Impact of Seasonality on Physical Activity: A Systematic Review

Antonio Garriga, Nuria Sempere-Rubio, María José Molina-Prados and Raquel Faubel
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Antonio Garriga: Faculty of Physiotherapy, Universitat de València, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Nuria Sempere-Rubio: Department of Physiotherapy, Universitat de València, 46010 Valencia, Spain
María José Molina-Prados: Department of Physiotherapy, Universitat de València, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Raquel Faubel: Department of Physiotherapy, Universitat de València, 46010 Valencia, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Background: The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze the available scientific evidence of the impact of seasonality on physical activity (PA). PA refers to walking, biking, sports and/or active recreation. Methods: The search was performed in the following databases: PubMed, PEDro, Cochrane and Embase. All publications from January 2015 to September 2020 assessing seasonal variations on physical activity development in adults were selected. Results: A total of 1159 articles were identified, of which 26 fulfilled the selection criteria involving 9300 participants from 18 different countries. The results obtained suggest that seasonality affects PA independently of the countries, pathologies of the participants and the tool to collect PA information. Conclusions: PA level varies across the seasons, with higher PA level in summer compared with other seasons, especially in winter. Sedentary behavior follows the opposite trend. Impact of seasonality variations should be considered in clinical research involving PA as a primary outcome as well as in interventions on PA promotion.

Keywords: physical activity; health promotion; seasonality; sedentarism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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