 95 % CI : 14.0 , 21.8 ) more min/d of MVPA , respectively , than those reporting ≤2 h/week . We found no cross-sectional association between sleep duration and MVPA in either age group . None of the four behaviors predicted change in MVPA from age nine to 15 years ( p ≥ 0.102 ) . Conclusion Active travel to school and sport/exercise participation may be important targets for future interventions aim ed at increasing MVPA in children and adolescents . However , future studies are needed to determine causality OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a program to increase walking to and from school . DESIGN A cluster r and omised controlled trial . SETTING 24 primary public schools in inner west Sydney , Australia . PARTICIPANTS 1996 students aged 10 - 12 years and their parents . INTERVENTION A two-year multi-component program included classroom activities , development of school Travel Access Guides , parent newsletters and improving environments with local councils . MEASURES Two measures were used : a survey completed by students on how they travelled to and from school over five days , and a survey completed by their parents on how their child travelled to and from school in a usual week . RESULTS The percentage of students who walked to and from school increased in both the intervention and control schools . Data from parent surveys found that 28.8 % of students in the intervention group increased their walking , compared with 19 % in the control group ( a net increase of 9.8 % , p=0.05 ) . However this effect was not evident in the student data . CONCLUSION The study produced a mixed result , with a high variation in travel patterns from school to school . Intervention research should address the complexity of multiple factors influencing student travel to school with a focus on changing local environments and parents ' travel to work BACKGROUND / OBJECTIVES Aside from the health consequences , observational studies indicate that being overweight may also negatively affect cognitive function . However , existing evidence has to a large extent not controlled for the possible confounding effect of having different lifestyles . Therefore , the objective was to examine the independent associations between weight status and lifestyle indicators with cognitive performance in 8 - 11year old Danish children . SUBJECTS/ METHODS The analyses included 828 children ( measured in 2011 - 2012 ) each having one to three measurement occasions separated by approximately 100days .  Dietary intake , physical activity , sedentary time , and sleep duration were measured using dietary records and accelerometers . The Children 's Sleep Habits Question naire was used to access sleep problems and the And ersen test was carried out to estimate cardio-respiratory fitness ( CRF ) . Weight status ( underweight , normal weight , and overweight/obese ) was defined according to body mass index and cognitive performance was assessed using the d2-test of attention , a reading test , and a math test . A linear mixed model including a number of fixed and r and om effects was used to test associations between lifestyle indicators as well as BMI category and cognitive performance . RESULTS After adjustment for demographics , socioeconomics , and multiple lifestyle indicators , normal weight children had higher cognitive test scores than overweight/obese and underweight children of up to 89 % and 48 % of expected learning within one school year ( P<0.05 ) . Daily breakfast consumption , fewer sleep problems , higher CRF , less total physical activity , more sedentary time , and less light physical activity were associated with higher cognitive performance independently of each other in at least one of the three cognitive tests ( P<0.05 ) . CONCLUSIONS Normal weight children had higher cognitive performance compared to overweight/obese as well as underweight children , independent of multiple lifestyle indicators
Most studies focussed solely on active  travel  to and /or from school , and showed significant positive associations with physical activity .
The same relationship was detected for active travel to leisure-related places and independent mobility with physical activity .
An inverse relationship between active travel to school and weight status was evident but findings were inconsistent .
Studies on independent mobility suggested that children who have the freedom to play outdoors and travel actively without adult supervision accumulate more physical activity than those who do not .
Further investigation of children 's active travel to leisure-related destinations , measurement of diverse sedentary behaviour beyond simply screen-based activities , and consistent thresholds for objective ly measured sedentary behaviour in children will clarify the inconsistent evidence base on associations of active travel with sedentary behaviour and weight status
UNLABELLED Health benefits from  children 's independent mobility and active travel beyond school travel are largely unexplored .
OBJECTIVES This review synthesized the evidence for associations of independent mobility and active travel to various destinations with physical activity , sedentary behaviour and weight status .