Child and Parent Physical Activity, Sleep, and Screen Time During COVID-19 and Associations With Mental Health: Implications for Future Psycho-Cardiological Disease?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded the opportunity for some to improve lifestyle behaviours, while for others it has presented key challenges. Adverse changes in global lifestyle behaviours, including physical activity, sleep, and screen time can affect proximal mental health and in turn distal cardiovascular outcomes. We investigated differences in physical activity, sleep, and screen time in parents and children during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia compared to pre-COVID-19 national data; and estimated associations between these movement behaviours with parent and child mental health. Cross-sectional baseline data from the COVID-19 Pandemic Adjustment Study (CPAS; N = 2,365) were compared to nationally representative pre-pandemic data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC; N = 9,438). Participants were parents of children aged ≤ 18 years, residing in Australia. Parents provided self-report measures of mental health, physical activity and sleep quality, and reported on child mental health, physical activity and screen time. Children in CPAS had significantly more sleep problems and more weekend screen time. Their parents had significantly poorer sleep quality, despite increased weekly physical activity. Children's sleep problems were significantly associated with increased mental health problems, after accounting for socioeconomic status, physical activity, and screen time. Poorer parent sleep quality and lower levels of physical activity were significantly associated with poorer mental health. Monitoring this cohort over time will be important to examine whether changes in movement behaviour are enduring or naturally improve with the easing of restrictions; and whether these changes have lasting effects on either parent or child mental health, and in turn, future risk for CVD.

Physical Activity, Sleep, and Screen Time in Children and Adolescents Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of the 2019-2020 National Survey of Children’s Health

“…The deleterious changes to health behaviors in US youth documented in this study are not unique to US youth, with similar changes in health behaviors during COVID documented among youth in Australia, Canada and China. 34,[36][37][38] Longitudinal research has shown that health behaviors during childhood are often carried over into adulthood, 39,40 suggesting if health behaviors do not return to pre-pandemic levels in youth, that could translate to potential increases in projected adverse physical (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes) and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety) outcomes.…”

Caregiver Perceptions of Children’s and Adolescents’ Psychosocial Functioning During the Stringent COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions in Shanghai: Cross-sectional Study

“…Children and adolescents who spent 1-2 hours exercising showed a trend toward lower odds of psychological problems, and exercise for less than 30 minutes per day had a high probability of psychosocial problems. Psychosocial problems were linked to lower levels of physical activity [38][39][40]. Greater levels of physical activity are associated with improved physical fitness, bone health, cognitive outcomes, and mental health (reduced symptoms of depression) and less adiposity [36].…”

How child inclusive were Australia's responses to COVID‐19?

“…They found even greater mental health issues for children who experienced a second lockdown. Olive et al ( 2022 ) found children experiencing COVID‐related declines in physical activity and increased recreational screen time were experiencing greater sleep disruption, elevated anxiety and irritability symptoms. The mental health of parents and carers, particularly those experiencing socioeconomic adversity, also declined (see Price et al, 2022 ).…”