Objective: To describe the status of sedentary activities of the Chinese pupils in the leisure time, and to provide basic information for developing intervention strategies.
Methods: Utilizing the data of 2010-2012 China National Nutrition and Health Surveillance, using the multi-stage stratified cluster randomization sampling method, a total of 39 242 pupils on sedentary activities including watching TV, using computer, playing computer games, reading and doing homework, was analyzed. Age and sex standardization was performed based on the China 2009 population published by National Statistics Bureau. The sedentary time after weight adjustment for complex sampling was reported to analyze the time distribution of Chinese pupils.
Results: The average time of Chinese pupils' sedentary activities was 2. 92 h/d. There was significant difference between the urban and rural area( 3. 04 h vs 2. 81 h), the boys spent more time slightly on the sedentary activities in their spare time. The senior high school students spent more time on the sedentary activities than the junior school students( 3. 45 h vs 3. 06h), who spent more time than the elementary school students( 3. 06 h vs 2. 60 h). The prevalence of engaging sedentary activities longer than 2 hours was 86. 2%, there was significant difference between the urban and rural area( 87. 5% vs 85. 1%) and the ratio of boys and girls was 86. 4% and 86. 0%, respectively. More senior high school students engaged in sedentary activities longer than 2 hours daily than the junior school students, and the proportion of the junior school students engaged in sedentary activities longer than2 hours was higher than the elementary school students. The average daily homework time was 1. 48 h, and boys spent less time on homework than girls slightly( 1. 44 h vs 1. 52 h). Pupils in the senior school engaged more time in their homework than the junior school students( 1. 90 h vs 1. 62 h). and pupils in the junior school engaged more time in their homework than the elementary school students( 1. 62 h vs 1. 20 h).
Conclusion: Chinese pupils engaged too much time in sedentary activities in the leisure time, so it is recommended that schools and families create a supportive environment, encouraging the children to reduce their sedentary activities and to improve their physical activity levels.
Keywords: physical activity; pupils; sedentary activity.