Guidelines for Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Sleep in Colombian Youth during COVID-19

The Canadian 24-Hour movement guidelines integrate physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep habits for children and adolescents. This study aims to assess the compliance of these guidelines in Colombia, as an instrument to design strategies of health promotion in this population. A cross-sectional study in 619 scholars aged 7-17 in Caribbean Colombian region was performed to measure aerobic activity, muscular force and flexibility during 7 days through the ActivityGram questionnaire of the Cooper Institute. The data was gathered in May, 2021, through phone interviewing, and parents and participants signed an informed consent form. The screen time was measured (in hours/day), as well as the times sitting and sleeping, to perform a regression analysis and determine the Pearson coefficient characterizing the correlation between the total time in physical activity and the time in aerobic exercise. A 73.5% of the sample do not comply with the Canadian physical activity guidelines. The mean sleeping time per day is 7.9±1.2 h, being 8.1±1.2 h for 7-13 scholars and 7.5±1.3 h for 14-17 adolescents (p = 0.003). Sedentary behaviour exceeds 2 h per day, being 4.7±1.3 h sitting and 3.2±1.9 h screen time. Aerobic exercise was the most influential in the total time of physical activity (r = 0.82, p = 0.0001). The sample was composed of 51.5% males, and the mean age was 11.5±3.2 years. In this sample, 80.5% were socioeconomically vulnerable, and 55.7% were involved in remote learning activities. The COVID-19 health emergency increased the non-compliance of the physical activity guidelines and the sedentary behaviour in childhood and adolescence. It is mandatory to design health promotion strategies to encourage active life styles during these stages, as they lay the foundations of healthy habits in the future, and this is a shared responsibility between educational institutions, families and policy-making institutions KEY MESSAGES: • The ActivityGram test assesses physical activity in children and adolescents. • Analysis of physical activity and sedentary habits help to design health promotion policies in young people.