title: A description of the volume and intensity of sporadic physical activity among adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emerging evidence indicates that accumulating physical activity in periods of less than 10 minutes, termed sporadic physical activity (SPA), has similar effects on health as a similar volume of bouted physical activity (BPA). The purpose of this study was to describe the volume and intensity of SPA in adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants consisted of a representative sample of 6040 adults aged 20 years and older from the 2003-2006 U.S. National Health and Examination Nutrition Survey. Physical activity was measured over 7 days using Actigraph AM-7164 accelerometers. Each minute of accelerometer data was initially categorized by intensity (sedentary, light, moderate-to-vigorous), and then non-sedentary time was categorized as following a BPA or SPA pattern (≥ or < 10 consecutive minutes).
  
  
  RESULTS
  American adults accumulated 103 minutes/day of SPA of an intensity, which represented 27% of their total (BPA + SPA) daily physical activity. Only 3 minutes/day of the SPA was of a moderate-to-vigorous intensity; however, participants accumulated 16 minutes/day of moderate-to-vigorous activity embedded within light intensity BPA. This embedded moderate-to-vigorous activity represented 85% of total daily moderate-to-vigorous activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SPA accounted for about a quarter of total daily physical activity. While the amount of moderate-to-vigorous SPA was minimal, a significant amount of moderate-to-vigorous activity was accumulated within bouts of primarily light intensity activity.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robson
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada ; Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Janssen
keywords: Adult; Health surveys; Motor activity