Tracking the commute home from school utilizing GPS and heart rate monitoring: establishing the contribution to free-living physical activity.
BACKGROUND
Active school commuting is widely regarded as a key opportunity for youth to participate in physical activity (PA). However, the accurate measurement of the commute home from school and its contribution to total free-living moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) is relatively unexplored.


METHODS
Seventy-five adolescents (38 males, 37 females) wore an integrated GPS and heart rate device during after-school hours for 4 consecutive weekdays.


RESULTS
Active commuters were significantly more active (11.72 minutes MVPA) than passive commuters (3.5 minutes MVPA) during their commute home from school (P = .001). The commute home of walkers and cyclists on average contributed 35% of their total free-living PA. However, there was no significant difference in the overall free-living PA levels of passive and active commuters (P > .05). A total 92.7% of the youth living within 1.5 miles of the school actively commuted, compared with 16.7% of the youth who lived further away. Socioeconomic differences in commuting patterns were also evident.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings highlighted the significant proportion of total free-living PA that was attributed to active commuting home from school. The study demonstrates the usefulness of utilizing GPS and heart rate data to accurately track young people's after-school PA. Demographic influences and implications for future research are discussed.
Carnegie Faculty School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK and the School of Human Sciences, Newman University, Birmingham, UK.
Peter
P
Collins
Yahya
Y
Al-Nakeeb
Mark
M
Lyons
D000293:Adolescent; D001642:Bicycling / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods*; D012574:Schools; D014186:Transportation; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*