Adolescence is often considered a period of heightened stress, and healthy active living behaviors may help those experiencing it to better cope with life stressors and increase their self-esteem. The 24-h movement guidelines for children and adolescents recommend ≥60 min per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, ≤ 2-h per day of recreational screen time, and 9–11-h of sleep per night for school-aged children or 8–10-h per night for adolescents. The objective of this study was to examine the association of meeting the 24-h movement guidelines with life stress and self-esteem among students in Ontario, Canada.
Self-reported data on movement behaviors, life stress and self-esteem were derived from the 2019 cycle of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, a cross-sectional and province-wide survey of students in grades 7–12 aged 11 to 20 years (
Overall, meeting all combinations of movement behavior recommendations were associated with lower life stress and better self-esteem compared with meeting none of the recommendations, except meeting the physical activity only or screen time only recommendations that were not associated with lower life stress. Meeting all 3 recommendations was associated with lower life stress (OR: 0.40; 95 CI: 0.30–0.53) and better self-esteem (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.21–0.40). There was a dose-response gradient between the number of recommendations met (3 > 2 > 1) and lower life stress (
These findings suggest that meeting the recommendations of the 24-h movement guidelines is associated with lower life stress and better self-esteem among adolescents.