WHAT would your diary reveal about how healthy you are?
Australian children were asked to fill out a computerised diary detailing how they used their time in five-minute blocks across two 24-hour periods. The children were also asked to fill in three questionaries about their quality of life when it came to their health.
More than 1450 children aged 11-12 years took part in the study by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) and the results are in.
The findings show children who spend the most time on school activities, are moderately* active and have low screen time, are the most physically and psychologically* healthy.
Those with low exercise levels and moderate amounts of screen time, had the poorest self-reported health.
The researchers identified four distinct groups of how kids spend their time — the Potterers, Studious Actives, Techno Actives and Stay Home Screenies.
The Studious Actives group — the all-rounder and high-achievers who spent the most time on school, study and chores, and the least time in front of computers or phones — scored the highest on the health tests compared to the least-active Potterers group.
Some Potterers would often play video games for eight hours straight and could not recall if they had eaten or gone to the toilet in that time.
Stay Home Screenies also scored lower with physical and psychological health compared to the studious children.
MCRI researcher and lead author Dr Monica Wong said it was known that when looked at in isolation more physical activity, less screen time and proper sleep improved health, but there had been little research into how kids managed their time overall and the impact on quality of life.
“We wanted to see if there is a specific lifestyle associated with quality of life,” Dr Wong said.
“We want to target the group of children at risk of having the lowest quality of life, and potentially the highest disease burden* in the future.
“If we can prevent that from happening while they’re young and healthy, we can potentially prevent those cardiovascular*, respiratory* and mental health diseases in adulthood.”
The study, published in the journal The American Academy of Pediatrics, is one of the early results released from a national study into the health of 11-12-year-old children, called the Child Health Checkpoint.
Researchers will now follow these children as they grow to see what lifestyle choices they make in the future.
GROUPS:
studious actives: The healthiest group; the all-rounders and high achievers. They spent the most time studying, low screen time, moderate physical activity.
Techno actives: They spend most of their free time in sports training. Moderate screen time and lowest screen time.
Stay home screenies: They spent the most time on screens and the most time at home. They spend the least time on transport and house chores.
Potterers: They have the worst self-reported quality of life, with the lowest amount of exercise and moderately high screen time.
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