Seasonality in physical activity: should this be a concern in all settings?

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between weather conditions and overall and domain-specific physical activity in adults living in a city with a temperate, stable climate. Objective and self-reported physical activity levels were measured in 1754 adults participating in RESIDE, a longitudinal study undertaken in Perth, Australia. Steps per week and self-reported minutes of domain-specific physical activity were compared with date-stamped weather data. Weather conditions were relatively constant across all seasons, showing little impact on physical activity behaviour. Variation in weather conditions had modest explanatory power (<6%) for predicting overall and domain-specific physical activity engagement in this sample. Weather variations observed in this study were of insufficient magnitude to impact on physical activity levels. This has implications for study designs and exploration of other factors associated with physical activity in these settings.