Application of Time-use Epidemiology in the Research Field of Physical Activity

Physical activity(PA) and health promotion is one of the key directions in the research field of public health and sports science. The 24 hours of an individual's day consist of sleep, sedentary and various PA. Previous studies usually investigate the impact of these behaviors on health from a single dimension, but ignoring the inherent connections between PA, sedentary and sleep,and the comprehensive impact on health outcomes, which may lead to deviations between these behaviors and health effects. While the time-use epidemiological research methods overcome this shortcoming. Taking“Time Allocation”as the key point, this article reviews the current researches on the impact of PA, sedentary and sleep behaviors on health in the international academic community, and systematically expounds the research methods of Isotemporal Substitution Model, Activity-Balance Model, and the development of Time-Use Epidemiology and its research framework. The application of time-use epidemiology-related theories in the research field of PA can be carried out in these three aspects: 1) developing the advanced measuring tools and improving data collection and analysis methods; 2) establishing the comprehensive evaluation system on time-use patterns; 3) formulating activitybalance time allocation recommendation guidelines for Chinese.