Bi-directional association between sleep and outdoor active play among 10–13 year olds

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a bi-directional relationship between sleep characteristics (time in bed, sleep duration, sleep chronology, and sleep efficiency) and time spent participating in outdoor active play among children. METHODS: Participants consisted of 433 children aged 10–13 years from Kingston, ON, Canada. Time in bed, sleep duration, sleep chronology, and sleep efficiency were measured for 8 consecutive nights using data from a sleep log and Actical accelerometer. Outdoor active play was measured for the 7 days that fell in between these 8 nights using a combination of data from accelerometers, global positioning system loggers, and geographic information systems. Generalized estimating equation models were used to assess the relationships between sleep characteristics and outdoor active play. These models accounted for the repeated measures nested within participants and adjusted for several confounders (e.g., age, sex, family income, neighborhood traffic and green space). RESULTS: Time in bed, sleep duration, sleep chronology, and sleep efficiency were not significantly associated with the following day’s outdoor active play. There was a significant (p = 0.017) association between outdoor active play and the following night’s time in bed, which suggested that each hour increase in outdoor active play was associated with a 4.0 min increase in time in bed. Outdoor active play was not significantly associated with sleep duration, sleep chronology, or sleep efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: None of the sleep characteristics predicted the following day’s outdoor active play. Increase time spent in outdoor active play predicted a longer time in bed, but not sleep duration, sleep chronology, or sleep efficiency.