Stay in or play out? The influence of weather conditions on physical activity of grade 5 children in Canada

OBJECTIVES: Regular physical activity (PA) in children is essential for their development and prevention of overweight and obesity. Little is known about the effect of day-to-day variations in weather conditions on PA levels in school-aged children, particularly with regard to school compared to non-school days and girls compared to boys. METHODS: Daily step count (7:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.) from 972 grade 5 students aged 10–11 years from 60 schools across Alberta, Canada, was collected using time-stamped pedometers (minimum wear time of two school and one non-school days) during March–June 2013. Time-matched weather conditions (actual and feels-like temperature, cloud coverage, and precipitation amount) were obtained from local weather stations in Alberta during the same period. Multilevel mixed-effect regression models were used to estimate the effect of each weather condition on daily step count. RESULTS: A 1 °C increase in feels-like temperature was associated with 26 more steps/day (p 5 mm/day) was associated with 1022 fewer steps/day (p