Background: Human populations worldwide have experienced substantial climate change issues. Gaps in scientific literature remain regarding the relationship between temperature and 24-hour movement behavior among people. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of temperature on 24-hour movement behavior including physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB) and sleep duration among university students living in Beijing, China. Methods: We conducted follow-up health surveys on 44,693 freshmen students enrolled at Tsinghua University from 2012 to 2018. PA and SB were measured by using the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-s); sleep duration was estimated by using The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (CPSQI). Corresponding temperature data measured by the Beijing Meteorological Service were collected to include average daily temperature from the nearest weather station to Tsinghua university. The data were analyzed using linear individual fixed-effect regressions. Results: An increase in temperature (temperature range 2.29–28.73 °C) by 1 °C was associated with an increase in 0.66 weekly minutes of vigorous physical activity (VPA) (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.49, 0.82), an increase in 0.56 weekly minutes of moderate physical activity (MPA)(95% CI = 0.32, 0.79), an increase in 1.21 weekly minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (95% CI = 0.90, 1.53), an increase in 0.55 weekly minutes of walking (95% CI = 0.31, 0.78), an increase in 1.76 weekly minutes of total PA (95% CI = 1.35, 2.17), and a reduction in 1.60 weekly minutes of sleeping (95% CI = −2.09, −1.11). There was no significant correlation between temperature and sedentary behavior among participants. Conclusions: Temperature was significantly positively correlated with physical activity levels in the Chinese freshmen students, and significantly negatively correlated with sleep duration. Replication of this study is warranted among various populations within China. The evidence of this novel study focused on understanding the relationship between climate change and 24-hour movement behaviors among people for developing effective adaptation strategies to climate change to improve people’s health behavior. This study has important implications for future study, as knowledge of the impact of temperature on movement behavior may help in the interpretation of their results and translate into improving people’s health behavior.

Objectives: In this study, we estimated the impact of COVID-19 on physical activity (PA) for Chinese university students during the pandemic period. Methods: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire was completed online by 1487 students (947 males and 513 females; age 19.72 ± 1.32 years, BMI = 21.12 ± 4.50) from one university in China during the pandemic period, and students retrospectively recalled pre-pandemic PA levels (March 29- April 15, 2020). We analyzed the data using a paired-samples t-test. Results: Overall, COVID-19 produced a 27.89% reduction in total weekly minutes (40.62) of vigorous PA, a 43.38% reduction in total weekly minutes (73.92) of moderate PA, and a 24.36% reduction in total weekly minutes of walking (44.69). Results by sex showed that moderate PA decreased the most, by 47.15% (males) and 37.13% (females), and total PA decreased by 48.29% (males) and 40.18% (females). Conclusions: COVID-19 led to a reduction in PA among Chinese university students. PA decreased more for male than female students. Public policy action might be needed to increase the level of PA of Chinese university students.

Background: This study aimed to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on fitness performance among Chinese college men during the pandemic period and to explore how fitness changed with a different college grade. Methods: We conducted repeated measures of 1000 m running and pull-up testing on students from one university in China before and after the lockdown. A total of 7107 (age 19.21 ± 1.17 yr.) male students who completed the same 1000 m running and pull-up testing in 2019 and 2020 were included in the analysis. Results: The paired t-test result indicates a reduction in 1000 m running and pull-up performance by 10.91% (95% CI = 0.89, 0.95) and 23.89% (95% CI = −0.36, −0.31), respectively. Interestingly, college men in the 2017 grade (the third-year college men) had more decreases than in the 2019 grade (the first-year college men). The 1000 m running performance was decreased by 14.43% and 6.48% in the third- and the first-year college men, respectively. The pull-up performance was decreased by 39.11 % in the third-year college men while increased by 10.98% in the first-year college men. Conclusions: The COVID-19 lockdown reduced 1000 m running and pull-up performances among Chinese college men. The reduction varies by grade and it seems to be particularly seriously decreased for the third-year college men while being modest for the first-year college men. Public policy was urgently needed to improve Chinese college men’s fitness performance after the lockdown.

Purpose: This study was to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on sedentary behavior for Chinese university students during the pandemic period, as well as explore how sedentary behavior changed as a function of gender. Methods: We conducted an online questionnaire (the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire) on 1487 (947 males & 513 females; Age 19.72± 1.32yr., BMI = 21.12 ± 4.50) students from one university in China during the pandemic period and students retrospectively recalled pre-pandemic physical activity levels (March 29- April 15, 2020). Sedentary behavior was measured using the short version of the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ). Sedentary behavior of social isolation in a typical week during the COVID-19 pandemic period and before the COVID-19 pandemic were measured based on SBQ. The data were analyzed using a paired-samples t-test. Chi-square tests were to compare categorical variables. Results: Before the COVID-19, on weekdays, survey participants averaged engaged in 11.41 (SD =3.93) hours of SB, 10.97 (SD = 3.85) hours of SB in males, 12.25 (SD =3.94) hours of SB in females; on weekends, survey participants averaged engaged in 13.18 (SD =4.06) hours of SB, 12.74 (SD = 3.96) hours of SB in males, 14.04 (SD =4.11) hours of SB in females. During the COVID-19, on weekdays, survey participants averaged engaged in 13.34 (SD =3.78) hours of SB, 12.90 (SD = 3.67) hours of SB in males, 14.19 (SD =3.83) hours of SB in females; on weekends, survey participants averaged engaged in 14.48 (SD =3.93) hours of SB, 14.10 (SD = 3.81) hours of SB in males, 15.22 (SD =4.04) hours of SB in females. Overall, on weekdays, COVID-19 on average appeared to increase SB by 1.93 (16.91%↑, 95% CI = 1.74, 2.12) hours, an increase in daily total SB by 1.92 (17.50%↑, 95% CI = 1.92, 2.15) hours for males, and an increase 1.94 (15.84%↑, 95% CI = 1.62, 2.27) hours in females. On weekends, COVID-19 on average appeared to increase SB by 1.30 (9.86%↑, 95% CI = 1.12, 1.48) hours, an increase in daily total SB by 1.36 (10.68%↑, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.58) hours for males, and an increase 1.18 (8.40%↑, 95% CI = 0.87, 1.50) hours in females. Conclusions: The COVID-19 led to an increase in sedentary behavior of Chinese university students. The total sedentary time of female students per week was higher than that of male students. Public policy action might be urgently needed to decrease the sedentary behavior of Chinese university students.

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