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BackgroundThe global prevalence of sedentary lifestyles is of grave concern for public health around the world. Moreover, the health risk of sedentary behaviors is of growing interest for researchers, clinicians, and the general public as evidence demonstrates that prolonged amounts of sedentary time increases risk for lifestyle-related diseases. There is a growing trend in the literature that reports how social media can facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration. Social sites like YouTube facilitate the sharing of media content between users. ObjectiveThe purpose of this project was to identify sedentary behavior content on YouTube and describe features of this content that may impact the effectiveness of YouTube for knowledge translation. MethodsYouTube was searched on a single day by 3 independent reviewers for evidence-based sedentary behavior content. Subjective data (eg, video purpose, source, and activity type portrayed) and objective data (eg, number of views, comments, shares, and length of the video) were collected from video. ResultsIn total, 106 videos met inclusion criteria. Videos were uploaded from 13 countries around the globe (ie, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Kenya, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States). The median video length was 3:00 minutes: interquartile range (IQR) 1:44-5:40. On average, videos had been on YouTube for 15.0 months (IQR 6.0-27.5) and had been viewed 239.0 times (IQR 44.5-917.5). Videos had remarkably low numbers of shares (median 0) and comments (median 1). Only 37.7% (40/106) of videos portrayed content on sedentary behaviors, while the remaining 66 videos portrayed physical activity or a mix of behaviors. Academic/health organizations (39.6%, 42/106) and individuals (38.7%, 41/106) were the most prevalent source of videos, and most videos (67.0%, 71/106) aimed to educate viewers about the topic. ConclusionsThis study explored sedentary behavior content available on YouTube. Findings demonstrate that there is confusion between physical activity and sedentary behaviors, that content is being uploaded to the site from around the globe, that content is primarily from health organizations and individuals with the purpose of educating fellow users, but that low views, comments, and shares suggest that sedentary behavior content is relatively underutilized on YouTube. Future research may wish to leverage social platforms, such as YouTube, to facilitate implementation and sharing of evidence-based sedentary behavior content.

Background: This cross-sectional study analyzed the association of leisure-time physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB), nonleisure PA and SB, and total PA and SB in different time segments of the day with mental health among Dutch adolescents and young adults. Methods: A total of 881 participants aged 16–25 years completed an online survey. Mental health was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory-5, and participants also reported sex, age, and income. They filled out a questionnaire of types of PA and SB for each hour of the day. Activities were categorized into nonleisure and leisure, during the morning, afternoon, evening, and for the whole day. Results: Participants (52.8% female, on average 20.8 y) generally engaged in more leisure-time PA and SB during weekends compared with weekdays, and more nonleisure activities on weekdays. Associations varied between time segments and days of the week. Positive associations of leisure-time and total PA during the whole day and evenings with mental health were observed on weekdays. Total, leisure-time, and nonleisure-time SB were associated with worse mental health. Nonleisure PA was not associated with mental health. Conclusions: Leisure-time PA was found to have a favorable association with mental health, particularly in the evenings of weekdays and afternoons of weekend days. On the other hand, leisure SB was associated with poorer mental health in most of the time segments analyzed, and nonleisure SB in the evenings was also related to worse mental health. The type and timing of PA and SB behaviors play an important role in the relationship with mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Canadian and international research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in health behaviours, including participation in physical activity and screen time. Methods The Canadian Community Health Survey asks Canadian adults (aged 18 to 64 years) and older adults (aged 65 and older) to report the time they spend active by domain: recreation, transportation, and household and/or occupation. Survey respondents are also asked to report their screen time on days they worked and days they did not work. The present analysis compares the physical activity from four cross-sectional samples collected during 2018 (n=50,093), January to mid-March 2020 (n=13,933), September to December 2020 (n=25,661) and January 2021 to February 2022 (n=45,742). Screen time is compared between 2018 and 2021. Sub-annual analyses examine how physical activity and screen time varied within and between years. Results The percentage of 18- to 64-year-old women meeting the physical activity recommendation did not change from 2018 (54.3%) to 2021 (55.1%), while a slight decrease was observed among men (63.0% in 2018 to 59.8% in 2021). The percentage of adults aged 65 years and older meeting the recommendation increased from 2018 to 2021 among both men (40.7% to 43.8%) and women (33.4% to 36.9%). Total physical activity decreased by 17.5 minutes per week among 18- to 64-year-old men and increased by 8.4 minutes per week among 18- to 64-year-old women. Men and women aged 65 and older increased their total physical activity by about 30 minutes per week from 2018 to 2021. The percentage of 18- to 64-year-old adults in the lowest screen time category decreased from 53.9% in 2018 to 45.0% in 2021 on work days and from 37.8% in 2018 to 28.0% in 2021 on non-work days. The percentage of adults aged 65 and older in the lowest screen time category decreased from 49.4% in 2018 to 37.8% in 2021 on work days and from 29.4% in 2018 to 21.5% in 2021 on nonwork days. Interpretation Physical activity among men aged 18 to 64 years decreased from 2018 to 2021, while women of this age group maintained their physical activity. Older adults increased their physical activity from 2018 to 2021. Many Canadian adults shifted from the lowest screen time category (two hours or less per day) to the highest screen time category (four hours or more per day) during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years. It is unknown whether the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity and screen time will persist over time. Ongoing surveillance of the longer-term impacts of the pandemic on the health behaviours of Canadians is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes in health behaviours, including participation in physical activity and screen time. The purpose of this paper is to examine trends in physical activity and screen time among Canadian youth from January 2018 to February 2022. Methods The Canadian Community Health Survey asks Canadian youth (aged 12 to 17 years) to report the time they spend active by domain: recreation, transportation, school and household. Survey respondents are also asked to report their screen time on school days and non-school days. The present analysis compares the physical activity from four cross-sectional samples collected during 2018 (January to December; n=3,952), January to March 2020 (n=911), September to December 2020 (n=1,573), and January 2021 to February 2022 (n=3,501). Screen time is compared between 2018 and 2021/2022. Sub-annual descriptive analyses examine how physical activity and screen time varied within and between these years. Results Before the COVID-19 pandemic, half of Canadian youth met the physical activity recommendation (2018: 49.6%; January to March 2020: 53.7%). The percentage meeting the recommendation dropped in the first year of the pandemic (September to December 2020: 37.3%) and recovered slightly in 2021 (43.8%). From 2018 to 2021, total physical activity dropped by 8.3 minutes per day (58.1 minutes per week) among girls and by 2.1 minutes per day (14.7 minutes per week) among boys. The percentage of youth meeting the screen time recommendation on school days dropped from 40.7% in 2018 to 29.1% in 2021 and from 21.4% in 2018 to 13.2% in 2021 on non-school days. Interpretation The COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on the physical activity and screen time of youth, in particular among girls. This analysis provides an update on how the pandemic has continued to affect the physical activity and screen habits of youth in 2020, 2021, and early 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]