title: Extremely reduced motion in front of screens: investigating real-world physical activity of adolescents by accelerometry and electronic diary.
abstract: This paper reports accelerometer and electronic dairy data on typical daily activities of 139 school students from grade six and nine. Recordings covered a typical school day for each student and lasted on average for 23 h. Screen activities (watching television and using the computer) are compared to several other activities performed while sitting (e.g., playing, eating, sitting in school, and doing homework). Body movement was continuously recorded by four accelerometers and transformed into a motion sore. Our results show that extremely low motion scores, as if subjects were freezing, emerge to a greater extent in front of screens compared to other investigated activities. Given the substantial amount of time young people spend in front of screens and the rising obesity epidemic, our data suggest a mechanism for the association of screen time and obesity.
authors.affiliation: ZNL Transfercenter of Neuroscience and Learning, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Streb
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kammer
authors.affiliation: ZNL Transfercenter of Neuroscience and Learning, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.affiliation: ZNL Transfercenter of Neuroscience and Learning, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hille
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology