The Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines and self-rated physical and mental health among adolescents

Objective: The Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for children and youth recommend a minimum of 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, no more than 2 h/day of recreational screen time, and 8-11 h/night of sleep depending on age. The objective of this study was to examine the associations of meeting combinations of these recommendations with self-rated physical and mental health.

Methods: This study used data from the 2017 (n = 5739) and 2019 (n = 6960) cycles of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS), a biennially repeated cross-sectional study of Ontario students in grades 7 through 12. Multivariable ordered logistic regression models were adjusted for age, gender, ethnoracial background, subjective socio-economic status, and body mass index z-scores.

Results: Similar patterns were seen in the 2017 and 2019 samples. Compared with meeting none of the recommendations, meeting different combinations of recommendations in the 2019 sample was associated with positive self-rated physical and mental health. A dose-response gradient between the number of recommendations met and self-rated physical (p < 0.001) and mental (p < 0.001) health was observed, with meeting one (AOR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.58-2.09), two (AOR: 3.54; 95% CI: 2.98-4.22), or three recommendations (AOR: 6.34; 95% CI: 4.46-9.02) being increasingly associated with positive self-rated physical health compared with meeting none; and meeting one (AOR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.33-1.71), two (AOR: 2.70; 95% CI: 2.31-3.17), or three recommendations (AOR: 3.58; 95% CI: 2.57-4.98) being increasingly associated with positive self-rated mental health compared with meeting none.

Conclusion: Meeting the 24-hour movement guidelines is associated with better self-rated physical and mental health among adolescents.