PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR
In 2012-13, the collection of physical activity and sedentary behaviour data in the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (AATSIHS) was via separate question modules across the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS).
The NATSIHS and NATSINPAS collected data across these modules:
- Adult physical activity (non-remote areas)
- Child 5-17 years physical activity (non-remote areas)
- Child 2-4 years physical activity (non-remote areas, NATSINPAS only)
- 5 years and over physical activity (remote areas)
Within the non-remote area modules the following domains were collected:
- Physical activity (5 years and over in NATSIHS, 2 years and over in NATSINPAS)
- Sedentary behaviour (5 years and over in NATSIHS, 2 years and over in NATSINPAS)
- Household rules and screen-based equipment (2-17 years in NATSINPAS)
- Sleep (5-17 years in NATSIHS, 5 years and over in NATSINPAS).
The reference period for adults was over a one week period and for children it was for the 3 days prior to interview. Sleep data was for the night prior to interview.
Adult and child (5-17 years) physical activity and sedentary activity data collected in the remote area module included:
- Type of physical activity
- Walking to places
- Overall time spent walking and doing physical activity and whether usual
- Activities undertaken while sitting down
The reference period was for the day prior to the interview.
The following table summarises what was collected in each contributing survey by remoteness, for each age group. Note the different reference periods.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR CONTENT
|
 | | Physical activity and sedentary screen-based activity – 3 days | | Physical activity and sedentary screen-based activity – 3 days | | Adult Physical activity – last week | | Adult sedentary behaviour – usual day | | Adult sedentary behaviour – last week | | Physical activity and sedentary behaviour – 1 day |
|
 |  | 2–4 years | | 5–17 years | | 18 years and over | | 18 years and over | | 18 years and over | | 5 years and over |
|
| Non-remote areas | | |  | |  | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | AATSIHS core1 | | | x2 | | x3 4 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | NATSIHS | | |  x2 | |  x3 | | x | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|  NATSINPAS | x | | x | | x | | | | x | | |
|
| Remote areas | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | AATSIHS core1 | | | | | | | | | | | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| NATSIHS | | |  | |  | | | | | | x |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|  NATSINPAS | | | | | | | | | | | x |
|
1 Combined NATSIHS and NATSINPAS sample file
2Excluding whether physical activity organised, bedroom screen-based equipment and household rules
3Excluding vigorous gardening, strength and toning, type of physical activity, whether physical activity organised and sleep
4Limited variables
For comparability information regarding non-remote and remote areas, refer to the remote area physical activity and sedentary behaviour topic pages.
For comparability information with the 2011-12 Australian Health Survey, refer to the individual physical activity and sedentary behaviour topic pages.
Physical Activity Guidelines
Data on physical activity and sedentary behaviour have been collected to provide national estimates in order to report against
National Physical Activity Recommendations and Guidelines for particular age groups.
The National Physical Activity Guidelines for Australian adults that were in place at the time this survey was conducted recommended at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days. This has been interpreted from the following three measures considered to correlate with good health outcomes:
- whether met 150 minutes of physical activity per week
- whether met 150 minutes of physical activity over 5 or more sessions per week
- whether met 30 minutes of physical activity on 5 or more days per week.
There are currently no assessable sedentary behaviour recommendations for adults, although data has been collected in this area in order to inform analysis of sedentary behaviour and other lifestyle factors.
The current National Physical Activity Recommendations for 5-12 year olds and the National Physical Activity Recommendations for 13-17 year olds recommend:
- at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day
- a maximum of two hours sedentary screen-based activity for entertainment/non-educational purposes a day.
The current National Physical Activity Recommendations for 0-5 year olds recommend:
- at least three hours of physical activity every day, either in a single block or spread throughout the day
- a maximum of one hour of sedentary screen-based activity per day - that is, electronic media such as DVDs, computer and other electronic games.
The National Physical Activity Recommendations include age overlaps at age 5 years such that they are included in two sets of recommendations and/or guidelines. For the purposes of this survey, 5 year olds have been included in the 5-17 years age group.
Household rules and screen-based equipment
In addition to the recommendations, research on child participation in physical activity or levels of sedentary behaviour has been looking at associations between the environment in which the child lives and levels of activity. In the NATSINPAS, details regarding access to screen-based equipment in a young person’s bedroom, in addition to household rules and practices regarding the use of screen-based equipment, have been collected.
Sleep
The benefits of having a sufficient amount of sleep for a person’s wellbeing have been well documented. In the NATSINPAS and NATSIHS, details regarding the time slept on the night prior to the interview have been collected to provide a snapshot of sleep data.
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