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Abstract: Objectives: Active school transport (AST) may be an important source of children''s physical activity (PA). Innovative solutions that increase PA time for children, without putting added pressure on the school curriculum, merit consideration. Before implementing such solutions, it is important to demonstrate that active school transport is associated with health-related outcomes. Methods: Following a standardized protocol, we conducted a systematic review of published research to address this question and explore whether children who actively commute to school also have a healthier body weight. Online searches of 5 electronic databases were conducted. Potential studies were screened on the basis of objective measures of physical activity. Results: Thirteen studies were included in this review. Nine studies demonstrated that children who actively commute to school accumulate significantly more PA and two studies reported that they expended significantly more kilocalories per day. Where studies examined body weight (n =10), only one reported active commuters having a lower body weight. Conclusions: These studies demonstrate that active school commuters tend to be more physically active overall than passive commuters. However, evidence for the impact of AST in promoting healthy body weights for children and youth is not compelling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Given evidence of weekday–weekend variability in children''s sleep and associations with obesity there is rationale for exploring sleep in relation to weekday and weekend physical activity (PA) and examining whether weekday–weekend variations in sleep impact physical activity. Methods: Children''s (n =856) physical activity was measured using accelerometry (Toronto; 2010–2011). Sleep was assessed via parental report and collapsed into three categories (<9h; 9–10h; ≥10h) and differences in anthropometric and physical activity characteristics were assessed. Data were compared to determine whether sleep increased, decreased or was maintained across the week and relationships with activity and overweight/obesity were explored (cross-sectional analysis) after controlling for confounders. Results: On weekdays, children who slept the least (<9h) were less active in terms of overall intensity than those attaining ≥10h, and more were overweight/obese (p<0.05). On weekends, differences in light physical activity occurred at lower sleep levels. Weekday–weekend sleep regularity mattered; overall intensity was higher among those maintaining recommended sleep (>9h) compared to those engaging in weekend-catch-up-sleep. Conclusion: While sleep is associated with obesity and activity in children, relationships vary by day. Recommended weekday–weekend sleep (regularity) supports healthy activity and should be an important health-promoting strategy. Future studies using longitudinal designs (to establish causality) are recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]