Meeting 24-h Movement Guidelines is Related to Better Academic Achievement:Findings from the YRBS 2019 Cycle

This research is designed to investigate the relationship between the 24-h movement guidelines(24-HMG)and self-reported academic achievement(AA)using nationally representative data derived from the 2019 U.S.National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey.A multiple-stage cluster sampling procedure has been adopted to ensure a representative sample(N=9127 adolescents;mean age=15.7 years old;male%=49.8%).Logistic regression has been adopted to obtain the odds ratio(OR)regarding the associations between adherence to 24-HMG and AA while controlling for ethnicity,body mass index,sex and age.The prevalence of meeting the 24-h movement guidelines in isolation and combination varied greatly(physical activity=23.3%,screen time=32.5%,sleep=22.3%,and 24-HMG=2.8%),while the percentage of highest-class AA was 42.5%.Compared with the situation when none of 24-HMG is met,the achievement of any of the combined guidelines(except for meeting the physical activity guidelines)was significantly associated with higher odds of achieving first-class AA.Meeting the sleep guideline had 1.42 times increased likelihood to achieve highest-class AA as compared with not meeting the sleep guideline.Meeting screen time guidelines and physical activity guidelines,respectively,were 1.32 and 1.13 times more likely to report first-class AA;but meeting the guidelines of physical activity was not significantly related to AA.Meeting the 24-HMG had the highest odds of achieving first-class AA(OR=2.01,95%CI:1.47-2.73).In both sexes,adolescents who met 24-HMG self-reported better AA(boys OR=2.05,95%CI:1.34-3.15;girls OR=2.26,95%CI:1.36-3.76).Significant relationships were observed in adolescents from 9-10th grade,but not higher grades.Our research findings suggest that optimal movement behaviours can be seen as an important element to better academic achievement among U.S.adolescents.Future studies can adopt our discoveries to promote adolescents’academic achievement through implementing optimal 24-h movement behaviour patterns.